![]() DENBY JUMPS THE SNARK! David Denby talks straight about Dowd and Gore. Why wont our Kewl Kids do likewise? // link // print // previous // next //
FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2009 David Denby jumps the snarkor, it takes a film critic: It seems to be upper-end press corps law: Only film critics can tell you the truth about recent political history. We first observed this odd cultural practice when Al Gores film, An Inconvenient Truth, hit theaters in 2006. Major film critics discussed the way Gore was treated during Campaign 2000. But how weird! Political observers, even fiery liberals, did not! (See THE DAILY HOWLER, 6/9/06. For an update to that post, see below.) Now, The New Yorkers David Denby has extended the pattern with his new book, Snark. Omigod! Though David Ulin forgets to say so in his Los Angeles Times review, Denby devotes an entire chapter to the fatuous work of Maureen Dowd; he even says that Dowds trashing of Candidate Gore helped decide Campaign 2000! The Kewl Kids on the liberal webat your liberal journalsstill refuse to traffic in this, of course. As in 2006, so today! It seems to take a film critic to say what is blatantly obvious:
The Kewl Kids on your liberal webat your liberal journalsstill wont say what Denby says there. Denbys statement is blatantly obvious. But as in 2006, so too today! Your great liberal heroes find ways not to go there. When they accidentally blurt the truth, they know they cant do so again. Yes: Given the narrow way that campaign was decidedgiven the crackpot way the campaign was coveredits perfectly obvious that Campaign 2000 was decided by Dowd and her cohort. Why wont those fiery career liberals say so? Again, well update that post from 2006 down below, as we end. For now, lets return to that major film critic, the one who is saying what others will not. On Tuesday, Denby appeared on NPRs Diane Rehm Show. To hear the full hour, just click here (Susan Page was the days guest host). But we thought wed give you a basic part of what Denby correctly said. Maureen Dowdlets not make any mistake here, Denby told Page early on, signaling his plan to make several mistakes. Maureen Dowd is brilliant. Maureen Dowd is extremely talented, extremely funny. To tell the truth, noMaureen Dowd isnt brilliant. But having kept faith with insider gods, Denby now turned to whats accurate:
Ouch. Such accurate statements are rarely made about this fatuous upper-end star. And lets give credit where credit is due: If we may borrow from the play-book of Dowd, press insider Susan Page took Denbys screed just like a man. For ourselves, wed nibble at some of what Denby said. And lets be clear about one thing: Dowds prominent role in Campaign 2000 actually began in December 1997, when she joined Frank Rich in creating the Al Gore said he inspired Love Story nonsensenonsense the rest of her D-plus elite rode from March 1999 right through to November 2000, helping drive the Insider Novel which cast Gore as a Big Liar Nut. But in his interview, Denby does what is never doneand more importantly, he does so in his new book too. He speaks quite frankly about Maureen Dowdand he says the misconduct of Dowd and her pals decided Campaign 2000. Al Gores defeat was snarks greatest victory and snarks greatest disaster, he correctly says. For some reason, it takes a film critic!
Was Campaign 2000 really decided by the press corps rolling misconduct? This fact is blatantly obvious; if that campaign wasnt decided by the press, then no campaign ever will be. But the Kewl Kids on the liberal web almost never say such things, depriving their readers of basic knowledge about their own recent history; it seems to fall to the nations film critics to state such obvious truths. Why does that odd situation obtain? We cant say in particular cases. But lets return to that post from 2006, in which we applauded two other film critics for saying whats so rarely said. In that post, youll see us rolling our eyes at a fiery young liberal writer at one of your leading liberal journals. Yep! At the time, she wrote for The American Prospectand, unlike our two film critics, she offered the Standard Press Corps Analysis of how Gore lost the race. It wasnt the press corps which did it, she said; it wasnt the Post or the Timesit was Gore! Garance Franke-Ruta sang sweetly that day, talking about Gores pedantry and didacticismthe very qualities that undid Gore in 2000, she said. Garance Franke-Ruta sang sweetly that day, presenting the Quite Standard Press Corps Critique. And sure enough! You may have remembered! Today, that same fiery liberal is employed by the Washington Post! By the major metropolitan newspaper she forgot to criticize that day! We dont have the slightest idea why Franke-Ruta sang so sweetly. But the Kewl Kids on the webat career liberal journalshave always had a very hard time telling their readers the simplest truths about how Bush ended up in the White House. Its obvious, but they cant seem to spit it outand they land on their feet at the Post or the Times! Denby can say itbut these fiery libs cant. We hope their money is spending real good. In our view, their silence is largely the shape of your floundering age. By the way: Lane and Milbank reached the Post in early 2000having kept their traps shut at The New Republic, back in whats known as real time. It seemed that no one could make out the truth. This week, a film critic did. Taking the Digby Challengeor, its only the end of the world: Speaking of snark, Digby got a boatload of same when she read Dana Milbanks Sketch in yesterdays Washington Post. And she seemed to know where she could turn for blessed relief! In an update at the end of this post, she ventedand issued a challenge:
With lightning speed, we replied. In Fridays HOWLER, we pledged, wed take The Digby Challenge! Indeed, wed already pondered Milbanks Sketch while we were munching our bagel that day. Amazingly, we suggested to Digby, you couldnt see how silly and sad this was without yesterdays hard-copy Post. For the record, Milbank was sketching Al Gores appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On cable, the D-plus elite took a well-traveled route; pundits laughed because Gore had discussed global warming on a day when it actually snowed! Thats right! The worlds dumbest known human beings were amused by this nonsense again. But uh-oh! Juliet Eilperin had wiped the smiles off our faces at the start of her news reporther highly capable news report in yesterdays Washington Post:
Gore was discussing the end of the world as we know itand it was clear from Eilperins news report that major senators, from both major parties, had staged a very serious discussion of this topic with Gore. But at the Post, an utterly hapless D-plus elite adopted a different take on the matter. On page A3, the editors devoted 539 words to Eilperins capable news report. Next to it, they placed Milbanks dim-witted Sketcha sketch which ran more than 900 words, and included a large, mocking photo of Gore. (Good solid fun! The photo showed Gore wiping his broweven as he discussed warming!) Eilperins news report rated two columns; beside it, dwarfing it, Milbank got four. The Senate was discussing the end of the worldand the Post played the day for big fun. We wont present the level of detail Digby seemed to be seeking. At County Seat, Brother Boehlert said this, and we think he captured the thrust of Milbanks latest inanity:
Boehlert was right in his first observation. The use of the highly amusing word Goracle did seem to be Milbanks major point. Indeed, the lighter-than-air former Skull-and-Bonesman used the amusing word eighteen times in the course of his silly-bill Sketch! Incredibly, his fatuous piece contained 23 paragraphs; 18 of them contained that key word! It may have snowed in DC that daybut this scribe was evoking the Rain Man. (The word appeared a nineteenth time. The Goracle endures localized warming to deliver his message, the Posts extremely amusing photo caption quite amusingly said.) Milbank may be the worlds dumbest manbut in fairness, weve seen him do worse. He didnt complain that Gore used too many big words, as he did in May 2007 when Gore dared to discuss his new book. (Gore had even used such terms as the marketplace of ideas, Milbank groused that day. Not making that up.) And he didnt complain that Gore was too fat, as he did in March 2007, when Gore last appeared before a Senate committee. That said, lets run through a few rhetorical features as the silly former Bonesman extended the endless campaign in which the D-plus gang at the Washington Post rolls its eyes at the sad pedant Gore: Perspiration: As Boehlert noted, Milbank made a point of claiming that Gore had perspired heavily. For the record, this claim continues a longstanding tradition. During the twenty months of Campaign 2000, mainstream journalists frequently complained that Gore perspired way too much, sometimes using this as a clever way to compare him to sweaty old Nixon. When Gore formally announced his campaign in June 1999, Roger Simon went there for U.S. News: His sweat glands are positively Nixonian, he explained, in his second paragraph. And you may recall where William Schneider went on the night of the first Gore/Bradley debatethe night his colleagues jeered and laughed at Gore for the full hour. Gore perspired, perhaps that was planned, to make himself look like a fighter, the daft CNN wise man said. For ourselves, weve never quite been able to spot the alleged perspiration on our tape of this sessionbut we do know a nut when we see one on cable. Gore was perspiringand it was planned! In this way, these public crackpots strained to send Bush to the White House. Controlling authorities: Repeating himself in almost each graf, Milbank remembered a glorious day when Gore had repeated himself, several times. Its one of the press corps most treasured memories. Silly-bills love to revisit:
But not by those at the Post. On March 3, 1997a day that will live in insider gloryGore repeated that famous phrase seven times in a (roughly) twenty-minute press conference, alternating it with no case law, thus explaining what the phrase meant. For the record, that was the day when the press corps transformed its war against Clinton into a simultaneous war against Gore. Twelve years later, Milbank remembersrepeatswhat Gore said. Did we mention those hints of the Rain Man? For extra credit, this column also gives readers a chance to see Milbanks dissembling technique at work, as he pretends that Gore created a riddle by speaking obscurely about Copenhagen. Well just say this: If you read Eilperin, you will get a clear idea of how Milbank played you. This time. But then, lets return to Eilperins piece to capture yesterdays glory. Better yet, go to C-Span and watch the tape of Gores appearance. (We assume it will soon be posted.) Youll be impressed by what you seenot just by Gores mastery of the subject, but by the highly intelligent questions asked by a string of major solons, senators from both major parties. Chris Dodd was impressivebut so was Dick Lugar. Indeed: Quoting Lugar, Milbank accidentally tipped his hand about what was at stake:
The discussion concerned a threat to the planet that Lugar calls almost existential. Result? The Post gave Eilperin 539 words for her capable news report. Their top chimpanzee got 912 for his inane, pointless sketchand he got that large, comical photo. As they sat side-by-side on page A3, Milbanks latest silly clowning dwarfed Eilperins careful report. Go to C-Span and watch that tape; we think that you will be impressed. Go back to the Post and read that Sketch. Youll gaze on the soul of a D-plus elite. Our question, and its sadly literal: Can your nation survive it? B.S. Dont miss Milbanks comical headline, which features more word-play: With Al Due Respect, Were Doomed. A bit of job history: So youll recall: Milbank took his job at the Post in January 2000. Hed just spent nine months covering the Gore campaign for The New Republicand hed somehow failed to notice the unbridled warfare (Denbys term) the Post was already waging. (Ceci Connolly was worse in 1999 than she was in 2000.) But then, his editor, Charles Lane, had failed to notice the Posts warfare too. And wouldnt you know it? He signed on with the Post at the very same time! Peter Beinart was left at TNR not to notice. He now writes a monthly piece for the Post.
Why did Franke-Ruta write what she did? Why didnt she say the things Denby did? Here at THE HOWLER, we have no idea. Just call her! Shes paid by the Post.
|