January 17, 2004
STANDING BY HER MAN:
Dudgeons And Dragons (MAUREEN DOWD, 1/18/04, NY Times)
I went to Iowa hunting Howard Dean. His campaign said he might give me five minutes. On the phone.At first, five minutes sounded pretty cursory. But I decided to be philosophical. Out of his 15 minutes of angry fame, Howard Dean was willing to devote a third of it to me.
How best to figure out someone who comes out of nowhere and wants to lead the world in five minutes?
I quizzed Tom Harkin, Mr. Iowa, about why he had endorsed Dr. Dean, even though it infuriated his spurned Senate buddy John Kerry and disappointed fellow Midwesterner Dick Gephardt. Senator Harkin didn't seem especially close to the Vermont governor. At the 2002 Jefferson-Jackson Day dinner here, he twice called the Democrat John Dean (as Martin Sheen did in a speech here last week).
"He's a fire hydrant," Mr. Harkin said over dinner at Bambino's in Cumming. "If you kick it, it's going to hurt you. But it's stable and secure and there when you need it."
Memo to Howard Dean: If you're a fire hydrant already, best not to give MoDo any more reason to whiz on you. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 17, 2004 07:35 PM
Ducking MoDo is about the first intelligent thing he's done in at least one month.
Posted by: David Cohen at January 17, 2004 09:32 PMDon't worry. All will be forgiven by MoDo if HoHo gets the Dem nomination. Her firepower will all be saved for the Bushies at that point forward.
Posted by: Melissa at January 17, 2004 10:59 PMIt's a profound metaphor.
But why would anyone want to vote for a fire hydrant?
Posted by: Barry Meislin at January 18, 2004 08:24 AMActually, the Democratic candidate that hangs out with the most "A List" Hollywood celebrities and promises to bring them to Washington often for state dinners will be the one who make's MoDo's heart go pitter-patter.
She shunned Clinton in 1998 over Monica until she realzed he might be impeached and neither Al Gore nor any future Republican president would offer Washington, D.C. the type of glitz Clinton brought to the table. Now she's had to spend three years in Hell in the nation's captial covering GWB with not a motion picture hearthrob -- save Arnold -- anywhere in sight (in fact, if one of the Democratic candidates would promise to move the nation's capital to Santa Monica, or even Sherman Oakes, Times readers might actually be treated to a female orgasm written out in 750 words by MoDo in her next column).
Posted by: John at January 18, 2004 10:50 AM