Maureen On The Mall

MSNBC has a huge tented studio on the Mall in DC to cover the inauguration and they have been broadcasting live from it all weekend. Yesterday they scored an interview with Maureen Dowd. Our equipment here at Dowd Central failed to capture it, but the cheeto-stained interns at Gawker edited it down to a few soundbites for their snarky ridicule. You can see the video here, but below is a partial transcript.

MSNBC GUY:Tell me about how you put together that amazing guest list for all those people that showed up last night?
MAUREEN: Well, my heart is broken because I was always bad at math, so I didn’t know how many people would fit in the house. I just found out that not only was Tom Hanks outside and not able to get in, but Bruce Springsteen was not able to get in.
MSNBC GAL: It sounds like one of those New York nightclubs where they deliberately shun celebrities.

{snip}

MSNBC GAL: Could Obama be too cocky?
MAUREEN: Well, it’s possible…The crowd says ‘NOOOO!’
MSNBC GAL: We’re too close to the fire here
MAUREEN: We had an off-the-record session with him and, um, and I’d just like to say this is a very confident president.
MSNBC GAL: Will you be as tough on him as you have on Bush?
MAUREEN: Um, given the crowd here, absolutely not.

[on the racial interaction that Barack’s election has brought]

I find this so interesting because I am a native Washingtonian. I grew up in a Black neighborhood and Washington has always been basically segregated and even reporters are corny. I went to the Lincoln Memorial this morning with champagne and croissants. I just wanted to celebrate myself because it’s so great to see the city, blacks and whites, finally integrated.

The Gawker commentariat (of which yours truly is one, albeit without a star) latched onto how nasal Dowd's delivery is.

mfnher: Holy shit. I had no idea her voice sounded like that.

i'm_a_bottle: I can't get over how nasal Maur's voice sounds. I would love to see Fran Drescher and her have a conversation. Actually, strike that, I would rather not.
Dagrolord: Seeing that conversation would be bad enough...hearing it would scar you for life.

Perhaps they need to review her last This Week appearance. Maybe it's for the best that she has a voice for print.