Dowd Disengaged

From Rich Cameron's Rich's Musing blog we get a first person account of a recent public appearance by Maureen Dowd. She, along with Mike Murphy and Donna Brazile, was part of the American Jewish University’s 2009 speaker series. Fellow copper-headed pundit Arianna Huffington moderated, proving once and for all she and Maureen are not the same person. The Dowdcentric portion of the post follows:

NY Times columnist Dowd seemed detached from the discussion all evening. She is bright and articulate and had interesting answers whenever Huffington drew her in to the conversation, but she seemed otherwise unengaged. In fact, she spent most of the evening with her body slightly turned away from the rest of the group. While others were sure what they wanted to say, she had to spend moments deciding what she wanted to stay.

In retrospect, this should not be too surprising. In podcasts I’ve listen to of other lectures she has given, this is her speaking style. She’s a great writer, but less-than-enthusiastic speaker.

Her most memorable moments of the evening were when

• Huffington cornered her in to sharing a dinner-table admission that she had twice placed notes in Jerusalem’s West Wall, while on assignment, asking for a Jewish husband. She’s come to the conclusion that God probably doesn’t think pairing a Jewish man with a Black Irish Catholic woman is a good idea; and
• She revealed that after Obama’s almost embarrassing acceptance on his European trip after securing the Democratic nomination that she asked him if he “needed a cigarette” after the experience, implying that the treatment he got was almost like having sex.

Rich also notes that Donna Brazile got most of the speaking time and carried on a running gag about offering to let Mike Murphy fondle her ample bosom.