I'm all in on your account of Thomas Hearings and Thomas and Hill as described. I know what you say to be true about Biden's role and all the others. Having it retold in such a pithy, spare way reveals the truth again with bare fervor. Yes. All of them and all of that. And what now? What is our part? Do not forget? Let it form the future?
16
Thank you, Maureen Dowd, for voicing the fury women of a certain age carry toward Joe Biden. Those hearings happened in 1991, not 1791. And any man standing on the ground of equity and fairness would not have treated Anita Hill the way he did. And thank you also for voicing the anxiety many of us are feeling as the Democrats gently submit pieces of paper while the Republicans attack our democratic norms with what feels like a hail of bullets. Time to start treating this like the fight it is.
891
@Carol Weiss
Thank you, this comment absolutely says it all!
22
@Carol Weiss
You are not wrong. Be ready for the republicans to get even more nasty if the DEMs do start actually fighting back. They have been planning for that eventuality while relying on the fear of chaos to hold the DEMs back, for a long time.
Don't be shocked if we start seeing a lot more white Christian terrorism and police murders of people of color.
32
This is a very strong piece and I find my blood pressure rising after reading it. I remember my disgust with those men who trivialized the woman who bravely stepped up to prevent an undeserving justice from being confirmed. Having learned exactly nothing from that debacle, we were treated to a remake of the thing last year with the Kavanaugh hearings.
But as for Joe Biden, I thought then and haven’t changed my thinking about him as a leader, he simply is not one, he’s the classic go along to get along type, I don’t think he’s capable of waging the kind of fight he will face from Republicans.
I long for strong progressive leadership in government. I see signs of hope from recent additions to the House and in a few of the candidates for President, mostly women.
1918
@MG I do not support Biden because of the thomas hearings and his own personal treatment of Anita Hill. The only reason I would ever vote for him is if he were to become, by chance, the Democratic nominee, because we cannot survive four more, no less six more years of tRump.
176
@mtrav I hope we, the American people, do not have to choose, once again, for the "lesser of two evils". The Biden legacy is Clarence Thomas and there is no acceptable apology when one considers the numerous times Thomas has voted against humanity
105
@mtrav Contrary to the myth being perpetuated by the media that Biden is "the man" ... recent information is inclined or indicative to show any of the candidates can and, if I may, will beat Trump
54
Telling the hard truth is what good media does. There is a flood of false equivalency in today's media landscape, done in the name of "fairness". Any reasonable person can see that the Republican Party lies and cheats on a scale that Democrats never, even on their worst days, come close to. The blatant gerrymandering, the blatant voter suppression, the refusal to acknowledge Obama's Supreme Court pick, the repugnant lies about the ACA, the ongoing defense of Trump's daily outrages, these are all egregious assaults on fairness. Meanwhile, Democrats wring their hands over the political calculus of impeaching the most incompetent, lawless charlatan to ever inhabit the White House.
But here's where the media fails. They cannot bring themselves to tell the truth about the Republican base of voters who continue to support Trump. There was a time when brave writers would speak out against the mob. H.L. Mencken wasn't afraid to tell the truth, and neither was Hunter S. Thompson. Today, Trump supporters are "misunderstood", or "frustrated", or "feel left out". Perhaps Maureen Dowd could apply that withering wit to the fair play false equivalency the media excuses Trump supporters with. America is being undermined by a foolish, belligerent clown whose power comes from the enthusiastic support of Republican voters. They know what he is, and they cheer him for it. The media should be honest about that.
1337
@Rob You nailed it. A "foolish belligerent clown"...is exactly what Trump is. Noam Chompsky's recent interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llzoItQgLOQ&t=417s ) lays bare the truth of Trump's strategy to keep his base happy to protect the parties hold on the power and wealth of the "1%." It's a "take no prisoners" approach that the Democrats, distracted by the Russia probe fail to understand.
72
@Rob
I would argue that the media, at least the news should not be for profit.
Money corrupts everything.
“Journalists” often try to play both sides to maximize their following.
Chuck Todd and others make this painfully obvious.
When Trump was running, the media was falling all over themselves to cash in on the circus.
Les Moonves even gushed that ‘Trump was bad for the country, but great for our network’.
It’s a very sad situation.
59
@ERT Maybe I missed the part about driven snow.
10
Anita Hill: if the election were held today, would you vote for Biden or Trump? Who would you suggest others should vote for?
4
Too many people around Trump are Neville Chamberlain types. They should read how history treats him and others like him.
18
It's disheartening to see politicians enabled to behave in ways that if enacted on a playing field in any variety of sports arena in the country would get them benched or in the case of some, like McConnell and Trump to name obvious examples, banned.
That suggests that what has happened is an abandonment of the rules of the game that has happened just slowly enough to acclimate the spectators to its "business as usual" tenor. Ironically, the same perpetrators(traitors) use the suspicion that the big, bad government is "corrupt" to their advantage, encouraging a narrative that actually allows them to behave in execrable ways covering it with "anti-establishment" language.
Trump being the consummate con artist - one could write a bestseller based on his tells like "and you know it, too!" - is particularly adept at that bit of sleight of hand. Another favorite is doing despicable things in public to suggest that "all politicians are corrupt" and "I'm the only one honest to let you in on the game". Meanwhile what he's doing secretively is a serious threat to our solvency, national security and future.
Time to take the gloves off, but like a good ref, not bully. Call him out clearly and calmly every time he breaks the rules, lies or uses adolescent insults. If necessary laugh in his face. But then, cut him off expeditiously and treat the audience to the presentation of a thinking adult.
15
"...the F.B.I. was worried enough to set up a honey trap, sending a comely government investigator posing as a research assistant..."
How do you advertise, to fill that position?
I predict this will come to a halt when the FISA warrants are made public. The Democrats will quickly decide that there is no more the public needs to know. Trump will disagree and unleash the entire Mueller report.
When will Democrats learn, if they poke Donald Trump with a stick, he'll uproot the tree and wale about their collective head and shoulders?
5
I can't say Dowd is wrong on any point but it's all history. What's important and imperative is who has the best chance to beat Trump and I think that is Joe Biden.
6
Her best column in my memory.
19
Yes, MS Dowd. I am done with being an independent looking for the better candidate. In this environment being an independent is not a supportable position. Mostly it's due to all the lies.
I am done with calling them misstatements, disingenuous statements, spin, slanted, failures of truth by omission. They are lies and I think we all should call them lies.
I have tried since Nixon to be "fair." I'm done with kid gloves and now it's sharpened swords.
16
When Trump finally declares Martial Law and transfers the federal budget into the Trump Organization as Pence declares that women of childbearing age should only be in the kitchens and bedrooms, it is always comforting to know that Pelosi and Schumer will...hold a press conference and nothing more.
Barr’s refusal to comply to the subpoena and the Democrat’s refusal to have the Sgt-at-Arms arrest him speak volumes — that it is OK for Trump to be dictator and that the House and the Senate plus the judiciary is beneath the Executive when it comes to power.
The game of chicken is correct — and that it is the Democratic Party who is the chicken. They would rather resort to infantile theatrics than arrest Barr who is mocking them in the face.
At this point in the game when Trump’s corrupt and treasonous behavior is plain as day, the Democratic Party is as guilty as the Republican Party.
Who knew that Americans love a communist dictatorship all along?
29
Mr. Muller, stand up. It is your time. Do not fail us. Call them out, tell all, take the heat. You just must. Please!
29
Let the Russia-Trump conspiracy obstruction of justice go. It's never going to work for progs -- except to make them look even more ridiculous. Beat Trump at the polls, a coup isn't going to be popular.
4
Baloney. Fair play with referees, regulation, law, courts, enforcement, and justice always prevails over foul play.
1
We have playoffs going on in basketball and hockey. It's getting so you can't watch a game without hearing about how the referees are getting calls wrong. And not just in a minor way. Oh no. These calls are tragedies and travesties.
But only when they go against our team. That's when we make an uproar. That's when we stand and yell. When our team is favored, why that's fine.
So we cheer for our team and boo for the other. We want to win. We don't want the best team to win. We want our team to win.
That works for sports. They are for entertainment. They don't need to be fair, objective and impartial. Indeed, they're more entertaining if they're not.
But politics are different. Aren't they?
5
Senator Kamala Harris's questioning of Attorney General Barr in the Senate Judiciary Committee revealed the only effective way to confront Trump and his Flacks -- as the dishonest power seekers and crooks that they are.
Harris has announced that should she win the Presidency that the Justice Department will consider whether private citizen Trump obstructed justice as the Mueller report revealed he likely did. And if so, DOJ would indict the ex-President and hold him accountable.
All Democratic candidates for President need to be asked if they are tough enough to do the same. I will only vote for one that makes that pledge.
26
Fair play? Constantly claiming that Trump is an illegitimate president, and Stacey Abrams not conceding and now calling all Democrats to never concede an election, and then Pelosi saying that Trump may not concede a loss - c'mon, people, at least have some logic.
6
When Barr was appointed, I was sure his main job was to derail the Mueller report by whatever means possible. The point is to trivialize, obfuscate, delay and obstruct until voters lose interest.
It's the Democrats' job -- and the media's -- to keep it in the public discourse, to say over and over again why Trump was and is the object of so much concern: national security, national security, national security.
12
I listen to what people say rather than listen to what others claim they've said. Barr did not dis Mueller at all. He did explain that he phoned him and asked about the letter that came from Mueller's office. According to Barr, Mueller was not happy with the way the press reported on the report and with Barr's 4 page presentation. As almost every word is now available anyone can check the accuracy of this information if they choose. Trying to make Barr look bad makes you look bad. You should know better. Spinning the truth is never ok!
5
Bravo Maureen Bravo!! Should be required reading for all college ethics classes. Thank you for your insight.
4
You are spot on with this op-ed, Maureen Dowd. Barr, however, had already lost his soul to Trump, even before he was offered the job of attorney general. The loss of soul happened when he sent his application letter for the job to Rosenstein by maligning the work of the Mueller team and essentially supporting the idea that presidents are above the law.
10
One of the maxims I used to encounter while participating in Corporate Management seminars was the well-meant exhortation to assume good intent by all parties when dealing with conflict. That ideal has limited applicability, however, when it comes to politics, particularly when Republicans have consistently demonstrated bad faith and willingness to compromise ethics in favor of achieving their political ends. Mitch McConnell’s subversion the Constitution to steal a seat on the Supreme Court and William Barr’s blatant protectionism of Donald Trump are just a couple of the more egregious and recent examples of Republican “ethics”. Hypocrites like Orin Hatch and Lindsey Graham have long typified Republican operators, who pretend adherence to high principles when condemning a Democrat president but prove their own lack of them when defending the morally bankrupt and criminal actions of Trump. Ms. Dowd’s stark delineation highlights the need for Democrats to now require proof of good intent from Republicans and, until that is delivered, to quit playing the game as if the other side will follow the rules. They don’t. They won’t.
12
A key issue with the Trump campaign was that media had no idea how to handle the field of chaos that surrounds him and while entertaining to some, functions well to obscure actual facts of his history. We recall the CBS executive who said broadcasts of Trump's clown act were making CBS lots of money. In the days when news had not completely turned into info-tainment, more facts of Trump's odd history would have been revealed. I hope in the next campaign, there will be actual vetting of Trump and whoever is the Democratic candidate. I am finding David Cay Johnson's recent update of Trump's history quite revealing. It shows Donald has always lied, cheated, and stolen, and worked only to benefit himself. If that's whom people want to vote for, they have only themselves to blame, as it will lead to a continuation of a toxic presidency. As Orwell said, if people vote for a corrupt politician, they are not victims, but accomplices.
7
Finally! Someone with a platform is willing to "call a thing a thing." I'm a Democrat who is just flat out angry! My party are a bunch of Sissies who are so concerned with process and being careful that they are completely ineffective.
My own assessment for why Democratic leaders continue down this fruitless path of compromising and playing fair with bullies is that they're too smart (educationally) for their own good. Too many lawyers in the party are overthinking the process and are failing to act to protect the interest of average Americans.
At this point I'm starting to question the intentions of current and former Democratic Leadership. Think about it. The Obamas are off writing books and giving paid speeches. The same is true with the Clintons. Nancy Pelosi is wealthy and protected. And the list goes on. Why are they behaving so passively if the country is really in danger?
Just the other day I saw a news report where President Obama was making some point about effective leadership happening in the background. He is wrong!
It is past time for current and past leaders to step up and clearly alert the public to the real danger our country is in because of the Trump presidency and Republicans craven desire for power.
To deal with a problem first you must clearly recognize the problem. The problem is Republicans don't act in good faith. That means Democrats can't treat Republicans like they are.
Call a thing a thing. Then deal with it! Please!
7
It's called hardball. High level politics, business, sports, ... name it. The winners push the limits and then some. Mueller is drone-like. There is no tangible spendable prize for him if he reaches. On the other hand, the players he's investigating have everything to both gain and lose. We should not be surprised that he just goes through motions while they pull out all the stops to win.
4
I am troubled by the 90% or so of posters here who recommend adopting the survival strategies of the reptile house. It was not Biden acting fairly that subjected the nation to a lifetime of Clarence Thomas. Fairness had nothing -- absolutely nothing -- to do with what he did to Anita Hill. Biden's actions were, and judging from his phone call to Dr. Hill, still remain, all about the calculated APPEARANCE of fairness, a pose he struck for political gain.
Fairness has nothing to do with confusing the RULES of the nation with the GOOD of the nation, as it appears Mueller is doing. But cheating, lying -- being unfair -- has a corrosive effect on the perpetrator. No reason to believe if I behave like Lindsey Graham I won't become Lindsey Graham. Abandon justice at your peril.
5
The question is: Why are we surprised that politicians are reluctant to police themselves? Are you seriously shocked that a bipartisan committee of powerful white men were reluctant to engage in a rigorous public examination of misogyny in the 1990s? That the first African American President and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize was reluctant to publicly pursue an allegation of malfeasance by Russia? What, other than partisan distraction, is the purpose of independent counsels if they are constitutionally precluded from sanctioning the President? This is nothing more than expensive theater distracting the public from the matters at hand. Elections are the method by which we sanction. Who are our options for 2020 and 2022 again? Maybe Maureen and her colleagues could spend more time and column space on facts that help us make informed decisions and less on polarizing propaganda that makes them feel better.
2
There is only one word, one name, to keep track of:
Joseph Mifsud. The one man Muller just could not find to interview.
There is an explanation why this man of the upper echelons of international affairs community sought out, of all the people, George Papadapoulos to share that explosive piece of information. And we will find out.
If he did it on the request of anybody connected to Obama’s government agencies or the Clintons or DNC - game over.
There is one even worse possibility for the Dems and the Media, that Mifsud does have some ties to Russian intelligence services and that he was hired for this sting operation by the collusion set up people anyway. In that case, they would have not just been crossing conduct boundaries, they would have officially colluded with the Russians.
The above was a far fetched conspiracy theory two years ago, and here we are, now it is a perfectly logical explanation for the missing piece of the puzzle.
1
Seems to me, Biden's malfeasance during Thomas' confirmation will pale in comparison to investigations into Biden's helping hands for credit card companies, banks, and other business entities incorporated within Delaware to take advantage of consumers.
6
Naivety knows no boundaries with Democrats and life-long bureaucrats like Comey and Mueller. One cannot compromise with those who refuse to do so. Even the Times enthusiastically promotes the myth of "centrist politics". The adoring coverage of Old Joe is all too similar to HRC. And we ended up with El Trumpo for it.
The times they are a changing but the Times and their alleged "pollsters" are not. Republicans have been moving towards their current intransigence for decades now, while Democrats have simply thrown up their hands in the name of "bipartisanship". McConnell and company have taken full advantage of the situation yet too many Democrats still don't get it.
For example, Ms. Pelosi may be right about Senate Republicans not voting to convict El Trumpo. But she is legitimizing flagrantly illegal behavior and setting a precedent for future presidents to continue the trend by failing to even open an impeachment inquiry.
The ranks of progressives and independents have been growing along with conservative voters that have flocked to (and taken over) the Republican Party. Isn't it time so-called mainstream Democrats welcome independents and progressives instead of dismissing them as fringe loonies? Pelosi, Biden and others talk about bipartisanship but can't seem to co-exist with a growing majority of their own party!
5
Out late last night and decided to read this essay before my first cup of coffee. Don't need the coffee now. I am really "woke". Thank you Ms. Dowd, I needed that.
3
Maureen, perfectly said, my thoughts exactly. I, too, am still appalled at the Clarence Thomas hearings and can't look at him sitting there, in judicial robes, without recalling his "high tech lynching" whine. Now we have Brett Kavanaugh, two men who think women are their toys.
I would vote for Joe Biden, he was cowardly, for sure, but back in the day Democrats still believed they could work with Republicans. The open ended question now is, do we know that it's impossible and learn to stonewall them as they've stonewalled us for years? Joe Biden will have to prove his moxie or he won't be the nominee.
I also think all those Senators running for president are into self aggrandizement. We need a Democratic senate as much or more than we need Trump out of office; Mitch McConnell has arguably done more damage than Trump. Yet they've all decided to jump on the glory bandwagon to bring him down when staying put might be the more noble course.
Please, Mr. Mueller, get out in front of your ex friend. I get that lawyers can be on opposite sides and still get along but you were, for his ambition, expendable. And for what? History will slime him. But you can still make it right, by testifying.
A sad state of affairs for all the players. Someone once said we get the government we deserve. To quote the disgraced and misguided James Comey, "oh lordy, I hope not."
6
Does anyone believe that the republicans would not have immediately moved to impeachment if they had a Muller report on the doings of a democratic President? They are totally ruthless and Democrats just are not. But then maybe we need some decency in the face of the republican single-minded pursuit of power.
4
This is one of the most insightful and effective columns Ms Dowd has written in the last two or three years (and I read them all). I’m an independent voter who surpasses most Democrats in his revulsion at all things Trump. I keep up and yet I had not really thought of her specific conclusions here about the Barr/Mueller fiasco - the one we were going to avoid because of Mueller’s natural resistance to skulduggery. I am Mueller’s age, I too was in Vietnam, I have followed his career and considered him the only hope between us and the abyss. But he has failed because of his one fault we did not consider: naïveté. You know, I have gone through periods when I bought the Times just to read Ms. Dowd. Because when she really nails it, she is worth twenty times the price of the paper. And she nails it more than most. Bravo.
5
Among the souls Trump is eating are those that belong to some of our Democrats in the House including the Speaker’s. There is no doubt they are afraid of Trump and what they fear he may or may not do to them; sounds familiar. Say what you will about the flaws of Mueller and Comey I believe their moral compasses are a lot stronger than 90 percent of our politicians and pundits calculating the cost/benefits of impeachment. The constitution is deeply flawed and we are witnessing to our present peril why it is inferior to that of almost all western democracies. But it is the only one we’ve got. Do your duty Nancy even though craven Republicans won’t do theirs. You swore to defend and uphold it regardless of the “risks” that are at any rate overblown by the punditry.
5
"Thank you for voicing the fury women of a certain age carry toward Joe Biden. Those hearings happened in 1991, not 1791."
We millennial women "of a certain age" who will also vote don't have a clue who Anita Hill is and frankly not interested to check her out on Google. Some of us were not even born when she and Biden apparently clashed. Please emphasize what all these indistinguishable "hundreds" of candidates will be proposing now in the 21st century. The past is the past and people evolve. Many of us change dramatically from high school to college and don't dwell on our stupid actions in the 9th grade.
4
That "Fair Play Is No Match for Foul" is something that crossed my mind several months ago, after watching an old interview with Mr. Mueller. Mrs. Dowd chose a perfect title for her article. Mueller is not particularly shrewd, but extremely scrupulous, and an honorable man. He knew that Trump was guilty, but in his mind, the letter of the law, prevailed over its spirit. In other words, he was no match for a gangster, as the prosecutors of that time had been no match for Al Capone. There is one thing that the author did not understand, and could not understand: there was no "transformation of William Barr from respected establishment lawyer to evil genius". A lamb cannot turn into a wolf overnight, nor vice-versa. Barr has always been a crook, it is written in his demeanor. If Mr. Mueller and others did not perceive that, it was their naïveté and lack of understanding of human nature to blame, as much as Barr's cunning.
7
I keep forgetting that it’s not Trump , Barr , Bannon , Ivanka , Jared , Tucker , Rush and all the rest of them . It’s the people who see all this as patriotic and OK ! What’s really stunning is the amount of people who cheer it on . I know many who get really angry when exposed to facts and accept all the lies .
9
What an amazing article. If this were the Catholic church, there would be confession followed by penance. But these men cannot even go into the confessional and admit wrongdoing even if the only person who would hear it is sworn to secrecy. And penance? These guys think they should be rewarded, not punished. Why, we ask, do people completely sell out to the devil? It is very clear Biden and Barr are cut from the same cloth. Afraid the white man will have to share anything with a woman including their belief the woman is telling the truth. The reason this goes on? Because these guys are not stupid. They can see the pain and suffering going on in front of them and they would rather be the deliverer of that than the recipient. What we need in America is a woman for president who will say to Biden, Thomas, Kavanaugh, Trump and so many what my mother said so many times: "You made your bed, now lie in it". I was willing to give Biden a pass on his sins. Now I think I will just pass on him. Oh, Kamala, wherefore art though, Kamala?
4
Couldn’t say it any better!
4
Gobbled him up, indeed. Trump's appetite for devouring souls may be surpassed only by his appetite for Big Macs. The jury is still out on that one, too. Could someone please tell the jury that a verdict is needed to save America?
5
Well, this is very reminiscent of the skewering of Hillary just before the election. If you now skewer Biden, no matter how egregious his behavior, even in this factual context of how Trump's existence corrupts people, you only neutralize Biden, giving Trump more of a chance. We need to rid ourselves of Trump no matter how flawed the Democratic candidate is.
3
Clarence Thomas was knows as a conservative when Ronald Reagan named him to the EEOC. But the confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court gave him PTSD,
Since then, he (and his wife) have been a Freudian mess, lashing out at liberals and progressives as if to project guilt where they think it lies.
The real problem -- apart from his EEOC nomination -- is that conservatives have fallen all over the guy, giving him props for very conservative opinions.
Thomas tries to please those who like him and offend those who do not. In that, he is a lot like Donald Trump.
William Barr knew all this and jumped on the firetruck as it drove by.
4
Comey was as influential as the Russians by excoriating Clinton for her email server before the election and not mentioning Trump. Evidently he was biased. After been mistreated by Trump not so much. Mueller of course needed to tesity over report: Barr testifying is about as good as Trump testifying. Until we hear from the author Report will not be explained appropriately.
3
Trump must go! Please keep that in mind when you choose your favorite Democrat. Every candidate has problems because no one is perfect, and the laundry will be hanging on the line for the next year. Sanders verbally crucified Clinton during the primary, resulting in his supporters choosing not to vote at all. Don't let identity politics and disgust with the mire in Washington control your choice of candidate or support for the Democrat who does receive the nomination. It's time to vote with your head, not necessarily your heart, because the stakes this time are high. Our country is in jeopardy.
8
there is solid evidence that AG Barr committed the same deceitful move during the First Bush Presidency. He covered up a report by misrepresenting it's content using his same current Modus Operandi . Trump did not need to corrupt Barr. He already was willing and able to deceive Congress and the Public.
7
Good one, MD.
The whole affair adds credence to the old adage;
'A lie will travel the world, while the truth is still getting its boots on.'
Well, the lies are flying at supersonic speeds these days, while the Dems are still looking for the closet where the boots are kept.
They seem trapped in some sort of slo-mo stress nightmare, walking the hall of congress with no pants on trying to remember the location of the locker containing their boots.
6
Thank you so very much Ms. Dowd from bringing your perspective to this discussion. Your column has provided me with information I needed to draw my conclusion on Joe Biden. I will not vote for this man who is a DINO. I think that he shares responsibility for Obama's weakness and capitulation to Republicans during his presidency.
Electing Biden as president is the equivalent of choosing a Republican, only one with good manners.
4
Anyone who has actually watched the exchange between Cris and Barr knows that Barr did not lie. There was no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. The case for obstruction cannot be made, as Mueller indicated in his report. The Democrats have refused Barr's offer to view the unreacted report at the Justice Department. So what is the Democratic Party to do? Well, make up charges of perjury that are completely unfounded of course. What a farce.
I have always believed that Republicans will do anything to win, and once they have won, they will do everything they can to crush and destroy their opponents. We see this all the time with dirty tricks and lies in elections and appointments (remember Merrick Garland?) and then in the numerous ways Republicans engage in voter suppression, such as extreme gerrymandering and voter ID laws. But, of course, they were utterly silent following the absentee ballot scandal in North Carolina last year.
The Republican Party has become a party without shame. Its response to every scandal is to shrug its collective shoulders and say, “Who cares, as long as we win? “ it is indeed sad that some people have lost all sense of morality.
7
I stopped reading Maureen in the early 00s when I felt she was so anti Clinton that I could predict the final paragraph of every column. I’ve begun reading her again this year and I am glad. She is a fine writer and thinker and observer. Great column.
It will be a terrible outcome if Mueller truthfully says that the short summary by Barr, created under intense pressure from Democrats in just a few days, did not cover enough details but was basically accurate.
1
Great column today. I hope that Robert Mueller will recognize the painful reality that his friend Bill Barr and the other Trump devotees have less honor than Mafia dons and drop his measured approach in favor of aggressive advocacy for the truth and our fragile democracy.
3
Alright Maureen, I had all but written you off as over the hill and no longer able to deliver the goods. Thank you for this op-ed, the subject matter is obviously near and dear to your heart. Every point made and conclusion absolutely true. The results of that ridiculous spectacle have been disastrous for the Supreme Court, as Thomas has proven himself time and time again as unfit for the job. I will say the same about Kavanaugh, a party hack completely incapable of judicial prudence and impartiality. Biden has no place in the campaign race for POTUS.
4
I agree with Maureen Dowd's premise that trust in good values and belief in fair play can set you up to be squashed by malevolent characters.
But I disagree with both Comey's bite-by-bite analogy and Dowd's swallo- in-one-gulp. The implication Barr, Pompeo, Pence, Ross, Whitaker, McConnell, etc lost their soul either slowly or quickly implies they had a noble soul that was corrupted by Trump.
No way. Can't blame Trump for their moral failures.
2
Great commentary by Maureen Dowd. Everything in this article describes exactly why I cannot support Biden. What does a Biden Presidency look like? To me it looks like a replay of the ineffectual and supine Obama Presidency in which he squandered 6 out of 8 years trying to appease Republicans. And then only to have the incompetent Harry Reid destroy the one procedural safeguard that would have prevented Trump from packing the federal bench with ideologues.
Let's face it, the old guard Democrats are just not very good at "politics" with the possible exception of Nancy Pelosi who is the only Democrat that seems to know how to checkmate Trump at every turn.
Biden's a nice man but not qualified for the current type of Presidency required which will require someone that is willing to fight for principles and not compromise. Turning the other cheek is fine but doesn't do you much good when you're in the Coliseum and about to be devoured by a beast.
5
It is funny that Joe Biden may be the only candidate that can beat Trump, and if economy job growth and wage increases he will not beat him. However the dems for years have brought a butter knife to a gun fight. These repubs are ruthless and run roughshod over the dems. The dems keep taking the "high ground" and get kicked in the teeth. Now they keep talking about constitutional duty of the congress when the Trump supporter has no clue or interest in that subject. They have stopped teaching civics and economics in schools years ago. One needs to major in civics or economics to learn how our government and markets work. If Joe wins nomination he will need to pick Warren or Bernie to have any chance.
2
Sounds like what I've been thinking for a long, long time:
It's time the Democrats played to win.
4
100% correct, Ms. Dowd. It is time for the gloves to come off and to take down this sick "president" and his sycophants and enablers by any means available. It's truly our last chance. The Republican Big Lie Machine has been stealing control of the conversation for decades and has almost totally stolen control of the government, which will surely destroy the America they purport to serve.
I am done pandering to propriety and "making nice" to Republicans who read niceness and respect as weakness and concession. (Sorry, Joe Biden.) If indeed all is fair in love and war, then it is well past time for the majority of us who truly love our country and its genuine freedoms and responsibilities to wage active political war against our internal enemies as they have been doing to us for years.
5
Wow! How well this writing captures the sad dynamic we've seen in DC since the days of Reagan: The Democrats do their best to preserve the republic, not just by following rules but acting in respectful, civil ways. While the Republicans play to win at any cost. I'll add to Ms. Dowd's observations the obvious one of Mitch McConnell refusing Merrick Garland a hearing for the last 11 months of the Obama presidency.
It sure would be nice if we could get the Republicans to behave well again, but in the age of Trump that seems quite impossible. (Even the ones who criticize Trump, like Jeff Flake or Ben Sasse, end up voting for every foolish thing he wants.) Perhaps the Democrats need to start playing a harder version of this national pastime.
2
The republicans are in control because the democrats are afraid to confront the truth of their own weakness of character. Republicans have never shied away from playing hard, fast and foul, while the democrats whine about ‘fairness’. This newer generation is trying, but the wish/washy leaders of the party and the DNC keep putting forth the same old tripe and insubstantial protests. Hattie McDaniel once had a line in a movie which sums it all up, “When you fight the devil, sometimes you gotta his own pitchfork”. Life and death of a democracy depends on how willing the people are to fight for it, and when jobs are plentiful and “... we’re making money”, it’s even harder to see how rotten the top is.
1
As a woman and a feminist, the only thing I care about in 2020 is winning. And the candidate who stands the best chance is, I believe, Joe Biden. I don’t care what he did 20+ years ago during the Anita Hill controversy, and I don’t want to spend the next 18 months watching Maureen Dowd light into him, week after week, as she did with Hillary Clinton. Biden actually has been a friend to women, through the policies he’s championed throughout his long career. Dowd, not so much.
4
If it is possible to reward Trump with more attention, Joe Biden is doing it. The majority of citizens will know your name when you were Vice President, not once, but twice, to the first black President of the United States. Name recognition seems to matter more than substance when it comes to the media coverage of Joe Biden's run for the nomination. He and the media are feeding Trump's deep thirst for attention by making him the focus of whatever Biden is about. Perhaps the media coverage of Biden is satisfying a need for nostalgia; for the "good old days." If so, in Biden, they have the wrong "good old boy." Perhaps the media hopes he has grown a spine since his days as chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Fair play in the "good old days" was just as foul as it is today when the soul of our nation is on the chopping block. Is it time to start talking truth about the needs of our nation and stop giving Trump more attention by way of Biden?
The corrosion of the Republican soul began with Nixon's southern strategy & Watergate.
It then morphed into ridiculous ideological nonsense with Reagan's fairytale "free-market capitalism (without the responsibility), "trickle-down economics," and "deregulation."
The Republican soul became a dark hole when Bush and Cheney lied our way in to their "slam-dunk," "pre-emptive war" in Iraq that fed the insatiable military-industrial complex and produced untold deaths.
The decaying of the Republican soul escalated with Scalia's convoluted and 100% corrupting Citizens United decision to allow rich people to buy their politicians without being accountable.
But the total collapse of Republican democratic responsibility and our pivot into authoritarian rule occurred when McConnell refused to allow President Obama's Supreme Court nominee to even be considered many months before the 2016 election; he then bragged that this was one of his "proudest moments" in politics.
And then we got the deranged, amoral, immoral, and completely lawless Mr. Trump as GOP president, who lost the popular vote but got the Electoral College vote. Anyone with an ounce of conscience has now been fired or fled from the Trump administration, and the party of Lincoln is now 101% the party of Trump
No need to play by the rules, abide by laws and the Constitution; no need for ethics, accountability, and responsibility.
Who stopped the GOP? Not the spineless opposition, epitomized by Biden & too many Dems
6
Biden, Schumer, and so many good-old-boy, hail-fellow-well-met Democratic politicians
Remember when after meeting with Trump, Chuck Schumer said: "I think he likes me!"
Have you ever heard a Republican politicians say such a thing?
Exactly!
We are in this country's Lord of the Flies moment in history, and Maureen is right--during such pivotal times "fair play is no match for foul." The Democrats must grow a spine and stop letting the bullying, soulless Republicans steal their lunch money, which the Republicans have been doing since the Nixon administration.
When the Attorney-General of the nation Barr refuses to answer a congressional subpoena, then in the spirit of the law (if not the letter of the law), this country is in a constitutional crisis, With arrogant smirks on their amoral faces, the Republicans continually play the Democrats as fools.
Politics is about power--who has it, who wields it, and who can defend against power.
Voters like to vote for strong leaders, and Trump, McConnell, Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, and almost the entire Republican party appear confident and strong--lying, mean, and wrong about everything, but strong.
Adam Schiff is strong and on the right side of American history, and Trump hates him. Exactly!
7
Ms. Dowd,
You hit the nail on the head. Thank you.
4
Good writing. Good article. Accurate perspective. In a democracy, the "what' (process) has higher priority than the "who" (personality). Beware when this priority is flipped around. The Republicans have turned into a criminal organization who will step on your child's neck for a dollar and then lie about it. Gloves off, Dems. NPR should be ashamed.
4
We do not need to demonize our opponents but we do need to double down on calling out the nefarious ways in which the opponent does business. Without whining and without staking out the moral high ground in order to try to shame a shameless administration. The Republicans, most especially the tea party arm, have no qualms about loud, indignant citation of dubious facts to make their case about why they are entitled to cheat.
This president and attorney general need to be sanctioned until 2020 when we can give them a permanent time out.
3
The only way the Democrats can win is to be as partisan as the Republicans. They tried being accommodating, and got punched in the face, repeatedly. Time for the Dems to do some serious punching of their own.
4
Soul gobbling is hardly the exclusive preview of D J. Trump, though his track record of apparently facile conquests is impressive — even by Washington standards.
It is apparent that Barr was a willing supplicant with no compunctions about selling out.
Then it seems no one mentioned in this piece was sufficiently endowed with unshakeable moral convictions and moral courage.
As for Biden and the once again infamous Clarence Thomas hearings, it was all about his posturing and going the low road while leaving Anita Hill in the wagon ruts. Uncle Joe it seems has had his share of being played by and perpetrating the pernicious culture that so consistently afflicts politics on both sides of the impossible Washington divide.
I get it that Dowd doesn't like Joe Biden and seems to be livid that Biden is running 30 points ahead of most of his rivals among the actual Democratic voters, but it is deeply unfair -- yes, unfair-- to say that Biden "acted more like a Republican collaborator" at the Anita Hill hearing. This is exactly the sort of over-the-top cheap shot that Trump specializes in. Biden supported and believed Hill, asked her sympathetic questions, and voted against confirming Thomas. Pretending three decades later that, as Committee Chair, Biden had any control over what GOP Senators asked her or what they said about her outside the hearing room is to peddle a lie. For that matter, considering that 11 Democrats voted to confirm Thomas -- who was confirmed narrowly, 52-48 -- it should be clear to anyone like Dowd who was there that Biden had a lot less control over this nomination than she pretends now.
1
One of your absolute best, Maureen Dowd. Thank you.
We must not forget the weasel Rod Rosenstein, who offered a gulp and a half of his soul to Trump. Let's just hope that the plane that the nasty knave promised to land for Trump turns out to be a 737 Max 8.
Note to investigators: "Getting it right" does NOT automatically mean "Getting it for the Right."
3
Shannon-Wright’s criticism of Biden for being neutral is why every man or woman with a son should be afraid of the 21st century left. Due process means nothing to them. Their rule is that you must believe accusers if they are women—no matter whether there is any corroboration. The Kavanaugh debacle was a perfect example. And if we follow her approach, we will see more and more of what Justice Thomas called s high tech lynching. If you have a son or brother, Resist.
Exactly right on.
This truly encapsulates the meaning of the phrase, "one picture is worth a thousand words"! What else can you say about Biden.
So, the message I get from this is that the Democrats need to be more like the Republicans. In other words the party that tries to live by a concept of fairness, integrity and honor is to blame for the Republicans lack of the same. How twisted has our politics gotten,how broken is our political system when it degenerates to this? The take away that I got was that H.W. Bush nominated an undistinguished token black to the Supreme Court, but it was the Democrat Biden's fault!
The Democrats try to appeal to and be the party of decent, law abiding and charitable people. And they try to do so without resorting to cheating, breaking the law, being hypocritical or dishonorable. Unfortunately the Republicans (since Newt), have found that it is much easier to win if they are not held back by having to live by higher standards of behavior. And this has culminated in their election of Trump, an amoral and unhinged con artist. In the end our leaders reflect the people who elect them. If the people are willing to give in to the lowest common denominators like greed, racism and xenophobia, we wind up with the likes of Trump. That is why evil tends to win in the end.
Perhaps the only way to truly defeat the evil mind set is for the American people to suffer enough until they wake up to the true costs of selling out their souls. Unfortunately we are not their yet. Much more pain to come.
13
Of course, Dowd gives no specifics in how the AG mismanaged or misinterpreted the special council report. I’d expect nothing less.
It has been a long time since the NYT has written an interesting front page article about any of the women running for president. The paper seems to think that Bernie and Biden are so thrilling they require all the attention the paper can muster. With so much media support for the men, it is no wonder they are trending upwards in polls.
What does the media have against young, smart women who have new ideas?
11
Barr’s “soul” was not gobbled by Trump. He showed clearly what he is made of, as is every Republican collaborator who has turned over whatever principles they formerly gave lip service to, and which are all lying in the trash heap in their unending thirst for power at all costs. That is the soul of Bill Barr and it’s perfectly matched to Trump.
10
Barr had a history of bailing out powerful men and in his lust to A.G., he sold his soul. That said, what are the feckless Democrats going to do about this?
Pelosi denounced Barr as a man that perjured himself (lied to Congress). What is the Madam Speaker going to let her committee chairs do?
There are plenty of us regular folks out here hankering for justice and I hope they hear us. If the Dems don't start taking on the GOP, why vote at all? They are all the same because if you let people lie with impunity, you are condoning their behavior, aren't you?
8
>>>Barr ground his wingtip into Mueller’s throat on Wednesday during his Senate testimony. He spoke of Mueller dismissively...>>>
That's what happens when your reputation for virtue is based on political image making and no substance. Everybody wants to be an Eliot Richardson. Comey was no virtue scout. (see Clinton) Now he is righteously mocked on the left and the right. And Mueller's turn is coming. He too will have Barr's wingtips on his throat as well as the loathing of the left. The special counsel was more than capable of clearly expressing his thinking and conclusions in his report. Mueller CHOSE not to clearly express his thinking. Instead Mueller presented us with a Shakespearean experience. A 400 page read that endows and requires the reader to divine the truth of the matter at hand.
In sum, Muller chose to be coy. He is no Eliot Richardson. Like Comey, he is a disappointment who has given the Trump and his Attorney General another shot at the title.
8
At some point bright conservative students come to realize that their rhetorical skills make them compelling debaters, regardless of the facts. A turn of phrase catches the opposition by surprise. No doubt Barr was struck one day by the way his rhetoric impede getting at the truth. Be bold, assert, split hairs, deflect, call someone "snitty,"do a rope-a-dope, distract from the truth. Tell yourself how smart you are, how you bested those who play fair. Be smug
4
Are any of these men in Washington ever going to man up and call it what it is? Now is the time to put politics aside. Our president is in bed with Putin and we are all going to pay the price--Republican and Democrat--if we haven't already.
8
Dear Maureen, Your truthful assessments are unquestionable. And yet, as I saw the title of your op ed I thought, "I bet Maureen will go after Biden as she did Hillary." And indeed I was not wrong.
In case Biden turns out to be the Democratic presidential nominee, it will be diatribes like yours that will help undermine an admittedly flawed candidate to lose to the monstrous Trump, as your diatribes about Hillary may have helped him in 2016.
11
A very good article. But Comey was also wrong and Maureen is wrong because Barr has been a soulless Republican hit man for over 30 years. He auditioned for AG, got it and did what he planned to do all along.
9
No one can "gobble up" one's soul without their permission. The heart of the problem WE THE PEOPLE are facing today is greed.
Greed destroys. Insatiable greed destroys the soul. Insatiable greed is the evil we face today. The Con Don, Minister Pence, Traitor Mitch McConnell, Barr, John Roberts, Bannon, Limbaugh, Coulter, the Koch brothers and all their 0.01% Robber Baron brethren have tried to destroy honesty, integrity, reason and sanity in their 40+ year agenda to destroy OUR democray and OUR lives.
I am grateful that so many people in/with power are joining
WE THE PEOPLE to shout out our abhorance of the current destroyers who have gotten control of OUR government. Only WE - together - can/will/must stop them before they can further damage OUR lives, OUR planet, OUR democracy and the lives of 99.9% of the people in the world.
6
Anita Hill lied through her teeth, it was the Democrats on the committee who put her up to this shameful display of mendacity then tossed her under the bus. Christine Blasey Ford, and Anita Hill will pigeonholed forever in "not to be believed" for their salacious accusations
70% of Democrats want impeachment now.
We cannot be ignored by Nancy Pelosi.
Trump will lose support, maybe a lot, when the public sees more on TV. He will not gain any votes.
She is ignoring us and her own predictions about Trump not leaving office in the face of a Democratic win.
Trump will cheat with the help of the Russians. Again!
What happens when he “wins”, Nancy Pelosi?
You will be in handcuffs then or sooner if you do not impeach
him now.
6
Somebody should've shown Biden that picture of him and Thomas and asked, "Now do you REALLY want to run again?"
2
It is not just biden but schumer also. #dumpschumer. Looking down his nose , over his glasses and making dumb comments does not counter trump. In the meeting with trump, Pelosi and schumer that was televised the only real leaders were Pelosi and trump. Schumer made faces and some dumb comments, WOW what a powerful leader. Pelosi needs help and it is not schumer or biden. I am still looking for a Democrat.
1
This is the best column that you have ever written, right to the point.
3
"Attorney General William Barr said that spying on any political campaign was a 'big deal'. ” Simply part of Mr. Barr's ongoing effort to spin the Mueller report in favor of his boss, Mr. Trump. "Tragically, many have already chosen to accept Attorney General William Barr’s gross mischaracterization of the Mueller Report ... [The Mueller report] does not exonerate. It excoriates. It reveals a president who is dangerously incompetent, corrupt, impulsive and insecure. It reveals an administration of sycophants enabling a criminally inept crime family ... It reveals an attack on our country by a foreign adversary and a leader who lacks the honor to defend it. It also reveals that the attorney general is as big a liar as his boss ... " (Houston Chronicle, 2May2019)
9
Right on the money. The Democrats have for decades been played the fool because they want to be fair and reasonable when they are in an argument with people who act like nasty drunks.
This is why I do not support Biden. His need to be affable and get along with the opposition is terribly misplaced. While it is possible to tame a feral cat by putting out milk, it is not possible to tame a rattlesnake.
Being the "McConnell whisperer" at the Obama WH got him nowhere. If Biden were half as effective at that game as he thinks he is, Merrick Garland would be on the supreme court, not Gorsuch and Kavanaugh.
With democracy and the environment in the balance, the time for comity is past.
They are not your friends Biden, nor are they ours. America wanted the country run "like a business"? It sure is. Ugly, nasty, deceitful, avaricious, having no thought for who is harmed. Republicanism is the political form of unbridled capitalism.
Defeat them? They must be ground into the dust. It is all they understand.
13
Barr respected before Trump?
No one remembers Barr’s role in George H.W.Bush’s Iran-Contra pardons?
It was another “Saturday Night Massacre” for America that enabled President GHW Bush to save his own skin and avoid coming across with documents that would have incriminated himself.
7
It seems that evil is winning.
9
While North Korea is testing ICBMs with nukes attached, Putin is supporting an authoritarian regime in Venezuela and our secretary or state is hammering the war drums to protect our sovereignty our dearest POTUS is working on one liners to stimulate and mollify his angry base of poorly educated for his next gratis rally in a secure state that will bolster his confidence and massage his ego.
Hopefully said massage will not have a happy ending for said dearest leader
2
Democrats and fair play? You mean, like in the Kavanaugh hearings? You kidding, right?
3
My ~ semi-annual perusal of Dowd's thoughts.
No change, she's still strobe-lighting all over the map and getting just about everything dead wrong.
For some inane reason she's seriously out-of-touch with facts of the Mueller-Barr issue. Barr was 100% right on the facts in his 4-page summary, Mueller told him that outright. Barr didn't "disrespect" Mueller -- he actually flat-out disagreed with the entire premise of Mueller's 450 pg report. Mueller reversed our legal system and assumed it's required to prove 100% innocence, otherwise someone can't be "cleared" And Mueller put grand jury testimony in the report, testimony that cannot be made public. And Mueller learned there was zero evidence of collusion on Day1 and should have dropped the entire investigation on Day2. "Witch-Hunt" is an understmt.
1
Let us remember during the Hill-Thomas televised hearings, among Professor Hill's most vitriolic detractors were black women who were furious that she was "trying to bring a black man down".
3
Biden is done. He only has the best name recognition as Obama's veep, but other than that he might as well be a Republican with his terrible votes.
Harris/Warren 2020
If I was a Democrat, I would ride down an elevator ridiculing ignorant and evil white American men through history and how it must all change.
4
Is it wrong to hate Boy Scouts. I can't help it, I do.
3
OMG the best, most important thing this columnist may have ever written! Thank you!
9
They have no souls, they show no mercy...
But how much do you want to bet how much they would beg for mercy if the shoe was on the other foot.
Just look at the way Hank Paulson did when he needed that $700 bil to save the banks. No eating what you kill your self then. No we deserve it because we are so good and have such ability, unlike the lazy bums at the bottom who want handouts and healtcare.
(Hank Paulson would probably be thinking right about now: "hey, how did I get dragged into this?")
They have no dignity.
3
Ms. Dowd's characterization of the Hill/Thomas controversy is one of the most purposefully dishonest things I've ever read in the NYT. The Democrats were on a search for the truth. Really.
Beginning with the rough-riding of Robert Bork, one of the most eminently qualified nominees ever to appear before Senate Judiciary, the Democrats have turned judicial confirmations into bloodsport. Recall first the all out effort by Democrat NGOs to find anything that could derail the Thomas nomination. Recall that a Democrat member of the Senate Judiciary Committee likely committed a felony by leaking the FBI report alluding to the Hill allegations. Recall that Ms. Hill had made the allegations to a few friends to explain why she had not received a high position at the EEOC. Recall that Ms. Hill, herself, wanted no part of this mess, but came to DC when that NGO told her they were running with the story, whether or not she came to DC to present it.
At one time, Joe Biden was decent enough politician to understand that a sitting President is generally entitled to have his nominees for appointive positions. That is why Republicans have graciously confirmed Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayer, knowing all the time that they were committed leftists who would support the idea of a living Constitution with no definite meaning.
It is sickening to watch Biden grovel and apologize for simply doing his job as a Senator and refusing to go forward with the High Tech Lynching. Stop Lying!
2
For some reason Trump keeps reminding me of a Mafia kingpin, Ms. Dowd.
As our Republic winds down,I keep thinking about how the Democrats are playing an entirely different game from the Republicans, i.e. the Democrats think they're in a boxing match playing by the Marquess of Queensberry rules, while the Republicans are in a cage match, not playing by any rules at all.
So perhaps it's best we go back in time when we knew how to take down these kind of criminals?
To that end, I am reminded of the brilliant scene from The Untouchables between Malone and Ness, played by Sean Connery and Kevin Costner:
Malone: You said you wanted to get Capone. Do you really wanna get him? You see what I’m saying is, what are you prepared to do?
Ness: Anything within the law.
Malone: And *then* what are you prepared to do? If you open the can on these worms you must be prepared to go all the way. Because they’re not gonna give up the fight, until one of you is dead.
Ness: I want to get Capone! I don’t know how to do it.
Malone: You wanna know how to get Capone? They pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. *That’s* the *Chicago* way! And that’s how you get Capone.
We need a present day Ness and Malone.
14
"... Trump gobbled up the attorney general’s soul like a midnight snack..."
False premise. Barr had no soul to be devoted. His reputation was a fraud. Similar to Bork selling his soul for Nixon, Barr sold his soul many years ago to bury the Iran-Contra fiasco.
10
To me it seems Mr. Barr is auditioning for the next Supreme Court vacancy.
6
Mueller: a Ned Stark for our times. Destroyed by the cynical and cunning.
7
Bertrand Russell quote: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wise people so full of doubts.”
22
All of our politicians have become cowards. They are beholden to the 24/7 news cycle and social media. All they care about are polls and ratings especially Pelosi. Trump is successful because he is perceived to be himself all the time. Even though that self is a bully buffoon it doesn't matter to people who are looking for authenticity. However, the biggest fools are the people who think Trump is authentic. He is a con and will turn on people in a flash because he lacks integrity and a soul. Whoever the Democrats pick to run against Trump, that person has got to win in order to rid us of the criminal, treasonous, anti-Constitutional, Republicans. Even though the Democrats are ineffective because they have lacked real power for decades, I trust them more to raise the bar for the American people.
5
“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”
- Bertrand Russell
10
1000% correct. Hear hear!
5
When do we learn that you cant trust anything the Republicans say. Mueller was hoodwinked but he still has time to tell his side, which is the truth. As far as Barr goes, Democrats should do whatever they can to rub his face in his outrageous lies..I say, put him in jail, he is reckless and dangerous.
7
“Diabolical”: The perfect word for Mitch McConnell.
10
Maureen, an excellent piece of writing. Too often journalists are using many euphemisms for lying, cheating, stealing, obstructing and committing acts of conspiracy. If a politician or an individual is a coward, let them know. (Barr ground his wingtip...). While you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, people understand lies are lies. Please strive to be as direct and plain spoken as possible. We need you to do that.
5
Those who empowered Thomas then were cowards. Those who voted for Kavanaugh now, equally so. And what has been in plain sight is that Trump has been and still is acting as Putin's agent.
9
"Comey also got tangled up on the issue of fairness, with disastrous results....President Obama got similarly wrapped around the axle when he stayed mum on his administration’s investigation into Russia’s sabotage....Like Comey, Mueller believed in his own purity so much that he was blinded to his naïveté." Maureen you have nailed it. In each case, these "leaders" became caught up in their own vanity while the principles the country has been founded on are being ground to dust. Wake up Democrats! You are using supersoakers while the amoral opposition is armed with assault weapons. Abandon identify politics, the center is wide open. Stay in your lanes, be disciplined, ruthless and skillful.
6
Well, according to WaPo 42 minutes ago, yes, Mueller is apparently going to "Man Up" on May 15th. Strap in and get ready to rock and roll!
4
I’d suggest that folks need to take a good hard look at their definitions of “fighting.”
Because it ain’t like in the movies. You don’t get to pump your fist into the sky a couple times, give a brief speech, mauder about freedom in Fredonia, and the bad guys just burst into tears and surrender. And you’re not dug in behind some lonely barricade with a worn-out rifle, knowing that you’re probably not gonna live out the day. You’re not even marching across the Pettis Bridge with a bunch of unarmed folks, hoping that this time, the hickory stick that hits you hard in the head won’t kill you dead.
Get over yourselves. There are a ton of good folks in offices, tired, with red eyes, going over the injunctions their boss wants to file tomorrow just that one more time. Lots of good folks out there knocking on doors, trying to talk to Trumpists who’re likely to spit on them. Lots of hard-worked staffers handing the famous people info, or writing EPA injunctions, and the like. You know...the little people.
For that matter, lots of our troops who really ARE on a battlefield, getting shot at, doing their best to stick up for what’s best in this country. And hanging on to, “Duty, Honor, Country,” for dear life.
Half the people bawling at, say, Joe Biden didn’t even bother to show up and vote. I’ll bet none of ‘em ever got close to standing up for what Pelosi’s stood up for, and stood up to. And I KNOW they never gritted their teeth as they sorted through death threats.
Get over it.
2
If Trump is planning to live by devouring the souls of people like Barr, we don't have to worry about 2020. He'll be dead of malnutrition long before that.
4
If Mueller and Barr were such good pals in D.C. why did president Truman say "If you want a friend in Washington, buy a dog?"
3
Trump, like any bully or spoiled brat will test every limit to get what he wants. He finds fixers to save him when he exceeds limits of convention and legalality. He is an excellent stress test for our so called constitutional democracy.
5
"Biden was striving to be “fair” to his vicious, duplicitous Republican colleagues who were jamming an arch-conservative liar onto the Supreme Court."
And this is why we really need a woman president.
4
Very Nice Ms Dowd. I had to look up 3 things!
May I suggest that what has taken place with Barr is not a proof that his soul has been consumed by El Trumpo, but rather that he finally dropped the veil over what his soul has been like all along. It is only because what he is involved in now is so public that people, nonrepublican people, are taking notice of his innate vileness. I suggest his republican friends have known this about him all along. Every other one of them has been just as vile when it came to push or shove why would he be different?
5
There is but one way to deal with a soulless bully, hit him hard and harder. Then kick him when he is down.
9
And yet we Democrats will likely nominate the soulless Biden as our candidate for POTUS because he is not "radical" like many of the other, better qualified candidates and therefore more electable. But even a soulless president is better than one who sups the souls of sycophants. Or at least that we tell ourselves. So if and when Biden prevails, we can expect more reassuring words and compromise after compromise with those who could care less about the health, education and welfare of any save the top 1% and the desires of the military, defense contractors, Big Pharma, and the rest of the usual villains. Biden knows them all well. He might talk tough about them in public, but in private it will be more of those toothy smiles and handshaking. Yet I will hold my nose and vote Biden in November 2020, if only cause the stench from the other candidate will linger longer.
7
Robert Mueller found no guilt associated by President Trump on both the collusion and obstruction charges. And after thoroughly investigating the over 400 Mueller report that took 2 plus years and cost the taxpayer over 30 million dollars neither could William Barr. End of investigation. Will the Democrats and liberals let this go. Of course not. They are seething at the mouth and will drive this into the ground. Continue and President Trump will be sure to win reelection. This is a dead issue. The end.
1
I am not certain that Trump deserves all the blame for the present-day Republican party's rigid obstinacy, where giving in even slightly to the opponent is regarded as effeminate. Be a man, the politicos insist. In the Clarence Hill Case, there is little doubt that the case was rigged in favor of Hill and like Trump's later revelation of locker-room talk, men being men was not felt to be demeaning or disqualifying; what was sought in the judicial sphere as in the political sphere was a "winner", one who would push for his point of view without compromise, because it was winning not justice and not mercy that was all important. That is the philosophy Trump goes by today; he want to win and all who stand in his way he learns to hate and will try to hurt. To Trump winning is everything, because that is where the wealth goes in our country. It does not matter what means you use to win , fair means or foul. Foul is better because it is harder to to plan against and harder to stop. Losing means becoming less powerful, less affluent. The Biden of the Hill episode and the Trump of today have much in common. But there does remain the possibility that the Biden of today has given up the Hill day thinking. Hope so.
1
You hit the nail on the head, Maureen.
Biden bent over backwards to be fair.
Obama tied himself in knots to be fair to Don the Con, and now Trump uses Obama’s sense of fairness against him.
Jame Comey knew he was going to be accused of everything on earth no matter what he did, so he went for the least unfair. And Mueller has taken
restraint to the point of virtual paralysis. Speak up, Bob Mueller!
It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.
Throw some cold water on William Barr. Don’t let him erase your investigation.
12
you nailed it!
5
Barr will get a federal judgeship. Bob, not the Mueller of this essay, will get the smear as not manning up.
Mueller needs to go on 60 minutes. It’s time for a Daniel Ellsberg moment. All the “process” that “fair and responsible” people are following is just getting them tied up in knots. It takes two to tango but the GOP is dancing its own dance.
Just go on 60 minutes and on your way drop off an unresacted copy of the report to The NY Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
10
Comey's still right, it was a very small soul, hardly a morsel...
2
So Maureen, let’s now do to Biden what you did to Hillary. Devote your columns to undermining perhaps flawed but basically decent Democrats which does nothing but boost the ultimate villain, Trump. I can imagine you spending the next year going after decades old missteps by Joe just like you devoted so many columns three and four years ago pulling the rug from under Hillary. It’s time you devoted your precious spot in the NYT (and I mean that seriously) to describe the true transgressors in our fragile democracy, Trump, Pence, McConnell, McCarthy, et al.
10
You're exactly right. As Leo Durocher said, nice guys finish second. I'm surprised that you omitted the failure of 'when they go low, we go high'.
Now we are going to see the Democrats blow yet another chance. Nancy Pelosi is saying 'he's not worth it', and conceding the Senate judgment of Trump to be an acquittal, instead of trying to shame some of the Republicans who used to call Trump unfit, racist, dumb into voting to convict (I'm looking at you, Lindsey, and you Marco and you Mitt).
Even if they can't get 20 of the 53 Republicans to do the right thing, Pelosi knows that it's her constitutional duty to bring impeachment charges against Trump. 10,000 lies? Libelling Obama as a wiretapper on Twitter? Falling in love with Kim? All those AND obstruction and collusion.
Will Pelosi ever get the point that John McCain mad (quoted by John Kerry): a battle not joined is a battle not enjoyed.
Probably not.
Which is why I'm still an independent.
1
Biden is NOT the Democrat to lead this country forward! He's a slimy MAN who has played the patriarchal game too long at the expense of women and children. Moderate democrats are economically PROGRESSIVE- we need Elizabeth Warren, who, unlike Sanders is not tainted by the socialist label, or any sexist behavior.
Gullible Mueller is so deeply detail oriented and bureaucratic, so politically innocent, that he could not call a spade a spade. He obfuscated his own report, instead of leading the country to clarity!! What a waste!
2
Shame Maureen. Here you are giving support to Democrats’ attempt to diminish Barr right before he unloads on them with proof of their anti-Trump efforts before and after the 2016 election. We all know that the Inspector General has been working the case of Obama’s FBI, CIA and NSA’s spying efforts. Barr made it known that, come May, the results of this investigation would be ready for prime time. Suddenly, Democrats started an all hands on deck assault on Barr. They have spun his 4 page Mueller Report summary as a ‘lie’. They have called for him the be impeached, found in contempt and generally drawn and quartered. All this is a ‘manufactured crisis’ designed to blunt the impact of the report on Obama that he will soon release. And here come Maureen to pile on. As Poppy would say - Shame.
2
Democrats are wimps because they don't play hard? I will agree with that to a certain degree. Last year John McCain voiced the same concern last year before his death. We need to solve and introduce legislation together. Joe Biden, also a gentleman knows this.
Biden knows the the Congress is different. He has served the the Senate for the past. He is an intelligent man. He knows and does include republicans. in Most of the "good" republicans have retired, quit If Democrats do not take the House, Senate and Presidency they can forget about passing anything.
Anita Hill hearings were shameful. Joe Biden knows he screwed up. He did not vote for Thomas. Does that excuse him. No. However I think like to think Democrats would forgive him after 30 years.
Now is the time to start impeachment hearings. I doubt that the Senate will even pass the House current legislation let along impeach trump. Mitch McConnel will not even bring it to the floor. We know that Republicans are uncompromising.
trump needs to be voted out. Candidates or writers should stop saying and writing negative articles about fellow Democrats. Joe Biden appears to be the candidate who can throw trump out.
I will continute to play nice and be fair while knowing that republicans don't play by the rules.
At this point the most important thing Congress can do is to protect our election process, that which was compromised by Russians, Assange, the GOP and Trump the ultimate beneficiary of corruption. Why was this not done in 2016? In this country we have not had a serious history of parties stealing elections at least obviously except perhaps with the exception of 2000 when Gore headed off the crisis by conceding.
But now we have seen how true corruption can take away our democratic process. Even the FBI and the FISA courts charged with rooting out corruption is made impotent by bogus charges. The House, the only viable body that can stand up for fair play in our elections, must immediately set up a special elections committee to oversee every aspect of our coming election. Without these safe guards Trump will once again stomp all over our electoral system and give himself the election.
This of course sounds more like Putin's Russia, but it is what Congress must stand up to if we are to preserve the last vestiges of our democrany.
4
The House should investigate Trump and his crew, and impeach him if he refuses to hand over documents or let his crew testify. The Senate will not convict him, and it will be up to the electorate to choose, with their votes for president and congress, for the continuation or the reversal of Trump's coup.
If the electorate retains Trump and a Republican Senate majority, then we will have changed our form of government at least temporarily and in effect suspended the Constitution by constitutional means. The electorate will have approved bread and circuses; for bread, the economy is booming, and no one does better circuses.
1
Bush v. Gore Ms. Down, Bush v.Gore.
3
I don't agree that Barr "was a respected establishment lawyer" considering his previous prevarications and obfuscations during the first Bush administration. However, Biden was respected, as were the Clintons, but you'd never know it from reading Dowd's articles.
3
You just knew that Clarence was a lightweight when he said "deign to think for themselves" when he mean to say "dare".
I'm becoming increasingly depressed over the chance that good ole Joe is the man to lead our party into the future and beat the beast in the White House and this piece points out why. He ain't got the guts or the right fighting spirit. You've got to be clean but mean. The red party are cheaters but not smart cheats, they are always caught. Their voters are idiots and I'm sorry but saying so is not bigotry its hard truth not nicely nicely playground getting along. No more even pretending to get along. And Nancy, dear there ain't no middle left to fight over let alone woo.
3
Joe doesn’t have to be mean. He has to be ruthless. Ruthless.
1
Timely column.
Jerks and conmen view courtesy and a willingness to compromise as weaknesses.
There is no “Win/Win” for them.
I hope that every single one of the democratic presidential candidates remembers that.
1
The NYT needs to give the “Barr is protecting Trump” narrative a rest. No sensible American is buying it.
The Collusion/Obstruction hoax failed. Live with it.
Save your strength for the stories you’ll be writing when the hammer drops on the members of the Obama Administration, Intelligence community, and his Justice Department. It’s going to be epic. And it’s coming. Soon.
5
Thank you, Maureen for this editorial today!!!
2
"He spoke of Mueller dismissively, like an errant errand boy who threw a silly snit after failing to complete the task he was given."
Which is completely justified. Mueller had the responsibility to make the call on both Russian Collusion and Obstruction of Justice. He did not complete his task and left it to Barr to complete the task.
I am sorry for you liberals out there who at this point must believe you can't win a simple tic tac toe game at this point. But it is your own doing. You pushed this Russian Collusion Story until it turned on you and bit you. Now we will investigate how this all came to be. We will find those that tried to invalidate a presidential election and the crimes they committed in furtherance of that goal.
The Obama admin weaponized the FBI, CIA, DOJ, and the IRS to use against its political opponents. This is perhaps outside of WWII the most serious threat this Republic has ever faced. It would have turned us into nothing more than another banana republic. It was a blatant abuse of power.
The tables have turned. Live by the lie, die by the lie.
3
You go girl, MD is back on her game. Now stay focused and let this disgusting
administration have it.
6
The new Republican party borders on fascism and our dear leader Trump fancies himself as our dictator a position AG Barr aka Roy Cohn supports . What his reward may be is not clear yet as he applied for the job with a winning memo that saw Trump as a king like figure and of course Trump loved it. Barr may have been sent in by GOP honchos anxious to keep Trump in power to get tax cuts for the donor class and more right wing judges. McConnell and Graham are party before country so if it turns out Trump was compromised by Putin they will say oh well that's Trump isn't just cute.
2
Just for a minute... think from a personal perspective.
When you are faced with an adversary who lies, cheats, stabs you in the back, spreads misleading information about you, finds ways to curtail you financially and bodes a threat to your career and aspirations...
What do you do?
Can you come down to his level and tuck all your ethics away in a closet?
What do you really do?
In politics or government or even on a personal level, there’s only one thing.
You build your own cabal so to say, like minded individuals, and all the while you suffer, and “you do”... you built alliances and then you make changes at the higher level- hopefully you get there.
Above all, “you persevere”—you do not give in to the evil of complacency, of conformity with the system— to do so means that you have given up.
To do so means, you’re one with your adversary. His or her trap is complete, you've too slide in the gutter, the riotous hole— another fly in a web where thousand others have been devoured before!
Ms Dow: this was a succinct but incisive dissection of the political mess atop the hill.
Thank you.
1
The only positive thing about Biden, that I can see, is that he will be unfazed by Trump's nastiness and Republican media shenanigans should he win the Democratic primaries.
Because of his pathology Trump is a difficult character to deal with. Fighting him in kind, getting down to his level, likely will turn off moderate Republicans who are needed for the Democratic candidate to win. Being accommodating will only strengthen his twisted view of his opponent as being weak.
Ignoring his smallness completely is the only way for a Democratic candidate to prevent being sucked into Trump's Bermuda Triangle. Stay on message when it comes to policy. Let people know what the Democrats plan to do. Don't focus on the past or on problems that Trump has created. Make believe he is not there.
1
wake up America or we will have a king again before we are 250 years old
5
If Mr. Biden loved his country and party the best thing he could do would be to use his name recognition to support the Democratic candidate who most reflects the will of us the people--and that candidate for sure is not Mr. Biden. And one of the best things politicians of good will and good soul could do for this country is to vote the Electoral College out of its power to crush the will of us the people, something state legislatures can do tomorrow if only the will is there. See https://www.nationalpopularvote.com/
3
... and what exactly is stopping Democrats from calling Mueller in front of the house Judicial Oversight Committee to testify and tell the whole world that Barr is a liar and that the report indicts Trump for collusion and its cover up?
... and what exactly is stopping Ms Dowd or anybody from quoting these damning paragraphs from the report?
What am I missing here?
6
More inside DC non sense. Barr — respected by whom? Give me a break. He has always been firmly in the political hack camp. And as they say, once a hack, always a hack.
5
She Got that RIGHT!
3
This is a powerful essay.
My conclusion? Like Nancy Pelosi who is setting a leadership example not seen by a democratic in a very long time, one of the 20+ candidates must stop playing nice and rise above the din.
I want to see someone with a killer instinct. Someone who will take on all comers. Someone who will go all-in and risk everything. Someone who understands the power of social media, and is making noise daily.
Joe Biden is like an old pair of jeans that’s been hanging in the closet but no longer fits. Calling Mike Pence decent? NO! Saying Dick Cheney’s an OK guy? NO!
Give me Kamala Harris absolutely destroying Barr. Or anyone else who will bare their fangs to kill the opposition.
The clock is ticking.
15
Sen Harris can handle POTUS and Putin, neither particularly smart but make up for it in meanness.
At 68, I still believe in goodness. Somehow, someway, Robert Mueller is going to figuratively excoriate Donald J Trump and Barr.
2
I am afraid we may be headed to total anarchy.
4
You are delusional. It was Barr that helped Geo HW avoid fallout from the Iran-Contra mess and he did it in much this same way.
Trump didn't goggle him. He took advantage of corruption that was offered.
Enough with revisionist history. Most of the people surrounding Trump came to him just as craven as he is.
10
Mueller? Bueller? You’re right, Barr humiliated Mueller. He needs to speak with hard words about what he has learned.
1
People have asked why Barr wanted this job.
He saw a hapless Man/Child given a position normally reserved for the leader of the free world. A position Barr views as near Imperial.
He saw the occupant flail, disregarding sound guidance, because none of his advisors, even the most craven, ever fearful of prison, could satisfy the Child’s wish that they become “My Roy Cohn.”
Barr auditioned for, and seeks to satisfy that wish; assuming the position of “he who determines who shall be prosecuted.”
In return he expects to be the child’s Regent.
4
Dear Maurine Dowd:
When was William Barr "a respected establishment lawyer"?
When he was arranging pardons for convicted Iran-Contra conspirators during Bush Senior's administration? When he was head of the Heritage Foundation, plotting to bring down President Obama by any means necessary? When he was courting Trump with an unsolicited nineteen-page memo propounding the same view as Richard Nixon, that the President is above the law?
Barr has always been a waterboy for the same team as Senate-leader Mitch McConnell, Oliver North, Dick Cheney, Wayne La Pierre, the Koch brothers and so many others bent on turning our republic into an empire, our democracy into an oligopoly of the rich and corporate. The only real question is whether they've already accomplished their aims, and are merely consolidating the power of our real rulers, or whether some form of democracy is really a viable option for our far-flung capitalist empire, defended by our mighty military machine, and ruled by puppet presidents who take their orders from a misnamed "conservative" establishment.
Oh, yes! This is a caricature of a far-more-complex situation - so complex that one can hardly get one's head around it. There may be some life in our democratic institutions, but do enough people care? Trump's 42% or 44% don't. Some people here in California and elsewhere care, but a lot of Americans are too ground down by making a living to pay much attention to the death of democracy.
12
@Robert Crosman : Thank you for that well put explanation. The problem is how to get enough people to see and understand the underlying truths of how we arrived at where we are, and what our options are going forward, to reorient our country toward a more humane and fully productive future? This is the crucial point to me. Which is incredibly difficult when people are too busy trying make ends meet to worry about larger questions of societal health, as you point out.
2
"Democrats, always bringing a knife to a gun fight"
5
" My baby" ? Huh...More like he kidnapped the Mueller baby. Its still Mueller's baby and he can get it back...that is if he wants to. The last I heard was that he is a lifelong republican and hangs out with republicans at their golf courses. May be he doesn't want his baby back !
3
One of your best ever and you have a lot of good ones
4
" ...when Trump gobbled up the attorney general’s soul like a midnight snack..."
Given Barr's clients and employers and his previous support , siding and sycophancy given to them ...he obviously has great capacity to offer what must be an irresistibly delicious soul on a platter to his paymasters who are more than happy to have him as both their cake and eat him too.
And, not for the first time by this Attorney General , the Barr has been lowered again...by himself.
2
Must you bring President Obama in most of your opinions Dowd ?
Reading this piece until I came to the last few paragraphs.
Before that I was going to say about Bobby Mueller, count your friends , if more than five then too many and take one off from that.
Barr is no ones friend only trump’s peon.
What a sharp decline.
3
The concept of 'fairness' is nothing compared to the concept of 'truth'. You might be willing to be ruined because you did what was right and fair, but is it right and fair to make everyone else suffer for your virtue?
We are in a battle for the soul of America. Wake up, people.
4
Calling it correctly, as usual.
2
Watched Bill and Hillary Clinton speak the other night. The most fascinating thing was Bill trying to get the crowd to understand that the men we're dealing with (it's about 100% men) are about winning at all cost, about getting and keeping power. And they will do anything to achieve that. It's taken me a long time to understand the mentality at work with the current GOP, but it really is as simple as that. If you win, you were meant to win. And you win at all cost. The rules are irrelevant. That's how Trump's comment about the Kentucky Derby makes sense to him.
7
I'm not always with you Maureen.....but this time I don't think you missed a single step. I watched and listened to those hearings
and that is exactly what happened......I may never forgive Obama
for being 'above politics' when it came to the Russian interference.
He should have showed McConnell the door leaving him with the certainty that he wasn't going to be bullied........and btw, why hasn't someone looked into McConnells financial connection?
The agonizing attention many politicians pay only to political gains or losses has become revolting. I'm looking for some plain every day American smarts (in some areas) of what is simply just or unjust. Do the right thing....it really isn't that hard to figure out.
We might have to suffer fewer McConnells, Grahams et al...and I mean all.......and also, may I ask where is the great, honorable truth teller...Romney now that he's one of the pack. We are in big trouble.......VOTE.
7
Bull's-eye! Maureen Dowd nails it again, showing that there is plenty of blame to go around for what happened in 2016 - and what seems increasingly likely to happen in 2020, unless the Democrats can muster the courage to do what the situation demands: hold Barr in contempt of Congress, subpoena McGahn and a raft of other witnesses, and begin impeachment proceedings against this lawless president. Here again, Democrats' concern about being "fair" is causing them to hesitate at the very moment when they should be forthright and determined. The only chance we have of restraining Trump is right now, when he is facing reelection and has something to fear. Democrats seem to be ignoring the possibility that, again with help from Putin, Trump could win in 2020. If that happens, every evil deed he has committed and every norm he has shattered up to now will pale before an all-out assault on our rights and freedoms, one from which our democracy - imperfect as it is - may never recover.
9
Mueller has an obligation to defend the work of his team. His silence is not admirable, it is reprehensible. He may be playing from some old rulebook, but he should not confuse decency or integrity with defending the rule of law and our republic, much less the hard, good work of his team.
The Speaker of the House has wisely announced - with which Michael Cohen earlier agreed - that Trump will not go quietly. He's already begun tweeting about voter fraud.
If impeachment conviction in the Senate will not happen, it's even more important that Mueller and his team publicly lay out the clear conspiracy and obstruction committed by Trump. It may be the only way to end this disastrous period in the history of experiment in democracy.
As for Joe Biden, if he is perceived to be the only candidate able to oust Trump, that's cause for despair. I watched all of the "Anita Hill" hearing with pain and disgust. It isn't the only disgraceful vote Joe made. He needs to retire, not continue beaming into the camera as Mr. Good Guy.
11
@Jean
'It isn't the only disgraceful vote Joe made'--
He voted 'no'...
2
Wow! I hadn't read Maureen Dowd in a while, but after more than twenty years, she remains one of the most important voices in America. In the world. She's at her best when she tears into those obnoxious hypocrites of all stripes. Top-notch writer too!
9
Everyone has engaged in "foul" play. Comey ignored the prohibition against interfering in a presidential election; Barr cried "spying" to undermine the F.B.I.; Trump screamed "No collusion! Complete exoneration"!! Mueller wrote a letter claiming "foul" play that Barr lied about; McConnell screamed "foul" play and intimidated Obama into actually committing "foul" play. They all, as you say, "calumniated." And now there's a terrible foul smell of swamp gas engulfing the White House and polluting the body politic and the nation.
4
Maureen , you have to be kidding me. The Republican party went off the rails in the 90's, and has been devolving since then, Yet professional journalists in print , tv and the internet have continued the false equivalency meme right up to today. The Times has beat Biden's benign actions in "touching" women to death. You were all in on the blood lust on Hillary as was the Times and all of cable TV except MSNBC. How many articles did the Post and Times publish on the "emails"? The Republicans have been working the ref's since Agnew and instead of standing up for integrity many [if not most]journalists fall into the "both sides do it" crowd. Democrats can't be perfect, but if you want an analogy the faults of the Democrats are an acute case of acne, while the Republicans are metastasizing cancer.
10
Dowd is usually fun to read, whether one agrees or disagrees with her. But this time she has gone off the deep end.
Calling McConnell "diabolical" discredits this entire op-ed.
3
@Jonathan KatzI think diabolical isthe perfect word to describe McConnell. I think back to the dispair of the great recession. We were shedding 750,000 jobs a month and McConnelled #1 goal was making Obama a one term president. Not restoring the economy, not helping the unemployed, not preventing the three automakers going bankrupt. Yes diabolical is perfect.
13
If you don’t call McConnells bending the constitution into a pretzel in order to deny a hearing to Obama’s supreme court nominee diabolical then You’ve lost your sense of smell for brimstone.
10
@Jonathan Katz
What’s that they say, “calling a spade, a spade!”
He is in truth worse than diabolical.
9
Democrats aren't trying to be "fair", Mo. They just don't have the guts to play hardball.
Consider Nancy Pelosi who is now already re-writing the electoral rule: she's asking for a blow-out win in 2020 because, she said, Trump won't surrender power if he's defeated by a small margin. What is the constitutional basis for such fear?
So it seems Democrats can't claim their victory if it's won by only a small margin. My God!! How feckless can you be!
4
Well, you can stay home rather than vote, then yawp at people who’re actually standing up to Trump on a daily basis while you hide behind anyonymity from three thousand miles away.
I can see William Barr on our Supreme Court, stacked to the rafters with far right wing idelogues.
'Democracy.'
How quaint.
It's called Corporatocracy.
7
Oh Lordy! Your comment ruined my day because Barr's payback will be a SC nomination!
2
Mueller and Barr, good republican friends.
Biden, friend to all, well, almost all.
The Democrats should have killed the Thomas appointment because he was clearly unqualified for the job. But, the Democrats were afraid not to support him because he was a black man appointed to fill the Thurgood Marshall chair. If there had been a black person on the committee they could have told the Democrats that Thomas was unfit for the Marshall seat. So George H W Bush is responsible and so are all the Democrats who could have rejected Thomas and said that only a champion of Civil Rights should have the Marshall chair.
4
John Dean, he of Watergate fame and more recently an occasional political commentator, came up with a dead on two-phrase description of this dynamic a couple of years ago: Republicans play hardball; democrats play bean bag.
5
It's true. Democrats tend to be feeble in the face of Republican dishonesty and depravity. On the other hand, if you act like them, you really are no better than them.
6
Nailed it.
2
So much history is still repeating itself! Where was your voice when republicans nominated Kavanaugh despite that man's sordid background and a witness/victim as credible as Hill? You as much as Comey, Biden, and Spector have failed to make a change because you were not there when you were needed then and now. You are a little late.
4
@DBR Spot on. She is only comfortable with her commentary when it is too late. Cowardice, indeed.
2
The difference is simple. Hillary Clinton wilfully destroyed over 30,000 government emails. Trump never colluded with Russia and there was never a shred of evidence that he did.
As head of the FBI, Comey knew this.
5
Nailed it.
3
Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that the article would a big diss on Biden.
2
@gregdn She is always after the Dems. How disrespectful to call Obama "Barry" as she continually did in her numerous columns. And she never missed a chance to diss Hillary or Bill. But no real criticism of Trump before the election -- why?
3
Amazing. After a seemingly Rip Van Winkle length slumber, the Maureen Dowd who was once required reading makes a welcome, long overdue return.
6
Mueller knew within days of appointment in May of 2017 the FISA warrants were a fraud and yet the “investigation” continued on for one reason and one reason only; bait.
A president was falsely accused and was forced to watch as innocents were abused by a team of Obama sycophants even to the point of pre-dawn raids by swat teams and the violation of sacrosanct attorney client privilege and yet he could do nothing to stop the abuse even though he could have because it would be labeled “obstruction” and the trap would be sprung.
It is a deadly game being played by neo-Marxists…hoping to bait Americans clinging to their guns and bibles will resort to violence. There is a reckoning coming.
5
FDR.
If people want to renew their hopes, I suggest that they head on over to YouTube and watch some of his speeches. He, without hesitation, took on the big banks and hidden powers that ran Wall Street.
Bernie is an FDR. So is Elizabeth. Problem is, the American people today are stranded on individual islands, unable to unite in the struggle for health care, economic security, and a sense of belonging. If they don't wake to the danger, we could soon be Russia, with a pretend rule of law, pretend democracy, and pretend independent media.
Politics really is war. Russia knows its enemy, but we are led by a creature who is profiting from sucking up to our worst enemies.
Hugh
5
And today there is a smear campaign on Senator Sanders in the WaPo aligning him with communism and socialism. There are three problems with this:
1) Mr. Sanders 2016 platform was that of a social democrat similar to FDR, not socialists or communists, and he compared his ideas to those successful in Scandinavia which are not socialist countries but social democracies with capitalist economies.
2) Mr. Sanders does not distinguish whether he is a social democrat or a democratic socialist and seems to call himself a democratic socialist which would mean he believes in the government seizing and the means of production from private ownership and controlling it.
3) The majority of Americans don’t know there is a difference between socialists, democratic socialists, nor social democracies which allows the public to be manipulated by the media and the two major political parties into voting against the middle class interests.
The 2020 Democratic primary will be full of candidates who can’t or won’t distinguish which category in which they belong. This will only help the status quo and insure the Democratic Party once again gets a corporate Democrat on the presidential ballot just as they did with Secretary Clinton in 2016 using the system of super delegates.
If only the Republican Party had thought to use super delegates during the 2016 presidential primaries.
Barr should be disbarred.
7
Barr was no where near as respected as you claim. He engineered the pardons of oh so many in the Iran Contra Scandal. He has always been a partisan first and used his positions of trust to manipulate events.
Barr fits well with the GOP that only cares about winning. They don't care what damage they do to the country, the constitution, our institutions, or our way of life. He is but a mirror image of Trump.
As long as they win that is all that matters.
The fact that so many 'law and order' types, so many evangelicals and religious sorts, you know, 'Family values and virtue are oh so important' types, have literally sold their souls to the braggadocio of crotch grabbing, the liar in chief, Mr. Trump and his mad Trumpism.
The GOP, the supposed compass of moral virtue, justice, and integrity for the nation, to hear them tell it, have sold their collective soul to the most immoral, intemperate, lying, cheating, obfuscating, philandering, dangerous con man and huckster in the history of our country.
As long as they win, nothing else matters.
Trump is a narcissistic sociopath. He is not normal. He is suffering from delusions of his own grandeur. And all the GOP does is go along.
As long as they win nothing else matters.
Soulless they are, and they have put the country in great jeopardy.
10
Ms. Dowd, didn't we witness the foul play of Trump's A.G. grilled by the Senatorial Dems on the Judiciary Committee? Barr was revealed as our president's go-to lawyer (like Roy Cohn was back in the day). So much for fair play.
Epic pic of Joe Biden and Clarence Thomas illustrating your piece ("Foul Play"). Joe Biden in 1991, Dem Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Comm. and the all-male committee's unforgettable contempt for women. We remember Anita Hill's truthful and searing testimony against her boss at EEOC. Who knew Biden would be running for President today? Isn't it bliss that Anita Hill's Wash Post op-ed made clear that she wants an apology from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas? Joe Biden running against Trump in 2020 has vindicated his treatment of Prof. Hill, back in 1991.
We watched Bill Barr call Special Counsel Mueller's Report on the Russia Investigation "my baby". Will Robert Mueller appear before the Judiciary Committees of the House and Senate to defend his "baby" from Bill Barr? ICYM Trump's Tweets: "No collusion! No obstruction! Total exoneration!" President Trump was not exonerated from obstruction of justice in the Mueller Report. To be continued.
2
I like Joe Biden but, if there is one issue that worries me, it is this one. He thinks that he can reason with the Republicans. He thinks that the current state of play in the Republican Party is going to pass over like some gentle sunner shower. He thinks that if you can reason with them, that they will be reasonable.
Biden is just too close to the forest for the trees. An apt metaphor for the current state of the Republican Party is William Barr. People talk about his "establishment credentials". I see only an ideologue, intent on creating a dictatorship through some tortured logic around executive power.
Biden, or any other candidate is going to have to welcome the Republican rage, but not shirk from it. FDR took a lot of flak for trying to pack the Supreme Court, but unlike Obama and Biden (whom I otherwise likeed), FDR did not take the obstructionism lying down. It does not sound like Biden learned from the Obama years of Republican obstructionism.
2
Just so, Ms. Dowd. All you've left out is the sickening timidity that placed Gorsuch on the bench instead of Garland.
And now the Republicans warn against impeachment? Considering the Republicans impeached over an act of oral sex, I hardly think they have any credibility on what is impeachable in this era of collusion, conflict of interest, nepotism, incompetence, graft, and theft.
Playing hard hasn't hurt them at all. Financial crash, trashing Anita Hill and Dr, Ford and advancing sexual molesters, racism, government shutdown, Russian aid. They pay for nothing.
I just feel like I’m endlessly waiting for Lucifer to be thrown from heaven. I do long for a spectacular and breathtaking complete and permanent fall. How amazing would that be. How morally righteous. So many people in power are so astonishingly dim.
Looking up. Hoping to see a falling idol coming down at me.
3
Trevor Noah quipped on the Daily Show this week that currently it's as if the Dems are trying to play Monopoly against a hyena.
Of the Dem candidates so far, for my money Kamala Harris is the one to battle the crooked Republicans. Watching her incisive questioning of Kavanaugh and Barr in Senate hearings, I see a seasoned prosecutor and AG cutting to the core of their malfeasance for all to see—too bad she only gets 5 minutes in hearings, and sits with the minority in Senate committees.
In a political environment infested with perverse Republican players, Harris's legal acumen seems most suited to the task of bringing justice, restoring order, winning respect.
For electability, I feel these considerable strengths far outweigh the superfluous consideration of age, race or gender and define Kamala Harris as the kind of leader we need for this battle, for these times as surely as Churchill was the one to save England from the menace of Nazi Germany in WWII.
3
It seems that, at various times through history, human populations slide into authoritarianism.
Is it preventable?
Can we learn from history?
Are we at one of those times?
9
All the resistance, activism, analysis is obstructed by our insecure election systems.
UNLESS or until our systems are secure it seems we, people who believe in and fight for the common good, will be confined to chasing our tails.
In June 2017 election security expert J. Alex Halderman PhD testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee. His team was hired by D.C. to evaluate their voting machines. His team hacked their equipment and changed every vote. D.C. knew they were there but could NOT detect them.
There are numerous fires in our democracy right now. Without a secure election system it seems like everything else is moot.
12
The important thing is that no matter how big a gulp he has to take, President Trump is knocking down all the strikes and spares that are being set before him. He is continually scoring points. It does not matter the game that is played or how it is played --be it fair or foul.
President Trump is playing and winning ALL the games set before him. He is carrying the Stars and Stripes and leading America successfully and prosperously.
As long as President Trump is leading a nation filled with jobs, jobs and more jobs and putting money in employees wallets and purses, these facts are all that matter.
7
@Reggie As long as President Trump is leading a nation filled with jobs, jobs and more jobs and putting money in employees wallets and purses, these facts are all that matter.
If you’re right, Reggie, what does that say about us?
Thank you for the reminder. Excruciating to watch that hearing.
1
And thru all of this, I am supposed to think that Donald Trump thought of all of this maneuvering and manipulation all on his own.
And even if I did, I'm still supposed to think Donald Trump is so savvy minded after he has called what I think is his handler, Vladamir Putin to discuss with Putin the Mueller report.
'Our president', the man with the title of President of the US, calls a rival leader of our country to discuss a report that Putin probably had a big role in causing in the first place.
OK, Mueller didn't have enough evidence to say Trump had a role criminally in conspiring with Russia.
Perhaps that's the point, which it seems as if Putin is famous for, going to the edge without crossing over in his interactions.
I will never forget when during the debates, someone asked Trump about the rules and our laws, and Trump said something to the effect that we'll have to see, but if there was a law or rule he didn't like, he would challenge it, even if it was in the Constitution.
Yeah, like Trump has ever read the Constitution.
But I would bet that Vladimir Putin has read the entire thing.
7
Joe Biden has been an insider in Washington for too many decades. He thinks of Republicans kindly as many of his friends across the aisle over the years. Obama tried the "making nice" pacification process. You saw how well that worked, huh? We, obversely, see Republicans as the party of "No" who bestowed sainthood on Ronald Raegan. We cringe at the divisiveness of Newt Gingrich, the Tea Party, the Freedom Caucus, Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, Trump and Fox News. Biden is a "yesterday" candidate. We Democrats desperately need a "tomorrow" candidate. The U. S. and its citizens are falling apart. Our democracy hangs in the balance.
8
@PoliticalGenius
Precisely. This is why in the primary, I’m going to be backing someone’s who’s political instincts are better than a duck and cover Dem. So far, that’s Warren for me. Her political instincts and knowledge goes back to the 2000’s. She’s the woman and man of our time. I expect her to show her stuff in the debates. Can’t wait.
5
Biden is "toast" in 2020, a slice of old, stale bread. i vividly recall watching his lack of courage in appeasing the very sick person, the liar who hid behind a race card, Clarence Thomas.
Biden is a phony who smiles too much and acts like a working class "Joe".
5
Endlessly repeating and promoting a lie that Trump said Nazi are good people is a fair play? Turning lights off for Bernie supporters at the convention is a fair play? Using the Ferguson lie on the stage of the same convention is fair play?
1
From the column:
"(This, even though reporters had Thomas’s list of porn rentals from a local video store.)"
Really? Like most Americans at the time, I keenly followed the confirmation hearings and stories afterwards. I don't ever recall this being noted. A search of Google also revealed nothing.
So what's the real deal? Did the reporters have such a list? And if so, why wasn't it reported?
8
God help our country
2
For the first time in years, I think Maureen Dowd has finally got it right. Congrats.
5
Ms Dowd spent much of 2016 attacking HRC. She will apparently spend much of the next year attacking Joe Biden.
8
I am not a Maureen Dowd fan normally, but I am hard-pressed to find a word or a sentence to disagree with in this column. Only Yeats described our current situation better: “...the best lack all conviction... the worst are full of passionate intensity.”
7
"…Biden… a prattling, ineffectual lump of nothingness.” Nuf' said.
5
soooo, what's really going on here? you are an insightful Insider DC columnist. Surely you could help us decode all this. Maybe well enough to point us towards some positive solutions instead of just griping all the time.
4
Diss Barr; disbar.
6
Maureen should’ve titled this, “No there, there!”
1
Thank you Maureen. We need to defeat Trump. Biden is not the person to do it. I am tired of men getting away with lies. If you screw up, own it so you can restore people's trust in you. There was a reason that Obama backed Hillary and not Biden.
Folks, even though the media does not cover women candidates, support them. Show everyone that it is time for a good woman to be in office. They won't be perfect but they do not how to look out for the many.
3
For the luv of gawd, I agree with MoDo!! The world must be coming to an end !!
8
Maureen,
I usually grumble after reading your articles but you hit the nail on the head with this one!! Keep this type of commentary coming.
7
Maureen, please don't white-wash Bill Barr. He's been a right-wing establishment hack forever. Don't you ever do research before you make such sweeping statements about someone? He was never "respectable"...
14
Who says Barr was a fair actor with a soul in the first place. Yes, as usual everyone who associates with Trump ends up covered in feces under a bus, but Barr was justifying bad policy from bad men decades ago. Why would a "good man" volunteer to work with/for the grifter-in-chief?
14
Ms. Dowd - I was not aware of the fact that there were records of Thomas' porn tape rentals and that Biden would not allow that information into the hearing. Was that fact made known at the time?
Did you write about it?
Far too often, the media and political elite know damning information but do not tell the public about it.
This information makes Biden's handling of that hearing even worse.
5
Barr was morally and intellectually corrupt way before he ever heard of Blondie. That's why he was chosen. "It's the corruption, stupid."
11
Bill Clinton has made the astute observation about republicans that "they're better at name-calling than we are."* It is infuriating to watch the democrats-- good people like Jerry Nadler, Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings-- do their bending over backwards routines while their republican colleagues pull out their blades and swiftly stab away. Do nice guys finish last? Ask Bernie Sanders. As one of the few candidates who openly call Chump a pathological liar, he fell on his sword in 2016 for the sake of party unity. Look where that got us. Will democrats ever produce real fighters again like FDR or Harry Truman? Don't see any yet who will get down in the gutter with Chump whose "Sleepy Joe" taunt is all too close for comfort.
*heard him say this last night at the L.A. Forum where he appeared with Hillary for a two-hour talk moderated by Ted Dansen before a crowd of about 5 or 6 thousand
3
It is a strange lack of pragmatism that leads Democratic writers to destroy leading candidates, people who can beat the most vicious, incompetent and self-serving President this country has ever seen. "Circular firing squad" we've heard it called.
A touch of pragmatism is in order. Those who are utterly pure and totally free of any wrongdoing -- Ms. Dowd is only a sample of the genre -- can find dirt to dig up on virtually any experienced candidate with the qualifications, drive, and willingness to confront the stupendously difficult job as POTUS. Instead it seems that the liberal press is compelled to do its utmost to demolish all viable liberal candidates because they are not followers of Mother Teresa.
Meanwhile Donald has got to be rolling on the floor with laughter with tears running from his eyes. By the time Democrats have finished demolishing their own leaders Trump won't even have do do anything at all in the campaign.
How about going out and screaming the strong points of viable candidates. How about assuring that there are strong Democratic challengers to the Senate Republicans who are up for reelection. How about smothering those Republican Senatorial candidates with all the dirt that can be found to assure that the Senate flips along with the house.
In the search for absolute purity we'll end up with another four years of deep Presidential and Senate swamp scum. Those folks, incidentally, don't spend their time demolishing their Republican associates.
9
Thanks for reminding me that the GOP game plan of defense-by-offense goes back at least to the Thomas hearings. Shrieking hyperbole and false victimhood go a long way with the American public, which seems to expect that as Joseph Welch stood up to Joe McCarthy, some honest paladin will emerge to take on any latter-day scat-flinging monkey.
The American public, those who have any memory of either the Army McCarthy hearings or of learning of those hearings in school, might telescope history, to forget for how long the Wisconsin Senator was allowed to fashion accusations from vitriol and whole cloth, for how long like battered spouses those arrayed around and against him cowered and hoped that like a drunk husband McCarthy might topple over of his own accord and pass out.
The civics lesson is that Welch stood up to McCarthy, so what happened then is likely to happen again. However, let's go back to those quaint days and amp McCarthy up. Let's give him an opinion channel disguised as news that amplifies his fantastic calumnies, that comments with straight faces that his rhetorical victims are the true malefactors. Throw into the mix opportunists such as Alex Jones, backed by deep pocketed individuals who will do anything and say anything to smother needed social change.
Now comes Bill Barr to portray Joe McCarthy not stridently but oozing resentment against those who would read the report and come to the obvious conclusions.
Where is Joseph Welch when the country needs him?
12
Biden may not be perfect , I'm still watching and listening to all the candiates and it makes no difference if they're male, female, straight, gay or bi...
However Ms Dowd..you were enormously critical of HRC and who did that give us?? A lying buffoon has changed this country toall our detriment.
Obama could't do anything right in your eyes!!!! He was too cool and professorial for your approval!
If only you and others recognize you are partly responsible for the hell we are now living ?
16
I believe one of the tenets of the Mueller Report was, he could not definitely clear Trump of wrong doing.
All though I find this troubling, Mr. Mueller was not able to present any evidence that would show I committed no crimes. I will forever live with this cloud of suspicion, over me.
"The transformation of William Barr from respected establishment lawyer to evil genius outplaying and undermining his old friend Robert Mueller is a Grand Guignol spectacle."
This paragraph, unwittingly, makes a bigger, more salient point than the rest of Maureen's column.
Our intrepid American news media has seemingly forgotten William Barr's role in the Iran-Contra scandal, and in the subsequent pardons that ensured a full investigation - and full accountability - would never take place (no wonder they act so surprised to see Barr running cover for Trump).
The fact that a dirty-dealing fixer such as Barr remains a "respected establishment lawyer" says quite a bit about the establishment - including big-time opinion columnists at major newspapers - and none of it good.
The fact is that once one gets their foot in the door of the US political and media establishment, no amount of wrongdoing and deceitfulness will get one kicked out. I'd suggest that this is a much bigger problem for our republic than whatever notions of fair/dirty fighting Maureen writes about.
15
All else aside, I think Joe would be much more attractive to voters if he committed to being a one term president and mentoring a strong VP candidate. K Harris comes to mind but it is early.
He is a good balancing act to trump and, as bad as some of the things he has done are, they fade by comparison to trump.
I am in my 70’s but even I think he is getting too old...after things stabilize, we need fresh ideas and forward thinking.
8
Thank you, Maureen Dowd, for reminding us in stark detail of Biden’s role in the Thomas/Anita Hill hearings. The next time Biden says he did all he could, please someone remind him he refused to call three women with corroborating testimonies about Thomas’s behavior. And that’s the active voice: He refused to call them.
9
The Democrats have allowed the Republicans to push them around, due to their delusion about bipartisanship. The only way for the Democrats to win is to realize that, for the time being, partisanship is the winning formula.
13
Interesting discussion of what is "fair." For example, is it fair that Joe Biden could even be considered to be in the running when he famously opposed using busing to promote school integration in the 1970's, joining Senator Byrd in his opposition? Or is that just one of those things that, like Anita Hill's objections to Biden's treatment of her, we should forget about?
3
The neo-nueva standards of success has all but wrapped itself in cheating as the main ingredient. The old school rules that "cheaters never prospers," or "crime never pays" are all but dead. The "Devil's in the details" also comes to mind in the historical analysis of the human characters we've been told or read about.
We expected the old rule book to guide us until it doesn't measure up to the demands of competition. In literal terms most cases of huge accomplishments come at a price. Maybe it started out as cutting corners, using the "white lie," or outright cheating to get ahead. Rationalizations abound in our daily lives as to "why?"
The true nature of one's perceptions comes to define us all at some point. So, but yet we yearn to find that mythical pure heart and mind in our leaders. Somewhere, at some indefinable time we came to the conclusion that the only choice we had were to choose the lesser of the "two evils" because nobody's perfect.
There are limits to how far that we should settle for now, drawing a line between the minor covert to the maximum overt. That latter part at least gives us some finer definitions to steer in the better direction. Republicans have been occupying the maximum overt cheating for sometime. This is that true moment when we collectively call them out. Having the most overt liar to lead them has become truly intolerable.
I too, hope Robert Mueller shows his teeth against how savagely he has been treated by Barr and his boss.
8
Maureen Dowd, has once again captured the essence of the situation in which we reside. How voters, the press, social media companies, Republicans of conscience, Judges, Military leaders, corporate leaders, respond to the dilemma that Maureen lays out may well decide whether we have a country left after this ill fated roll of the dice on this amoral man. It is time to reexamine all our rules about how we deal with the problem she laid out. Playing fair for the sake of playing fair, is not working. We must learn how to fight to win, without making the compromises that result in Trump having eaten our soul. But make no mistake it may make us uncomfortable if we intend to save as Franklin said, "our republic if we can keep it".
9
Although it's long overdue, Mueller must ditch the Boy Scout routine and assertively testify before Congress. He must clarify the salient points in his report, refute the false interpretations and statements of Barr, and publicly state that Congress must act upon every instance of confirmed presidential obstruction.
Perhaps even reminding the Congress and the nation that the Attorney General is the People's lawyer, not the presidential defense attorney.
13
@Karen Mueller has a legitimate reason for dragging his feet into a house Q and A, for sure the democrats will encourage him to expound on his findings that Trump has questionable actions and met with sully actors. But, on the other side of the isle will come a torrent of questions left out from the report and media. The investigation was supposed to focus on the question all Americans wanted to know the answer, did Trump or his close people work with the Russians. No is in the report, when did Mueller know there was no collusion. And more important, why did he not charge Trumps family or staff with crimes. He charged several others with IRS crimes, lying to the FBI and in Stones case something unknown. Mueller had zero reservations about charging people for crimes, so why not Trump or his close people. I hope Mueller shows up, Im getting popcorn ready...
@Karen
Absolutely! Thank you!
1
Time for Mr. Mueller to speak up or forever hold his piece and live with the fact that he facilitated Barr and Trump's railroading the country from having a fair hearing of his special counsel investigation report. This is the first step of any dictator to hold himself unanswerable and above the other branches of government.
10
Now this, Ms. Dowd, was an edifying, elucidating and very well done piece of writing. Putting material from decades ago into good contextual framework for current day critical analysis is, IMO a much needed journalistic public service in this day and age. Thank you and more, please.
12
dear God. I read Middlemarch earlier this year. She quotes from Samuel Daniel's Musophilus at the beginning of chapter LXVIII..
" What suit of grace hath Virtue to put on
If Vice shall wear as good, and do as well?"
13
@anne gordon
That is an excellent quote and so just spot on. Virtue and Vice can look alike but never be alike. How to tell the difference is many times difficult. Today we have no such contest, as the Vice is nakedly visible.
Thanks for this great quote!
2
The Dems do not have a credible man running for 2020. Some too damaged by their past, some with too little experience, some with no ideas. but the women?
Liking Kamala. A lot.
8
@Barbara. Do you like how she got her start in politics? Do you think Willie Brown was right to appoint his lover to government positions? Why do women get a pass for this kind of thing and men get crucified?
1
@Barbara Kamala seems smart and tough enough. Maybe Buttigieg as VP, since he's smart and well spoken?
Way past time to investigate Clarence Thomas for lying to the Senate.
7
@tfarnoldi. I'm sure Clarence Thomas would be found to have been truthful. Anita Hill, on the other hand, committed perjury. She changed her story after a lunch break when she was told she would be challenged. Joe Biden did her a big favor in getting her through the hearing without being publicly exposed as a liar.
Like doctors refusing to out opioid-dealing colleagues, Democrats act like they're the class of old school politicaldom, nobly upholding tradition, modelling good manners, professional demeanor.
Republicans don't give a rap. They care about one thing: money. And one other thing: power. And finally: Republicans. Do you see USA! USA! anywhere in there? No. You do not.
Its not as if Dems don't know what's happening. They do. But their timid hearts aren't in this battle. Or this style of battle.
Its why we suffer through horrible moments like Hillary giving a Riot grrrl scream and then smiling like her pie just won the Elks Club award at the fair.
Republicans are heartless, they lack concern for the country or the people; they believe they're on the final straightaway of a fifty-year campaign to rid themselves of the crusty encumbrances of democracy.
They seek return to the awful entitlements of now-dead European aristocracy; the very one we came here to escape.
They mean to have it.
Democrat 'leadership' still do not understand where they are, what they're doing.
They prissily shush AOC and Omar lest they discomfit the centrists. Centrists who represent, more than anything, mid-70s Republicans.
Biden, Comey (duplicitous in his own special way), the female Clinton, Mueller are old-school gentleman-lawyers getting their faces repeatedly shoved in the mud by the bullies of Trumpdom.
Recall, too, that old Mo here gave the Right a mighty leg up.
19
"Orrin Hatch, the Republican Savonarola" Interesting analogy:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/why-donald-trump-is-a-second-savonarola-1.3281556
3
The old 'high road' vs 'low road' argument falls flat when put into the context of our current politics. The GOP consistently proves to be both amoral and ruthless, nothing new there but they keep winning.
Trump is, indeed, a very useful idiot for Putin, McConnell, etc. Eyes are now on the House to begin a correction. Their efforts have just begun but look promising. The biggest single argument for many D's is impeachment now or not. I favor impeachment but trust Pelosi's judgement. The rat's nest has too many vipers though. Where do you start?
I have been in favor of Biden with a Warren or Harris ticket but Biden's history bothers me. Where exactly is his core? There are, no doubt, good conservatives and Republicans, but will they vote for a D? Time will tell.
A very tough time for those of us fearing for our democracy and concerned about the obvious push to a dictatorship by Trump and his regime. The women, especially Warren and Harris are tough, intelligent, and brave enough to stick there necks out there. I especially like Warren as she offers solutions across the board and can back them up.
I have much soul searching to do. Trump has not gobbled mine up.
5
Was one reason for Barr's long delay in releasing the report a practical one--to allow time for Alan Dershowitz to write his nakedly supportive introduction?
2
I’m tired of all these white boys in positions of power.
I’m tired of timidity.
I’m tired of wringing hands and letting GOP lie, cheat and be complicit with trump’s evisceration of our democracy.
Where is Nancy’s orange coat and fearlessness when we need it now more than ever?
Elizabeth and Kamala and Kirsten would wear it well too.
6
Is Donald Trump Mr. Hyde to William Barr's Dr. Jekyll, Maureen? Yes, we witnessed the foul play of Trump's A.G. grilled by the Senatorial Dems on the Judiciary Committee. Barr was revealed as our president's go-to lawyer (like Roy Cohn was back in the day). Barr hasn't saved Trump's bacon. To be continued.
Epic pic of Joe Biden and Clarence Thomas illustrated your piece ("Foul Play") to a fare-thee-well. Joe Biden in 1993 as Dem Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Comm. and the all-male committee's unforgettable contempt for women. We remember Anita Hill's truthful and searing testimony against her boss at EEOC. Who knew that Uncle Joe would be running for President today?
Isn't it bliss that Anita Hill's Wash Post op-ed made clear that she wants an apology from Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas? Thomas was a Conservative who never should have been raised to the Supreme Court. Ditto Brett Kavanaugh last year.
We watched Bill Barr call Special Counsel Mueller's Report on the Russia Investigation "my baby". Was that the nadir of his sychophancy for Trump? Will Robert Mueller appear before the Judiciary Committees of the House and Senate? Let's see Mueller defend his "baby" from Bill Barr. Never mind Trump's tweeting "No collusion! No obstruction! Total exoneration!" ICYMI: President Trump was not exonerated from obstruction of justice in the Mueller Report.
7
People seem to forget that both Anita Hill and Christine Ford were given special hearings and yet failed to come up with any evidence to support their claims other than their own testimony. The FBI conducted an investigation in both cases and found no evidence. Questioning was pointed but not offensive.
Investigation by the press after the spotlight of the hearings was turned off failed to find anything new. Indeed, there was strong evidence that both women committed perjury, but neither was charged.
This idea that Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh and Donald Trump committed foul deeds that were kept hidden beggars belief. A bright and piercing spotlight was trained on these men. They survived the colonoscopy-like examination with no tumor being found.
There's a difference between disagreeing with a person's beliefs and charging them with impropriety. At least there should be. Shame on those who don't see one.
3
But in both cases, corroborating evidence was kept out of the process.
5
@Charlie Euchner. Plenty of time for that evidence to come out now. If there is evidence to suggest these men lied under oath, they should be impeached. I haven't any evidence of which you speak.
1
For almost 40 years, I've been lamenting the fact that the Democrats have indulged in convenient meekness. That started under Reagan's reign. I also think that a good share of the US population -not counting the truly ignorant- have done the same all along. Same thing in many other nations, by the way, including my own.
Anybody willing to ACT and get the world rid of this dangerous, malevolent POTUS should ponder the Churchill words, after the Munich Agreement, about the need for "a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigour". Deficient moral health is not confined to the right wing. The dollar god, the spell of "panem et circenses" reach far and wide. Those that do get involved for the common good have been lacking martial vigor for the same reasons, along with an unintended consequence of the 60s upheaval: a subconscious, perverted sense of what it means to be cool.
2
Thank you Ms. Dowd for writing what I'm certain a lot of people besides me have been thinking. Fair play and compromise only work when there is good faith on the other side of the question.
16
The vast majority of so-called journalists and columnists are illusionists. They are signed, sealed and delivered by a major political party.
This is the dumbest investigation in my lifetime. The WWE looks more credible than this so-called profession.
2
Trump gets people BOTH WAYS: By nibbling piece by piece and by swallowing whole. Are we gong to continue to relitigate the mess Anita Hill had to live through, or finally call it the travesty it was?
8
I don't know why dear Maureen still writes for this paper? Didn't people blame her for being so friendly with Trump. Now she's already dissed their next dream: Biden. Everyone sort of hates her except me. Plus, everyone who reads this paper has about as much irony as a cow. Seriously. Well, Maureen, let's get back to those parties and sip some martinis. I can't stand to watch what the Democrats will do next, no one can't look away. I'll take mine with two olives.
1
I agree. she started with Hilary,, whom I despised but voted for and now she's
pulling the same act with Biden. enough already. I support him because I want to unseat trump. virtue has no place in this wicked game of politics. so as thumper Said, "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." at least I think it was thumper. maybe it was Jiminy cricket. and the photo accompanying the column did not appear in the paper addition.
2
Now Maureen, you know the Republicans will accuse you of not playing fair.
1
Joe Biden on the campaign trail ..recapture the soul of America...a wallet full of soul can’t buy groceries....but 263k jobs created last month.....CAN!
5
Finally someone who gets it. Dems would rather look good and feel good, then win and do good. We need to win first! So the stupid ACLU should stop trying to get Dem candidates on record agreeing to far left ideas( what was the point there anyways? Campaign promises are not binding), and Dems ( and most reporters) need to learn that bipartisanship is not a value anymore- its a pipe dream
3
“Useful idiot” used to be an apt and obvious description of Trump doing Russia’s bidding. Sadly, it should also be applied to Comey and Mueller in their quest for “neutrality,” just as it fits Biden’s self-serving “bipartisanship.” It is as immoral as Switzerland’s “neutrality” in WWII, allowing the country to profit of the war like no other. Being neutral in the face of evil is evil.
10
An EXCELLENT editorial !!
2
FBI and CIA, if you're listening, leak it all now. The Dead are crossing the trench.
10
Based on some of the comments I have read on this and other NYT articles today, it is apparent that things for Democrats have reached a level of hysteria. A few examples, “Mueller should break the law and release the unredacted report to the media”, “it has reached the point that only a military coup will be effective”, “Republicans will use any tool available, including murder”. Holy Moly.
3
I love when Maureen lets loose an arrow "targeted" at a Republican and its shaft just incidentally passes through a Democrat. You did it to Hillary in the run-up to the 2016 election and now you're doing it to Joe. Is this not another manifestation of the Republican tactic of false equivalence? You managed to also stick it to Comey, Obama, and Mueller for good measure.
5
I look forward to President Sanders and thus having someone in the Oval Office who actually recognizes that we are at war with American fascists. I hope Mr. Biden reads 'Who Stole the American Dream' by Hedrick Smith, but I won't hold my breath.
3
You're giving Barr far too much credit, Maureen. He sold his soul long ago,
"Respected establishment lawyer"? How about, wrecker of lives, strewer of misfortune, persecutor of the poor, sycophant and toady the the wealthy and privileged?
He's been twisting the knife in America's heart since his early days with the CIA. Giving Trump credit for ruining Barr is far too generous.
6
Thank you, Maureen. I'm so disgusted that words fail.
3
Biden is not an authentic person and never will be. I do not need to say more. He is a moderate republican and the average person will be quite disappointed if he were to become president.
We need a person for this existential era and someone who can tell the truth and be authentic.
9
We all have a personal style. Biden’s is one of conciliator and man of the people. It has stood him and the Democrats in good stead over the years. Many times, he's been able to win GOP support for legislation important to the Democrats.
We all also get into positions where our personal style is not appropriate for the task at hand. This was the case for Biden in the Anita Hill hearing. He was the wrong person to chair that hearing. That is not to excuse his performance, but to put some perspective on it.
Unfortunately, in todays call-out culture, there's no forgiving common human errors and predicaments—the kind of errors and predicaments that we all make, or find ourselves in, at one time or another in our lives. It’s moral outrage taken to extreme.
It's also moral outrage that's highly selective. Every politician who’s been around for awhile has baggage. Why don’t we hear, for example, of Bernie Sanders’ baggage: his Bohemian lifestyle as a young man, his self-proclaimed socialism, his fathering of a child out of wedlock, his honeymoon in Russia, his wife’s mismanagement of funds at the college she led. I’m not passing judgment, just making the point that these attacks on Biden are not wholly disinterested or unrelated to his centrist politics.
As Speaker Pelosi has stressed, the best way to dump Trump and start the country on a path of reform, is to beat him resoundingly in 2020. To that end, Democrats must capture the center. Biden is the right person to do that.
3
@Ron Cohen. Not to mention the baggage Kamala Harris carries. It is a travesty that the press has been largely silent on the way that her lover, machine-politician Willie Brown, gave her political favors. And people worry about Joe Biden being too handsy?
1
The process is often more important than the result. We can always the debate the result. But the process must be fair.
I totally agree that Anita Hill was railroaded and treated unfairly. Critical evidence against Thomas was suppressed. He should never have been confirmed.
Currently I don’t have an issue with the process by which the Russia investigation was handled. Mueller did an enormously comprehensive two year investigation and his 400 page report lays out his findings in excruciating detail. I look forward to hearing his testimony in Congress to answer several open questions.
But if Mueller did not find sufficient evidence to indict Donald Trump and his children of a crime, so be it. We need to accept that and move on.
Surely the far left will want to fight this to the very bitter end, but in so doing, they will alienate many in the center and the vast silent working class majority that just wants to know what the Democrats are doing to improve their standard of living - other than trying to get rid of the current occupant of the White House.
3
@Steven Roth. Interesting that you think Anita Hill was railroaded and treated unfairly. On what basis do you think that? I was a brand-new lawyer at the time and followed the process closely. I've since read a lot about it. The evidence seems pretty strong to me that Anita Hill did make false claims under oath and Clarence Thomas was rightfully confirmed.
Your call comment shows how effective Barr was in framing (or distorting) the narrative. Mueller did not say he did not find “sufficient evidence.” He provided clear examples of evidence. He unfortunately kicked the can down the road my accepting the dubious legal position that a sitting president cannot be indicted. But that is not the same as starting there was “insufficient evidence” to do so.
To summarize the GOP philosophy - 'The Ends justify the Means'. In that they have a minority of votes (see: House of Representative or President election popular votes), they can only win by cheating. If they did not cheat, they would wither and disappear. Any of the GOP who does not cheat disappears, as they can not succeed without cheating.
4
In most situations, being neutral is being unfair.
9
The problem is America's competitive capitalistic environment socially rewards cheating. It is a maxim of the nation: If you ain't cheatin, you ain't trying.
As for civic virtue, with the progressive entrenchment of Trumpian norms, it seems more and more observed in the breach.
5
Thank you, Maureen, for describing so well how the Dems continue to fail and abdicate when going up against the GOP. The Dems continue to bring a knife to a gunfight and then when they lose, which they do so often, they fall back on the comfort of virtue-signalling. Nadler, Pelosi and Schiff need to understand that they are right now in an elemental struggle for power against Trump and the GOP. Their equivocating, bending over backwards to look fair is just a Hamlet act that profits no one.
23
Thanks Ms. Dowd. One of your best columns ever. Great reminder that Biden should be disqualified for the Hill travesty, among many other things. But judging from democrat response to the candidates, especially Sanders supporters, I'd say its 50/50 we self destruct. God help us.
13
Imalways reminded when I look at your columns of the weekly rants about how unfit HRC was as a candidate. I often wondered if it was possibly jealousy on your part or a truly genuine concern about her ability. Your columns now, while interesting, don’t excuse your lack of foresight into what a truly disfigured individual trump is and how he disfiguring the government and this nation.
29
@Denis T So true. She helped Trump get elected.
5
Oh please. Barr's soul, if he ever had one, was devoured by the devil years ago.
Just go read some history of how this president is actually the THIRD Republican president Barr has saved, St. Ronnie and Poppy Bush being the first two....
21
Mueller is Mueller…. expecting him to bail out Congress, or relieve the American voters of responsibility is neither his style nor is it warranted.
We KNOW what transpired.... we KNOW what Mitch is (a party-before-nation traitor).... and we KNOW that 'smilin' Biden is (a fraud and a lackey)....
If this is (still) a democracy, going forward this is on us.
Mueller did his job. We must do ours.
15
It's about time to let go of the Anita Hill story. Thomas likely did at least most of what was alleged. But to act like this was some horrific crime flies in the face of everyone keeping their mouths shut until years later when Thomas was nominated. Dowd's big point: they had a list of porn that Thomas had rented. This is, no doubt, embarrassing but hardly disqualifying. I am not a fan of Thomas but Hill was trotted out by liberal Democrats who wanted to block a conservative from the Supreme Court. These are the same people who revered and protected a morally corrupt man in Ted Kennedy and did the same with Bill Clinton later. Anyone who is fair-minded can't take the Anita Hill story seriously when her supporters have been so hypocritical. That said, Dowd's primary point is spot on: Mueller needs to step up and step up now to the total hypocrisy that is the bankruptcy expert and Barr.
6
“ Nice guys finish last”—Leo Durocher
The Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, live by this tenet and act accordingly—sadly, it works
7
I’ll never get back those few minutes I used to read this article. Biden is a pathetically manikin-like life long politician and Barr simply released a report and took some pointless questions. Move on.
5
William Barr was not a “respected establishment lawyer” before he went to work for Boss Trump. His work for the Bush Sr. administration earned him the moniker “Coverup-General Barr” from NYT columnist Bill Safire. He is and always was a Republican apparatchik, first, foremost, and to the exclusion of all else.
20
I agree with the three basic premises:
1) that Comey is wrong, which he usually is. As Gandalf described Pippen "He's a fool, but an honest fool.";
2) You don't follow Marquess of Queensberry rules in a down-and-dirty street fight; and
3) that as soon as you cross the line with Trump you've sold your soul, and shown that any morality you and others thought you had is lacking. If you're lucky, you'll discover your sins, and have your "come to Jesus" moment when he throws you under the bus.
Omarosa comes to mind: The video of her forcibly shoving tiny, septuagenarian Andrea Mitchell, whom she towers over, out of a White House briefing sticks more with me than her "bow down" moment. She certainly had her rude awakening, as did Flynn, Cohen, Gates and a couple of others!
But let's be straight: Sending an attractive female agent to meet Papadopoulos is NOT a "honey trap". That's insulting to a professional FBI agent. A "honey trap" involves having an agent have sex with the subject for either elicit pillow talk and manipulation, or blackmail, or both. Maria Butina, another one convicted in this mess, functioned as a "honey trap" asset for the GRU. If an FBI agent had sex with the subject of an investigation, her evidence would be inadmissible, because they are law enforcement, unlike the CIA.
I hope Nadler and the Dem Caucus has the spine for the all-out war ahead. Our Constitutional Democratic Republic cannot survive if they don't.
11
You can add The NY Times to the list. In an attempt to appear unbiased, they let Trump lie and run wild.
14
I don't see anything to do with current politics being equitable. Nor do I see anyone interested in fairness. It isn't fair-minded of Dowd to write of fairness in the present context. Can't you hear her snicker?
4
Please keep running that picture of Biden and Thomas. It's one thing to forgive, yet an entirely different to forget! Are we doomed or not... Still looking for a prince charming in a white male figure. Grow up America!!!
4
The trouble with the people who work for Donald Trump is that they are the type of people who would work for Donald Trump.
Trump attracts vileness like a Black Holes attract matter. All the people who work for Trump or work on his behalf are greedy, soulless, twisted, vile people, just like Donald Trump.
22
Barr violated the "Brownsville Rules" he betrayed his
friend. Mueller now owes him nothing.
Mueller is a man of good faith dealing with scoundrels.
Trump is in White House thanks to Dowd and her
ilk.
The founding fathers assumed there wouldb e people
of good character and faith. Trump has laid that one to rest
5
Comey and Biden both weak men; “a prattling, ineffectual lump of nothingness” perfectly describes Biden, even now.
4
“Will Mueller man up?” Dowd’s archaic views of masculinity have grown tedious. I’m old enough to remember when she described Al Gore as “practically lactating.” Instead of Gore, we got a manly president who owned a ranch and looked good in a flight suit. We all know how that turned out. Perhaps instead of “manning up” our leaders should learn to think on their feet.
21
With everything Biden has done in his past, Trump has done 10 things that are much worse. Politicians need to reiterate on a daily basis the things Trump has done over and over and over again until the public gets that he’s a menace to society and needs to be removed from office by election or impeachment. 17 cents More an hour in your paycheck is not worth the political decline that is occurring on a daily basis. It really isn’t “the economy stupid” it’s “Trump is stupid.”
Good luck America. Your political issues are very sad. Best soap opera I’ve watch from afar in a long time
8
Please Democrats, do not send Joe Biden money, and do not vote for him in the primary. We have a lot of energizing candidates to choose from who do not have his baggage.
5
It is not just Trump - the GOP has evolved into minority party that willingly and aggressively undermines countless institutions and fundamental democratic principles to stay in power. It's reflected in Newt Gingrich's efforts to impeach Clinton, the gerrymandering representative districts, the effort to nullify Obama's presidency, passage of laws making voting harder etc. Those on the other side seem almost powerless when they try to confront this assault on our democratic principles.
12
Barr had no soul to sell to begin with. He is just a typical republican. worshipping power and money. Decency and republicans are a contradiction. Republicans worship corruption.
12
From Bide-Thomas to Pelosi-Barr, the Dems don't have enough spine to fight fire with fire. All bluster, no bite!
9
At last a topic that fits Ms Dowd's style.
Street fighters analyzing street fighters.
We should listen to her. Of this she knows too well. Heed her warnings or fade into obscurity.
2
Watching the Democrats deal with the Trump administration is like watching a boxing match between boy scouts and dirty street fighters. The scouts are carefully following the Marquess of Queensberry rules while the ruffians bribe the referee, replace judges with their friends, put bird shot in the gloves, drug the water...
Oh, and hear the ruffians cry foul if the scouts should stray one iota from fair play, and watch the scouts pause to say 'mea culpa!' in time to receive a low blow.
This isn't fun to watch if you're on the boy scout team.
17
Well said. Democrats should focus on their agenda, investigating every unconstitutional thing Trump and his administration are doing and not back down. The mainstream media also needs to puts onus on Republicans to explain why this is not a problem. NOT ask the Democrats to explain and ask about any little disagreement in the party. Hold the Republicans accountable for what they have done and are doing to this country.
6
The Democrats have to realize that politics today is not played by the Marquis of Queensbury rules.
The need to follow Sean Connery’s advice to Kevin Costner in “The Untouchables:”
“They come at you with a knife, you go at them with a gun. They put one of your guys in the hospital, you put one of theirs in the morgue. That’s the Chicago way.”
That’s how you deal with a criminal gang.
8
Yep one side is all about right and wrong, truth and justice, fairness and honor. The other side is all about winning and losing.
The problem with our body politic today here in this republic is the GOP. It is the corrupt instrument of plutocrats and it knows no bounds on its indecency.
What huh are you kidding? No I am not, in evidence I give you DJTrump, low rent gangster and our national shame.
12
Biden has always been a small man.
4
Cowards run for office and we elect them. Cowards and sleazeballs. I think Biden is a decent man with no spine, which made him a great Vice President. (Wait. What can that possibly mean? “A great Vice President”?)
3
Wow, derangement syndrome in full. Not sure what the Thomas hearings and Anita Hill have to do with Barr, but there you go. Perhaps you should read or listen to Alan Dershowitz on Barr’s release, analysis and findings on obstruction. The professor is no partisan hack and thinks Barr has handled all of this correctly, therefore I collude, no conclude, that Trump has not eaten Barr’s soul. And just an aside, Anita Hill’s credibility was question at the time because she followed Thomas from job to job where she alleged she was harassed. Odd behavior at best. It was not an all male, all white committee that did not believe her due to gender and race. She was not credible due to her behavior.
4
@Mark V. Mark I have sat here this morning trying to think of how to respond to this piece. Thank you for doing it for me. And very succinctly I may add.
"If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy." David Frum (2018)
17
I like to read you, Maureen, & often agree , but here you're ablaze. This is a veritable revelation & unspeakably important, point after point.
Biden won't do (good photo to go along with piercing recollections) & yes, you said it, Mueller believed too much in his own purity to do the necessary job.
It's left to people like you to do the job. Stay with it!
3
Enjoyed the article, but it was NOT Biden's insistence on "fairness" that saddled the nation with Clarence Thomas, but his insidious, utterly selfish and calculated desire to APPEAR fair for political gain. What he did to Anita Hill had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with fairness. Ironically It does not surprise me that his hearty-hand clasping, back-slappin' bon-hommesque style, while not sexual, snagged "Me-Too" tripwires for some women who experienced his familiarity as unearned and inauthentic.
Beware. I'm telling you, his threats for wood-shedding Trump will end badly.
5
Sadly, Ms. Dowd is right. There are moments at which it’s necessary to dive into the manure to subdue the bully who isn’t interested in a fair fight, but rather only in winning. I hope that Mr. Mueller understands that this is one of those moments, and that he may have to dirty himself to protect the country.
10
Thank you Maureen!
Indeed, Mitch McConnell,Bill Barr, Lindsey Graham and the entire corrupt claque of power hungry Republicans are all playing to an audience of one, the depraved narcissist and mob boss from Queens, Donald Trump. If Joe Biden really thinks these soulless creeps will treat him any better than they did Barack Obama, then he is in for a rude awakening if he actually becomes POTUS in 2020. This wretched gang doesn’t care about norms, rules, laws, the Constitution or this country, and they will do anything to maintain the rotten status quo as we saw with the Attorney General as he lied and weasel worded his way through his testimony. If Robert Mueller, who is no longer Special Counsel, doesn’t come forward with his entire unredacted report and if Don McGahn refuses to testify, then what? As someone else commented, Bill Maher was right. It’s time that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats stop pussyfooting around and cease being afraid of the overweight bully who, belongs in prison and not in the White House. Desperate times like these call for desperate measures. Watching the brilliant and fearless Kamala Harris interrogate the chubby bagpipe player and Trump lackey, Bill Barr, did give me some semblance of hope.
10
What we need is a prosecuting attorney in the White House for the next 8 years.
5
....And, a bench warrant for Barr, for skipping out on the House this past Thursday. Someone needs to be made an example of.
1
I want a dozen Democratic leaders who fight, savagely.
10
Barr and his soul haven't shared an address since at least 1990.
11
Move forward! Now!
Do not get stuck on Barr. He has placed himself between the People and the Mueller Report.
Don't debate his culpability, whether to Impeach him, to take to Court -- it is all a waste of time.
Move Forward! Get Mueller to testify, perhaps McGhan as well.Forget Barr exists. Ignore him.
Get the Report on Prime Time, in front of the People.
Now-- Now! While the People want to know!!
20
Biden is no match for Trump. He mistreated Anita Hill and protected Clarence Thomas. An old boy doing the old boy thing. Biden cannot escape his political past. He lacks Trump’s uncanny ability to avoid accountability for public and private misbehavior. Obviously Biden needed Roy Cohn as his attorney and mentor.
2
Writers and thinkers abound here. At a seminar while Trump is at a pro wrestling match. That's as far as he ever got. Go back look at the tapes of this "sport" in Donalds formative years. I did, in period. Choreographed bad guys cheating in every heinous way possible. The Donald types just love it when BoBo winks at the crowd and "cheats". Don't see Chuckie or Barbie rising out of the crowd to vanquish him.
As much as I have lost respect for Biden, he has watched this show and can play his part. Demonstrably. Fearlessly.
The ref ain't gonna get up if there's no hero to protect him.
What will it take for those in government to see the existential threat to our democracy that Trump and his enablers represent? Speaker Pelosi insists the only way to outmaneuver Trump is to win decisively at the ballot box. But our election system is compromised already: districts are gerry-mandered. Electronic voting machines are getting hacked. Absentee ballots are being destroyed. Voter suppression is real and insidious. And Congresswoman Pelosi somehow forgets that Clinton WON the popular vote by a considerable margin, only to be thwarted by the Electoral College.
Trump is not likely to give up his seat even after a legitimate election ousting him. Why? Because he'll be indicted the second he leaves office. The Oval Office protects him under the current interpretation of the rules.
Yes, we need to flip the POTUS seat and the Senate. But Congress also need to send a loud and clear message that criminal activity and unethical behavior will not be tolerated. We need to be as tough as Trump and his henchmen, playing hardball just as ruthlessly as the GOP has done for decades.
What are we waiting for? These are not ordinary times. They call for extraordinary measures. Including having conservatives say aloud what they really think about Trump, instead of hiding behind party unity.
8
People who are upset that women running should be getting more attention and the nomination seem to forget many of you didn’t vote for Hillary!
I said on many NY Times forums that Trump was going to win. I was attacked by Democrats who refused o see the extremely large crowds standing in freezing temps to see him speak.
Now I will say it again, Trump will win if the country in general doesn’t like the Democratic nominee.
I also said on these forums Obama shouldn’t pushed healthcare before the economy because Dems would lose the midterms. That midterm election led to having the most Conservative Congress for 8 years! And while Dems won the House, they didn’t win the Senate. The majority of women who won Trump districts were Moderates are never highlighted in the media like those who won Progressive districts.
Dems can easily lose the House again because all the focus is on Trump...not healthcare, and the issues they ran on. Soon the voters who switched votes back to Democrats will grow weary.
This time whether you like the Democratic nominee or not, we all need to play to win and not cry over or retaliate by not voting or voting for a 3rd party candidate because your guy or gal didn’t get it. Start thinking about a Supreme Court/AG controlled by Trump that can wipe out every gain this country has made. We need a candidate who can sway Republicans, Independents, Moderates and win Swing States! If not, Trump will win again! Time to understand their views too!
3
The referees and judges of sports have more courage than our Democratic elected officials in Washington. The disqualification of Maximum Security in the Kentucky Derby yesterday is a case in point. A complaint was lodged, they saw an infraction of the rules and they called it, no matter how upset the owners, trainer, jockey and bettors of Maximum Security would be. Presumably, they cared more about the institution of the Kentucky Derby than about the feelings of anyone who might be hurt by their decision. Sports don't matter. Democracy does.
4
Common sense has not prevailed or been taken into consideration during the travesty we lived in since Trump decided to run. Due to his financial history, easy access to Russian money, his career navigated by lawsuits and persistent conspiracy theories didn't it occur to anyone he would have been denied a security clearance? All the damage he has done nationally and globally could have been avoided had that subject arose and disqualified him from participating in the primaries. Had the agencies that issue are staffed by both parties addressed the facts it would have been a non partisan decision could have been done privately in order to avoid the obvious
5
@rhdelp
Indeed, although a security clearance investigation should probably just provide information. To the extent any conclusion was reached, there would be severe political pushback from whichever party felt threatened. There was plenty of information about Trump’s shenanigans available before he was nominated. The true problem is the people who voted for him anyway.
2
Lady, you have a disturbing view on recent history. Fact is, Mcconnell should be in a jail cell today.
President Obama got similarly wrapped around the axle when he stayed mum on his administration’s investigation into Russia’s sabotage. Obama choked after the diabolical Mitch McConnell warned the White House that, if it went through with a plan to publicly shame Moscow, he would regard that as a partisan act.
6
I'm reminded of the quote from Dante Aligheri referring to the special place in h ell for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis.
19
I was all set to lambast Dowd for using the term "man up", but then discovered that it doesn't actually appear in her column and I have no idea if she had a hand in writing the headline or not. The term is really misogynistic and does a disservice not only to men, but to women as well. It implies certain characteristics of character and bravery are inherent to and exclusive to masculinity. Also, it's almost always used in some adversarial situation. When was the last time someone suggested that Nancy Pelosi, for example, should "woman up"?
In short, this is a phrase the Times and pretty much every one else should jettison.
3
I don't always agree with Maureen Dowd. Her bile toward Hillary Clinton still mystifies me. As far as I'm concerned she aided and abetted Trump considerably with flirtatious, gossipy one on ones during the 2016 campaign that may have helped get him elected.
But with this piece the she lets the daggers fly, hitting her targets with dead precision. Trump. Barr, Biden and Comey are spared nothing. The snark from her savage pen has never been more exacting.
16
For a large sector of the American Public not to see through the calumny of the president is the worst tragedy of all. And for the republicans to go along with the looting of the nation by the special interests for which they front is the poison pill of perversity. Recovering from this defamation will take years and a decency that has vanished from DC.
16
Mueller, I think, did what he was hired to do, and did it very well. He is right not to bring a case, himself, against Trump. Otherwise, it would have been a disaster.
2
@RAH
You are correct, but there was quite a bit of wiggle room, and by my lights Mueller wiggled the little bit too much toward Trump.
5
The Republicans are so much better than the Democrats at this. Their specialty is a screeching outrage at the tiniest infractions. The Democrats simply can’t get themselves worked up over every issue. Republicans have simply mastered the technique.
And apparently, it works.
7
to those paying attention, pretty obviously the Republican Party is a clear and present danger to American democracy. Their corruption runs deep - Citizens United dark (read corrupt) money, Trump, McConnell, Barr, etcetera. The party of Lincoln (honest Abe) is led by America’s greatest liar. Truly deplorable.
Hopeful signs: the midterms, House Democrats, Iowa State representative Andy McKean quits the Republican Party in disgust, a talented field of 2020 presidential candidates.
The critical challenge for Democrats in the run-up to 2020 is confronting Republican corruption by being strategic, organized, and fearless.
9
As Ms Dowd clearly explains, Biden is the quintessential insider who brings a knife to a gunfight. His handling of the Thomas hearings demonstrates exactly what is NOT needed in today's political climate. He blew his chance in 1991 and has done nothing since that would remotely exonerate him from the disdain he has so deservedly earned.
7
Bringing a pen to a sword fight is foolish. Unless you think there is hope for latent decency or authentic honesty.
Problem is our republican hit men have been flushed out into the open and blatantly threaten the hostages they’ve taken in plain sight daring anyone still burdened with hope to throw down their worn out collegiality, don blindfolds, and face the wall.
2
In this GOP era, trying to be fair is akin to "carrying a knife to a gunfight". Today's GOP is nothing if not fundamentally, characteristically, essentially, ruthless. They will do anything to win. And, each GOP win weakens democracy and yes, fairness, in America. They see "fairness" as naive. They take the naif to the landfill.
2
William Barr is a willing accomplice in Trump's destruction of the Rule of Law, and Barr is among along line of corrupt and dishonest GOP attorney generals. (Remember John Mitchell?) . And Barr had already participated in a cover up of Iran-contra. What was even more pathetic was that GOP members joined in with Barr's allusions to a vast deep state conspiracy against Trump and lack of any concern for national security.
Comparing Barr's pathetic and criminal testimony before the Senate committee to Biden's performance as chairman of the Judicial Committee when Thomas was selected is totally inappropriate.
The real tragedy of the Thomas hearing was as Dowd writes, not invoking the filibuster which was not Biden's decision. Nothing in Anita Hill's testimony came close to Dr. Ford's testimony of physical assault. And does viewing pornography make a Justice unqualified? Biden voted against Thomas and was faced with members of his own party who favored Thomas. This was not an attack on the Rule of Law or disregard of national security.
2
That's the problem; Mueller thinks he is being a man. He's going to put his own virtue over the country's.
6
Congrats, Maureen Dowd. You have told the God’s honest truth, especially that part about the “diabolical” McConnell.
And, no, Biden does not deserve to be president. Directly and indirectly he is responsible for putting two sexual predators/liars on a Supreme Court that has lost most of it credibility, much the same way Barr did this past week.
5
Democrats are shooting themselves in the foot by harping on the flaws of their own candidates as much as they are, including this episode with the Hill hearings. One must balance that against all of Biden's accomplishments before and since.
A lot of it is in the area of foreign policy (not as sensational, I know). Consider, for instance, work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in which he helped to move forward an agreement to end the war in Yugoslovia. Or his work in 2015 on getting aid and support to Ukraine, even speaking once in Ukraine's parliament. Or securing the release of Libyan democracy activist after speaking with Gaddafi. Throughout his vice presidency he was a constant behind-the-scenes counselor to Obama, and regularly went beyond the traditional ceremonial role of the post.
It's about taking a balanced view of a person's career. And removing the admitted sexual predator in the White House needs to be our ultimate focus.
10
I knew nothing about Barr's background, heard the comments about he being an 'honorable man' at the time of his confirmation but am astounded at the spectacle of a grown man groveling. It truly is amazing, has he no shame? No self respect? To be an apologist for Trump is a crime against humanity, to be his enabler is an outrage.
9
More claptrap denigrating Barr. Dem leadership, along with its allies in the MSM, somehow think it's desirable (regardless of the facts) to slander and humiliate anyone who works for Trump. This level of partisanship and viciousness is not good for the nation. At this time, we actually need a strong AG to restore morale and normalcy to the DoJ/FBI. Barr is doing this; his only sin is doing his job well.
5
Mr. Trump and his Republican Party acolytes are criminals, expert at gaming the system, taking advantage of naive liberals and ginning up the hate machine that is Fox propaganda and right-wing politics. Those who believe justice ultimately will be served as democracy rises triumphant in the next election: Assess the field of leading Democrats. Are any ready, willing and able to lead the fight?
3
the importance of the piece is that "enormous damage to the Republic" is happening and everyone is tiptoeing around it or simply ignoring it. out of what? fear? a movement that can be described as #meonly instead of #usasone? we live in a "reverse" world - minority rule, majority right. how sad. 😢
2
I don't think Trump gobbled up Barr's soul in one bite. I think Barr jumped willingly and knowingly into Trump's mouth. He was a volunteer. He made a job application in a scholarly journal. Saying he would protect Trump because Barr believes in a maximalist imperial Presidency. Barr is a former Nixonite, who believes, as Nixon did, that if the President does something, then by definition, it's legal. He let Trump know that was his opinion. Trump hired him. Barr has done everything he can to protect Trump. Just as he said he would. Trump didn't swallow Barr's soul. Richard Nixon did.
7
After two-and-a-half-years-of dogged investigation, we still have no definitive word on Trump's complicity in the Russia meddling that gave us his rancid presidency. Why is Mueller treated like an untouchable god who cannot be questioned about his findings? Mueller was thought to be the one person who could lead us out of the wilderness of lies, misinformation, and other high crimes committed by this dangerously ignorant president. I don't care about the booming economy. I care about the character of this country which has taken a nosedive since his ascendency.
7
Agree, as if the only thing that matters is the economy. Don’t get me wrong, I have benefited greatly from the stock markets rise over the last 20-30 years. But the cost to the country is not worth it. Democrats need to focus on the existential threats to the country and the planet.
Those threats include extreme income inequality, climate change that will make us long for only the current number of migrants at the border, the failure of our infrastructure, rule of the “minority” fly over states over the majority in this country. Democracy won’t be able to withstand this onslaught.
Democrats need to do a better job of making this case to the American public and start wrapping themselves in the Constitution and the rule of law as they read it. Religion as well. They have let Republicans own this narrative to the detriment of all three.
The current field of Democrats for president, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer need to be better leaders on these issues instead of trying to work with Republicans and get legislative wins. Clearly, Americans don’t care about legislative accomplishments or the Republicans wouldn’t have been able to control so much of the local, state and federal governments over the last 30 years. Get a clue!!!
Too true: the Republicans play hardball while Dems play softball.
Then the whole country suffers.
7
"I remember chasing Arlen Specter, the usually moderate Republican from Pennsylvania, down the hall of the Russell Senate Office Building after he slandered Hill as a perjurer."
And I wrote a letter to Arlen Specter castigating him for his disgusting treatment of Hill. The whole hearing was a damnation of women "who get above themselves" in a male world - even an African American male world.
6
The Mueller report is released. I hope all that submit NYT comments have read it. If not, shame on you.
The report contains all the information needed to commence impeachment proceedings. It is time to put up or shut up. If you believe impeachment will never clear the senate, so what. Start the proceedings and find out because if you really believe he should be impeached then the only ‘right’ thing to do is start the process. If not, please stop whining because there is only one of two possibilities. You are wrong or you were out-maneuvered.
4
Ms. Dowd, you made me relive the disgusting Thomas confirmation hearing. Very painful. Vert necessary. A searing reminder of how vicious Republicans can be.
If Joe Biden cannot see that it is not Trump, but the Republican Party that is the disease sickening America then he is not the right person to get the Democratic nomination. Trump is the puss-filled boil of the Republican disease. Ridding America of only Trump will not cure our nation. The disease must be excised.
4
Let's forget about the etherial Soul: right and wrong, good or evil are purely and specifically 'man'-made products. Everybody judges good what he likes and wants it, or evil because he hates and avoids it. Barr has found his stairway to heaven. It is his desire to breathe the breath of Power--he Likes it, he Wants it. Power is irresistible which is why it corrupts. Barr is no lackey; Trump didn't corrupt Barr. Barr worked his way toward it--Power, that is.
Go Ms Dowd! Go.
1
retired federal attorney F/70
Worried about the growing imbalance among Supreme Court justices? Me too. One check on SCOTUS, however, is Chief Justice Roberts who cares deeply about the integrity of HIS Court, likely to be the RBG-wing swing vote for years.
That said, our Judicial Branch of governing is in peril. The single most dangerous man in this country today is Mitch McConnell with his ramming thru HIS Senate lifetime appointments of federal judges everywhere and at every level.
For two years, federal judges anchored in established law have been a powerful check on the worst Executive Orders (E.O.) coming from the man in The White House and his agency heads, from protecting children at our border by enforcing every ACLU petition for their custodial care to blocking environmental E.O. like the oil pipeline coming across Indian lands and big rivers from Canada. All of these first-level federal judgeships and the federal appeals courts are being packed with Mitch's ideologues.
Consider this: IF Dems should take both House and Senate at some future time and decide to expand the SCOTUS number to offset the Scalia or Thomas clones' votes, it may not matter. SCOTUS' primary job is resolving disputes on the applicable law among appellate courts and there won't be any?
I'll be long gone, but pray that our kids and grandkids move to West Coast states or Massachusetts to New England, thriving places that may choose to join Canada's federal system. Scary, eh?
6
From the beginning of ALEC and Roger Ailes's new cub, GOP messaging has been laser focused. It has also been misrepresentative, biased, and blatantly false, at times. Yes, they cheat. They cheat the facts and, ultimately, the American people. They approach the US political landscape, like Israel approaches their sovereignty, a fight for their survival. Nothing is off the table; the gloves are off; and it's to the death. Every time I hear Mitch McConnell refer to the "will of the American people", I feel nauseous. Their ONLY purpose is to keep a shrinking party relevant, through gerrymandering; obstruction; voter suppression; fear; hate; complicity; misinformation; and a steady diet of myths and lies.
6
Go Mo! It is time to take on the traitors known as Trumps. Mueller should have indicted Trump and ignored that unconstitutional Justice Department policy. It is ridiculous that an executive department director can decide not to perform a legal duty. No one is above the law.
I also want Mueller to "man up". We are dealing with nothing less than treason and we need to prosecute the Trump mob.
2
Are we sure that William Barr has a soul?
Are we positive that Republicans have a backbone?
2
I totally agree with Dowd about Biden’s actions-or lack thereof- during the Thomas hearings. I really do. I just am unsure as to why she devotes most of this column to something Biden did in the past instead of to something Barr did in the recent present.
Dowd is right about Biden’s actions during the Thomas hearings. And she also though had to find a space to bring up Obama in an essay on politician’s losing their soul. I remember her mocking Gore’s plaid shirts during that election.
Dowd has a lively ability to trash people. Biden deserves criticism for what he did years ago. He is not my choice in the primary. However, if he gets picked, will Dowd do as she did with Hillary Clibton and Al Gore and even Barack Obama?
She has criticized George Bush and Trump. It just feels like she is particularly good at criticizing the personalities of Democrats. And like Trump’s does with his insults , she tags them with unchanging negative attributes .
6
Trump did not gobble up Barr’s soul. Barr readily offered it up to him on a silver platter.
5
Let us take the high road and support Joe Biden selecting Anita Hill as his Vice President. Politically it would increase Biden's grip on the women's vote, and especially on the Black women's vote. And it would finally give the reticent Clarence Thomas to say something after all these years.
I’d like to see a non-Boomer/ Silent Generation type win the Democratic nomination this time around. It’s been like a decades-long version of “The Three Faces of Eve”; Clinton the Hungry, Bush the Dim, (Obama skipped - honorary Gen X), Trump the Awful and Stupid.
As a nation we’ve seen a very thorough sampling of the virtues and vices of that cohort. Perhaps there is still time for a Biden or Bernie or Warren “the Good and Wise” but there’s nothing wrong with starting a new chapter, either.
Maureen Dowd loved Poppy Bush because Bush Sr. was nice to her even if Dowd wrote something critical about him - it’s always personal for Dowd.
We all mourned Bush Sr. last year because of his grace and class especially in contrast Trump’s complete lack of grace, pure vulgarity instead, and total lack of class, a perfect example that having money is not the same thing as having class.
But part of Bush’s legacy was the racist Willie Horton ads. And even more unforgivable sin of giving us Clarence Thomas, a throughly unqualified Supreme Court Justice picked strictly as a token black Justice to replace Thurgood Marshall, a Civil Rights icon, one of the best lawyers to argue in front of the Supreme Court - including the landmark Brown v. Board of Education - before becoming a Justice, and champion of civil rights and individual rights as a Justice. Clarance Thomas a permanent stain on Bush’s legacy, a stain on the Supreme Court, an embarrassment as a Justice, buttresses the charge that unqualified blacks get access to jobs because of their race, which is totally unfair to qualified blacks and blacks who often have to perform much better than whites to even get an equal chance and white privilege that routinely puts unqualified whites in positions of power - George W. Bush and Trump being prime examples.
And, of course, it was Anita Hill who had her reputation destroyed and had the high tech lynching instead of Clarence Thomas, who pathetically and falsely played the victim.
4
We need a hero. Someone in the know who is willing to scream from the rooftops. Sadly, he/she may be pushed off of the roof. This is a coup. Accelerating in speed now because individual one has broken decency in half as he feeds his monstrous ego and that of his family. Biden tries to get 'cozy'. That's his thing. But here's the deal: individual one, Stephen Miller, Steve Bannon and his money people are going forward and turning the country into their personal opportunity. IVANKA GOT A TRADEMARK FOR VOTING MACHINES. Let's understand that the depth of this family's corruption is beyond grotesque and they must be stopped. I feel sorry for the hard working Pelosi. She needs back up. Where are the MEN now????
2
"It’s simply bad judgment, ceding the ground to malevolent actors who use any means to achieve their ends..."
This describes how Maureen Dowd used (or didn't use) her power of the pen in 2016, ceding way too much ground to trump.
Too much cowardly behavior in DC!
6
In Part Ii of the Mueller Report, much space explains the OLC opinion & DOJ policy vs indicting a sitting president which prevents Mueller from indicting Trump (or otherwise he would have done it). But, the policy also binds against deciding not to indict when the Special Counsel cannot exonerate (a declination). It applies to all DOJ officials, Barr as well as Mueller. In short, Mueller did not anticipate an atty general violating the very same rule. But, that is exactly what Barr did (and then lied) saying “Mueller wouldn’t decide [he couldn’t] so I did [Barr couldn’t either].
Perhaps, Ms Dowd, you could ask a reporter at a good newspaper to follow up on this. Start by reading the report. Have someone with a good DOJ background explain it. Boil it down to bite sized bits. Then explain this to the public in a short, easy to understand way.
Ps. Then look into the Newsweek article of 4/15/19 into Barr’s financial ties to Russian owned Vector group (he was paid dividends), Deutsche Bank (he owns assets of between $100K to $250K), and Alfa Bank (his firm represents them), etc.
7
How sad it is for the “Deep Staters” in the FBI that their attempt to overthrow the election was unsuccessful.
1
A lot of Democrats have a little republican in them. Virtually no republicans--including Mueller--have any Democrat in them. This outcome was in plain sight from the beginning. Welcome to the Union of Soviet States of America.
3
Well done Ms. Dowd. Watching trump smirk about his phone call to Putin( letting us know they laughed at Mueller and his “hoax” of an investigation, had me screaming. Watching Hillary ( free at last to be herself) nail the absurdity of the situation with her “ China if you’re listening ...” comment, brought the whole nightmare scenario in focus. Trump is riding high, he “won”!
Now Barr and his company of bought off goons will embark on their trump pleasing plan to see Obama, Clinton , Mc cabe and maybe even Mueller behind bars.
1
Brilliant. This is the elephant in the room: the advantages held by those willing to use any means to an end. Reminding all of us of what REALLY happened to Anita Hill is the perfect juxtaposition to what is happening now.
Trump feared Mueller because he has no capacity to understand someone who doesn’t use every advantage in every way possible to “win.” His tweets floating over Mueller’s “fall” speak volumes.
Trump sees probity as weakness, as a fool’s paradise for “losers.” Come on, karma. Enter now.
One of your best of a very good run, Maureen (plus I learned more about Savonarola!).
Randy Lawrence
Gobbling up the souls of his minions is just an appetizer for Trump as he endeavors to consume the very soul of this nation.
2
It is beyond my understanding how any Democrat can seek “comity “ with Mitch McConnell.
3
"When they go low, we go high." And kiss democracy goodbye ...
5
I have not agreed with much of anything that Maureen Dowd has said in a long time.
She is spot on in this column. Well done, ma'am.
1
I'm still holding out for, as you called him, "Bobby Three Sticks", to go off book.
1
Keep printing pictures like this (oh so sly) and Biden won't get in, and Trump will make mincemeat of the young candidates.
Another four years.
5
@Kathy Millard
I would pay real money to see Kamala debate trump, FWIW I think she would tear him to shreds. (not that the trump voters would care, but it would be fun to watch)
4
@Mark. I agree with you, it would all be fun to watch for me in Canada, but I fear for your futures.
1
"The transformation of William Barr from respected establishment lawyer to evil genius outplaying and undermining his old friend Robert Mueller is a Grand Guignol spectacle."
First of all, Barr hasn't "outplayed" anybody any more than has a trusted friend who stole your wallet and left you stranded at a restaurant.
Second, this is not the first rodeo for "General Coverup". His service in the name of corrupt powers has been bonafide in two previous administrations. The stunts he's pulling for Trump should surprise no one.
6
Thanks to your husband for his service in the Civil War. Very sorry for your loss.
This time, Maureen, you’re wrong. Wrong in every point you try to make. Honor, decency, and the truth DO ultimately prevail. And Rehashing the Anita Hill incident is your own attempt to write history. Leave it to the real historians, who will weigh the facts without all your partisanship.
3
It's amazing how man and moment find each other.
The man for this moment is Robert Mueller. The guy who captained all the Teams at St Paul's and Princeton where he graduated in 1967.
He tried to join the Marines but they turned him down because of a bad knee. I remember that time...thousands, maybe millions of us would have looked at that bad knee as a gift to avoid the draft.
Not Mueller. He waited a year and the Marines took him on the second try.
He won the Bronze Star and rose to Captain. He has always said that the thing in his life about which he is most proud is "the Marine Corps though me worthy to lead other Marines."
Although I have never met him, I suspect he would have had little hesitation in falling on a live grenade to save the lives of his fellow
Marines or charging a machine gun nest if the situation required.
Those acts of heroism would probably be much easier for him than stepping outside of the chain of command at his present
role as an employee of the Justice Department. That would be grandstanding in his view, seeking attention. Not his style.
We absolutely need Bob Mueller to go rogue. The "chain of command" is hollow and dishonest.
Bob Mueller should resign from the Justice Department effective
immediately and tell the story of his findings to the Congress and the American people.
Mueller is the Joe DiMaggio in the Mrs. Robinson song. "Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you."
If not you Bob, who?
https://www.wednesdayswars.com
8
Re: The devouring of Barr's soul whole? I dunno.
I think we had plenty of little foretastes to sample. This was one... Quoting Barr in his late April testimony: “If you are somebody who is being falsely accused of something, you would tend to view the investigation as a witch hunt.”
Notice he didn't say, "If you THINK YOU ARE SOMEONE who is being falsely accused." He said, "ARE someone who IS being falsely accused."
Barr's bias was stinking to high heaven long before he called Mueller snitty and otherwise cracked wise about his writing skills (comparing it to a junior staff member’s).
3
Oh Maureen. Must you too jump on the ultra obvious vilify Barr bandwagon? We all know it is because he’s coming for your pals next.
Mueller spent nearly two years and tens of millions, ruined lives and charged dozens, with no collusion to be found. Whatever that even is. But he froze in his tracks, unable to decide on obstruction. Please. He threw it to Barr so it could become a political issue since there was obviously no crime.
And Barr appropriately, made the call. He even offered Mueller a chance to review his planned statement on Mueller’s findings, but the virtuous one declined. Now the post game whining begins. Just like another beckon of virtue, James Comey, after his misappropriation of the law.
The jig is up kids. Time for the real investigation to begin and it will not be pretty. Whether or not you like Barr or attempt to intimidate or coerce him.
1
The Democrats, Mueller, and most of the people in the United States believe in the rule of law and in "fairness." Excuse me these are poor weapons in the fight against McConnell who has fine honed the art of turning righteousness against those who would be righteous. It's blackmail. The GOP aka as the Trump Party may spout off biblical "law", but in essence are like Barr....ready to grovel, obfuscate, besmirch etc. all who cross the Trump doctrine (racism, protect the rich, abortion, judiciary control, legislative control, etc.) Don't kid yourself....this has been in the works for years. Sorry folks....fairness went out the door when Trump (and those who control him) walked into the White House.
3
The NYT is also to blame. They must give both sides to a story, quote the naysayers with respect and so on. Yes, that's journalism. But it's wrong to accept the naked GOP propaganda while requiring the Bernies and Elizabeth Warrens of the world to prove everything they say beyond a reasonable doubt. Of course if you do stand up for the truth, Trump will probably come after you again. Still, don't be fooled again. And tell your boy Biden "if a Republican's not lying, he's not trying". Just b/c he bought you a drink doesn't give you the right to let them throw us- your constituents- under the bus again. You can't stop them if you aren't in battle mode 24/7. We're under attack and you, Joe, are either with us or against us. And you should've run in 2016 like Beau asked. Now you're just getting everything confused.
2
I don't buy at all the criticism of Mueller. Maureen Dowd has a biting and witty article. Throwing Mueller into this mess puts blame on the wrong party. Mueller is like the lead engineer who has been engaged to determine why a new bridge is failing. The team runs their computers and finds major design flaws and substandard material. Their final report is strong and obvious about the defects. It then goes up to all the parties who are supposed to take direct action including criminal prosecution. That is when the report gets obfuscated and buried to protect the guilty. That is not under the lead engineer's control.
Now Maureen Dowd drives on that bridge everyday and notices that her car bounces up and down more and more day after day. That is when she writes her witty critique of the lead engineer that prepared the report!
4
Governing requires compromise. Compromise requires recognizing an opposing position is taken in good faith and charting a solution that takes into account all good faith positions to reach a practical solution. The problem we have today is that one side does not have an honest good faith position and it refuses to compromise at all. Republicans seek power for the sake of power and the support of their only constituents, their wealthy contributors, who may also include Russian oligarchs.
Fox News Republicans demonize Democrats. They watch Trump sell out the country at Helsinki. They support his racism at Charlottesville. Trump's misogyny is a feature, not a bug. They celebrate his immorality and declare him "chosen by God." And yet the Democrats are un-American!
You cannot counter a sociopath with civility and logic and that is what we are faced with. Give them an inch and they take a mile.
For those who believe in civility and the rule of law, these are dark days. We need to restore American. It is clear to me that Joe Biden is not up to the task. He doesn't even recognize the problem Republicans when he sees them, at least based on his statement that he thinks Dick Cheney is a decent man.
The Democratic primaries offer several excellent choices of moral, honest leaders, but I am not looking for a savior. I will vote against every Trump supporter on every level of government. It's the only way to root this sickness out of our country.
898
@Mary Exactly right. If Democrats, including Mr. Biden, haven’t learned that you can’t compromise with people who don’t compromise, we’re doomed again. The Republican congress did nothing to reign in Trump in the first two years; they are the ones whose patriotism is suspect. I prefer a candidate who has actionable plans to improve the lives of Americans: Elizabeth Warren, for example.
The only poll that matters is the election.
Journalists: please report on the substantive qualities of the candidates rather the results of the latest meaningless surveys.
80
@Mary:
"We need to restore American [sic]. It is clear to me that Joe Biden is not up to the task."
For all your, Maureen's and others'(justified) criticisms of Biden, I hope you will not succeed in tearing down his image to the point that if he gets nominated, Democrats will refuse to vote for him. Then we will just be handing the election once again to Trump, who is an incomparably worse choice.
37
@John Smithson
Come to NYC and ask anybody on the street what kind of businessman trump is.........
Bankrupt ? how many times? trump is a joke here or was....now as democracy is being attacked it's not so funny.....and that goes for his family of legal
sidesteppers......another NYC fact.
And now tell me what did he get done? Are you in the 1%...tax group? ...or are you in the group whose tax rebate is now terminated? Get things done? more children separated from their parents? and I wonder...are you feeling safe in your ethnicity?......Maybe it's all the repaired infrastructure you're thrilled by.....Maybe all those Bunnys is the real appeal.....
27
A friend and I watched every minute of the Clarence Thomas hearings. What astonished us most was how the news media portrayed the hearings -- it was so completely different than what we saw. The only person we saw conducting themselves with the judicial temperament of a Supreme Court Justice was Anita Hill. Only when women own media channels will we see women portrayed for who they are.
4
A great essay! Playing fair should always be the goal, but only when both sides play fair. I refuse to except that lying is the only way to get ahead, but the Democrats should be getting their message out there. And they can start by impeaching Donald Trump. It doesn’t matter whether the Senate goes along. Just put the message out in front of the public before the next election.
6
Whatever respect William Barr had was misplaced from the beginning. He is a royalist, a champion of authoritarian government. He always has been. Any respect for him grew from our monetary morality -- he got respect because he had money, no matter his beliefs or behavior. People would overlook his anti-American beliefs, which he has made clear for decades. It's far easier that way in the polite company of elite cocktail parties.
3
Interesting essay on the politics of today.
Of interest are the comments Maureen makes concerning the GOP hack, Orrin Hatch, who never met a Republican president he would not grovel.
Then we have Trump's new personal attorney, Barr, who may have the Mueller report as his baby but Trump has Barr as his.
Yes, Ms. Hill was treated poorly by members of the opposing blood sport teams.
And today's political climate calls for more blood, more carnage, more childish insults from Donald "Jim Crow" Trump and his othr baby, McConnell.
And the Democrats have little, if any, means to counter Trump as they have rolled out their "pretty people", soon to be 22 in the latest count, rather than the bulldogs.
But then, who in their right mind would want to be insulted 24/7 by a toxic buffoon who has the ability to mobilize other buffoons.
The next presidential election will be interesting. It will be a referendum of do we continue with a dotard despot who will continue to hijack our form of government and dismiss our Constitution, or, find someone other than the Democrat's pretty people.
2
When Biden is completely destroyed, who will defeat Trump? Biden has baggage. He made mistakes that seem worse with the advantage of hindsight. The Democrats control the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and despite 20 some hopefuls, for better and worse, Biden may be the only candidate able to defeat Trump.
3
@dudley thompson True that Biden has baggage. And the Democrats cringe when a candidate has baggage.
And the Democrats do not turn a blind eye to baggage as the Trump supporters and most Republicans do.
And the failure to turn a blind eye will result in 4 more years of a despot.
1
Biden has zero chance of beating Trump. Trump will devour him. Not sure why that is so hard for people to see.
The Dems control the outcome of the 2020 election? So when our President gets reelected we should say that happened because of the Dems and no other factors were in play? Oh, ok. Nonsense.
Trump didn’t gobble up the attorney general’s soul, Barr offered it to him in a plate. No more excuses for the collaborators.
8
@sapere aude So it's amazing that Dems can't possibly believe that Barr is telling the truth.
Joe Biden is still colluding with the Republicans -- to no one's benefit but his own.
n the days before last November's midterm elections, Biden took $200,000 to speak to a right-of-center group in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
During the speech, he praised Fred Upton, the district's Republican Congressman.
Apparently, Biden was willing to overlook that Fred Upton had voted, at every opportunity, against Obamacare -- the signature piece of legislation when Biden was Vice-President.
Biden was also willing to overlook that Upton was in a tight race with a Democratic challenger.
After the speech in which he praised Upton became public, Biden declined to endorse the Democratic challenger.
The Democratic challenger lost to Upton by four points while much of the rest of Michigan turned blue: Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Attorney-General, Secretary of State and two previously 'safe' Republican U.S. House seats.
At times, there is just no excuse for Biden's behavior.
And why would another run at the Presidency end differently to his previous disastrous attempts (which were also marked by unforced errors)?
11
Can’t this form of racism just be called racism?
Preference by race is not compatible with full and real equal rights, the true north of equality. The unintended consequences of the installation of Clarence Thomas will resonate through history as a tone deaf misadventure into affirmative action. Now that the Supreme Court is at risk of corruption, this was no small thing.
1
Ma Foie.
Just because Ms. Dowd disagrees with the outcome does not mean that the outcome is flawed. Bravo Mr. Barr for a edification on the law and what it does and does not do.
This rings so true, Ms. Dowd, but what are we if everyone sinks to the swamp creatures' level? Barr's smug removal-isn't-the-same-as-fire bit was reminiscent of Clinton's "definition of is" moment, and is why so many Americans loathe and distrust Washington. Yes, I wish Mueller's report had provided a clear denouement, but we need the Muellers of the world to sustain our hope and desperate need for decency. I hope we hear from Mueller soon.
1
@Barbara
Being strong and tough doesn't require sinking to their level in the swamp. If they hit below the belt, knock them out with a punch to the face.
Thanks, Maureen, for cutting to the chase.
But don't count Robert Mueller out too soon.
He, not AG Barr, will have the last word & laugh.
Mueller, a brave Marine, did not spend almost 2 years investigating to be undercut by an obvious hack!
5
I sure hope you are right about that.
Biden tries -oh, how hard he tries -to portray himself as the reasonably moderate working man champion with six-pack bona fides. But, all too often, at critically important times, he reveals his true nature: he wants to be remembered as an insider with the Washington and Wall Street elites, a “hale fellow, well met” with them, and a dismissive of naive little people. He betrays his Party in favor of a fleeting bonhomie with opponents who are playing a death match and he is playing a friendly game of badminton.
5
While I generally agree with your column, you provide no solution to the problem. However, I don't agree with you assessment of what Obama did about the 'Russia Thing'. You know and everyone else knows that if Obama had come out like you think he should have, you and everyone one else would have been 'screaming bloody murder' at him for his actions. Both left and right would have condemned him for trying to use the 'Presidency' to put a thumb on the scales of our political system and no one would have believed it after the Media and political onslaught nothing. Obama's actions would have become the story not the 'Russia Thing'. The only reason you and folks think he should have done more is because of hindsight after Trump's election. Had Hillary been elected, you would now be praising Obama for understanding Mitch's threat for what it was and handling it in a correct and proper way as President of all Americans.
3
Soul-eating whether in pieces or a gulp seems more dependent on the diner's gustatory preferences and the capacity and condition of his digestive tract. Either way it's cannibalism of another's essence and arguably a more perverse form of slavery.
1
Joe Biden suffers from having been in politics too long, and worse, growing up politically in an era very different than the current one. This hit piece by Maureen Dowd should be a caution to Mr. Biden. His early front runner status has caused him to have a giant target on his back that every other Democratic candidate will take aim at.
I watched Netflix’s excellent documentary “Knocking Down The House” yesterday and it was illuminating and arresting. The star is AOC, and her political smarts and skills are so obvious that if this show had aired before the Democratic primary, her opponent Joe Crowley would probably have conceded before votes were counted.
The documentary also showcased how establishment Democrats are being targeted by up and coming challengers whose positions are far more leftist. One scene in particular caught my attention: AOC ruminating on how off-guard the establishment would be if she called for abolishing ICE.
Shortly after, abolishing ICE was part of AOC’s platform. No thought or analysis about the details or the impact of abolishing ICE or its feasibility factored into her decision. It was pure political theater. And it worked with the tiny demographic AOC was targeting.
Biden and others sensitive to the impact of policy on the country will have to contend with radicals who will promise anything to overturn the establishment. And Biden can’t remake himself as an iconoclast, his track record is tied to him like an anvil.
2
Artful weaving of story, but it still just boils down to just labeling everyone as evil who didn’t give you the outcome you wanted. Just a toddlers tantrum with good verbal skills.
"Mueller’s trust in Barr led him to miss the moment when Trump gobbled up the attorney general’s soul like a midnight snack — in one bite."
Not really.
Maureen, what if it was not trust in Barr, but, Republican party loyalty that resulted in the "decide not to decide" strategy?
What if it was just outright collusion between good ole boys? You are giving Mueller, a lifelong Republican who carefully has said nothing about anything, too much credit.
Mueller decided not to decide to avoid soiling his lifelong Republican credentials......and.....disabling his attendance at big Republican parties.
He did not "trust" Barr, he knew Barr would clear Trump, and,
Mueller enabled that outcome with the decide not to decide strategy.
So, don't be like Biden. Don't go easy on Mueller out of a misguided attempt to give benefit of the doubt.
Mueller had every opportunity to conclude.
He chose not to (conclude anything) specifically to enable Trump to claim whatever he wanted.
And so they did.
6
Maureen Dowd speaks for me, heart and soul, this time. From here on in, I forgive her for what she did to Hillary and "Barry" and the moment she provided Trump with a stenographer, back in 2016. It's a promise!
Evil is effective when good just tries to stay moral. Fairness in the face of dishonesty doesn't have much of a chance.
It's time for people to dig into Barr's history and realize he was never an honest and neutral adjudicator. He applied for the job on the basis of his bias, and those who thought different were deceiving themselves.
As to Biden, Anita Hill was only one of four (so far, and counting) times when "nice" Joe went along to get along and refused to stand up for what was right. There are pictures of him buddying up to a young McConnell. That did not turn out well, did it?
I like Joe; it's hard not to. But at this point, we need an Elizabeth Warren, who never wavers from the straight and narrow, and doesn't posture like Bernie while stabbing his allies in the back with his St. George and the Dragon rockstar act, insists it's my way or the highway and lets his fans abdicate their responsibility for action if their guy is not on top. We need someone with a backbone who knows that other people exist and is still willing to fight the good fight.
If we have to have a white guy, I'm for Bennett, who made things clear here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELvGSWtOblA
AOC also knows how to call out prevaricators:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fIIjSRo5yo
3
""It is possible to be “fair” in a way that is not at all fair....It’s simply bad judgment, ceding the ground to malevolent actors who use any means to achieve their ends, including flattening and sliming the proponents of “fairness.”"
From most trusted man in America (among Democrats), the Republican savior (not among Republicans) ended up looking like a patsy, after getting the Barr treatment.
But I still have no logical answer for why Barr decided to offer his services to Trump in the first place. Does a man like him spend a lifetime wishing he could get a chance to protect a tyrant? Is that why he went to law school?
My theories range from Trump passing money under the table to deeding him one of his money laundered condos once he's sure he's stopped Deutche Bank from releasing anything.
Of course, that's monetary---maybe Barr is just on a power trip, thinking it's fine to help Trump shred the constitution, because, hey, somebody's got to do it, so why not him?
4
@ChristineMcM
I think Barr is being completely consistent with own past history. He loves the limelight and being AG must have some nice perks, whatever he has to do to get and stay in that job is just part of the compromise.
Why Comey thinks he has to make any public comments is both puzzling and disturbing. This entire mess came about because he put his thumb on the scale just before the election, clearing the way for Trump and his band of criminals to eke out an electoral college victory, which enabled DJT to wreak havoc on all fronts, in plain sight, leading up to the Mueller investigation. After AG Barr's shameful conduct in interpreting the report in only the most glowing terms for Trump, which is nothing new - he's been a political hack for his entire career - Mueller must set the record straight, preferably in Congress, and soon. The American public deserves to know the extent of the nefarious and criminal acts done by DJT. And Democrats can't back down in this fight, because it's a fight for the soul of America.
3
How about this as a strategy? When they go low, we go for the throat.
4
The problem with the Democrats can be summed up by what they did to Al Franken, someone who in my opinion had the best chance of standing toe to toe with, and ultimately taking down, the malignancy that inhabits the White House. The Republicans, and their religious right allies, have no problem supporting a grifter who brags about grabbing women’s crotches. The Democrats, lead by certain Senators who selfishly wanted him out the race, abandoned a man who was strong on all the issues and had the actual ability (unlike the large majority of the current candidates) to NOT BE BORING. Yes, I admit he was guilty of some 60’s style immature fratboy conduct which was in need of “reprogramming.” However, I fear because Democrats insist upon 100% purity, we’re going to end up with another dull, humorless, uninspiring candidate. And 2020 is certainly not the year for that.
9
I love al Franken and continually am surprised when others do as well.
@Oliver Agree, This is why candidates like Gillibrand won't get my vote
Ms. Dowd,
You do not always get it right even though your writing is compelling and you usually see many facets of what is going on.
But, this article is straight truth.
Joe Biden and Ted Kennedy were quivering cowards who sacrificed Anita Hill to the guy's club reputation protection solidarity league.
Joe Biden didn't stand up and do the right thing then. And I honestly do not believe he get's it now -- what he did wrong and what he failed to do right.
If not then, and walking around now anointing Mike Pence a really decent guy, he comes under the category of blind-who-will-not-see, not peace-maker. He cannot be trusted to take on McConnell and other Republican toadies, opportunists and spawn of Cheney.
6
Fair play is no match for foul play.Neither is taking the high road when Trump has found a new low road from his experiences as a serial lying malignant narcissist and reaLity TV charlatan.
While I support Biden today I pray for an alternative to him that is experienced,centrist, and a gunfighter who can fight fire with fire and pick apart the lies and ego of our current potentially treasonous president.
3
Great piece, again. But William Barr is entirely responsible for his descent into immorality, illegality and evil. Trump did not swallow him whole: Barr went into the belly of the beast for his own motives. What has been revealed is that the respect he was previously given was undeserved.
The same thing applies to Joe Biden. I continue to be astonished and appalled at the fawning respect and seeming adoration he is treated with by this newspaper, despite being correctly referred to as a prattling, ineffectual lump of nothingness, particularly during the Anita Hill hearings. My wife and I will never forget those hearings, nor will we ever vote for Joe Biden for dogcatcher, let alone President.
4
@Joe
That's all well and good, but such an attitude is setting us up for another catastrophic repeat of 2016. We need to vote for whoever is the Democratic nominee. My current favorites are Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris but I will vote for any of the others against Trump.
3
Anita Hill never quite understood the moral
horror of her publicly humiliating an imminent
African American male on international TV,
really without mercy.
Even though she may have been "honest"
it was a horrible honesty.
The Dem majority in Senate confirmed Thomas.
Biden is too old and has too much baggage to run for president. The Democrats have a number of young, competent candidates but they also have a genius for picking losers. Then there is the problem that the Republicans often find a way to win elections with the fewest number of votes.
5
If William Barr ever had a conscience, the “Dementors” of wealth, privilege and power” destroyed it long before he worked for Trump. James Comey said it perfectly when he wrote -
“Amoral leaders have a way of revealing the character of those around them.”
Trump allows those he chooses to throw off the shackles of decency, integrity and respect for our laws and the Constitution and lets them finally be “themselves.”
2
Like a Martin Scorsese movie, this is how the bad guys win. Upstanding Boy Scouts against street fighters.
1
Republicans always play to win, they don’t care about right or wrong, good policy or bad policy, these things of fairness are meaningless, the only thing that matters is winning because if you are a the winner you are right. Trump is the epitome of the Republican philosophy, all of his lies, corruption, and conspiracy which facilitated his being elected are all washed clean because he won. In American politics the good guy doesn’t win while the cheating,lying,cut throat, back stabbing, ruthless criminal is cleansed by the holy water of winning..
1
Ms Dowd is wron again. William Barr’s soul was not gobbled up in one big bite by donald trump. William Barr likely sold his soul long ago- recent events have merely exposed him for the partisan hack that he has been all along. I agree that Democrats must toughen up and be strategic- Nancy Pelosi is an excellent role model- but they mustn’t lower themselves to the level of the trumpies.
3
Dowd writes like she is so in the know, she understands everything, and chasing women haters to boot.
Why didn't she take offense when she saw the Trump video a few weeks before the election.
Now bringing up the past for the one person who has a good chance of defeating Trump, is obviously counterproductive.
Maybe she wants Trump to win in 2020 and will vote for him again.
2
I agree with Ms.Dowd wholeheartedly. Republicans float the idea of bipartisanship Only when they have no other option. They play like psychopaths. No regard for rules or the humanity of others. None.
Following the rules when opposed by those who don't is craven, idiotic, or both. Morality is not served by adhering to rules that cause you to lose to immoral actors who don't. Extreme hardball has to be played here. Psychopaths (republican politicians) respond only to the Power of others.
This is largely a democrat vs republican issue although Mueller is a republican standing on principle getting tactically hosed by the others that don't.
As for the morally bereft Biden, I get nauseated at the idea of him as the democratic party nominee. He will get crushed by Trump and will crush all enthusiasm (All of which comes from the left) in the party. He will have negative coattails just like Clinton did.
Sanders is a genuine principled Leader. Pundits don't seem to realize the importance of that. The financial elite/establishment is terrified of that. He is a realist when it comes to (not) compromising in this political time. Incrementalism is death to policy. HE won't overcome a republican senate right away. With his Leadership, Voters will overcome the republican senate. Then voters can actually get what they vote for...Ending corporate corruption of politics, M4A, Far Higher Taxes on the wealthy, infrastructure, stronger Social Security, justice and decency.
5
For the GOP, politics is now exclusively blood sport - winning is all, and principles have absolutely nothing to do with it. In fact, for the "base", principles are for sissies. Meanwhile, Democrats are once again engaging in a family feud, imposing one or another of the usual purity tests in the process. One thing I know - when one party to a fight brings a knife and the other a gun, it ain't the blade that wins. It's time to get nasty - for the sake of the future, and the planet.
I had to take a moment after reading Ms. Dowd's column to reflect momentarily on which might be judged worse, in the realm of politics or morals – the injudicious actions of Joe Biden of 28 years past, or Donald Trump's many great displays of evil in the present day?
1
Thanks Maureen for an excellent piece.
And thanks again for not letting your animosity against the Clinton’s getting in your way for once.
5
Barr has been a bad actor in such performances for a long time, including Iran-Contra pardons and coverup plus obscuring the 1989 Congressional investigation into extra-national policing by the FBI.
1
This is one of the clearest examples of writing at NYT since I first subscribed, years ago.
Thank you!
1
Where are Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin when we need them? The Chicago Eight new how to get attention, and that's what the good guys need now. Maureen's best column in years!
2
Bravo. This is one of the best op ed pieces you have ever written.
1
“The transformation of William Barr from respected establishment lawyer to evil genius outplaying and undermining his old friend Robert Mueller is a Grand Guignol spectacle?”
Since when is lying and cheating outplaying and undermining? Mueller is not the problem. He has behaved properly, professionally and thoroughly. If Ms. Dowd believes Mueller’s behavior constitutes weakness, she is part of the problem. Barr should be shunned and condemned. If Mueller’s efforts do not yield the logical consequences, the fault is ours. Ms. Dowd should understand the country doesn’t return to lawfulness through unlawfulness.
2
You can’t be neutral between the fire and the fireman, to quote David Owen
2
When will all the people who are called liars and demeaned by Donald Trump in other ways get together and tell the whole story of what a corrupt, deranged, and all-around terrible human being Donald Trump is?
It can't be just the likes of Omarosa and Michael Cohen. It's got to be Mattis, Kelly, McGhan, and Nielsen, to name a few.
How can living by the narrowest letter of the law and ignoring the spirit of it in order to appear fair-minded and loyal to someone who is loyal to no one but himself allow these people to believe in their own purity?
Exercising restraint in the face of such a threat to democracy is no virtue.
3
"when Trump gobbled up the attorney general’s soul like a midnight snack "
Believe me, there was nothing there to eat. His June 18, 2018 19-page memo to the Justice Department proved his soul was already long gone.
2
Candidate Trump: " I'm going to win so much you'll get tired of all the winning. You're gonna say 'please stop all this winning!' "
Me: Ok, Mr. Trump. Please stop all this winning.
2
Yes, Ms. Dowd, Machiavelli’s “The Prince” hasn’t lost any of its relevance.
While I’m sympathetic to your thesis, I am troubled at the thought you may be previewing the arguments that you’ll employ to diminish candidates with lofty ideals but human frailties. And trying to square the circle of why you minimized Hillary Clinton but normalized Donald Trump.
If you harbor any vestiges of a journalist, not merely an opinion writer, I would earnestly hope that you lend support to truth. In this environment it needs all the help it can get.
2
I can remember watching Orrin Hatch read the passage from The Exorcist about the pubic hair, implying that Anita Hill had gotten the line from the novel.
I wondered why no Democrat mentioned the obvious, that maybe Clarence Thomas had stolen the line from the book.
I figured Biden really didn't want to get involved in a plagiarism fight.
1
The Republican Party is a ruthless criminal enterprise that is going after the money by gaining control of the government.
And unfortunately, they are succeeding.
1
If Mueller stays silent, he'll epitomize Edmund Burke's warning about evil triumphing when good men say nothing.
Good column, Ms. Dowd.
Donald Trump has eaten the soul of the entire Republican party. He represents the Ugly American perfectly.
Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Schumer, Jerry Nadler and Adam Schiff had better realize that we are in the midst of a civil war for the democracy and the rule of law. If they try to be shrewd, or try to show tolerance, they will look weak. Trump, Barr, and Co. have no intention of upholding the law, they are making the law fit their own beliefs and who can stop them? The Senate? They couldn't even overturn Trump's veto of leaving Syria.
The Dems should be really outrageous, and not hold back for any reason. Timidity now is a mistake. Only Elizabeth Warren and Jay Inslee have ideas that can save us, but if we do not also have the entire Congress on board (and not all Dems are progressive), as well as the governorships and state governments, winning in 2020 won't do much god. Others have said that here and elsewhere.
Make noise, Ms. Down. Make a big noise. Keep calling Trump a thug, a vampire and a lowlife. And make sure that Mr. Religion, Pence, is seen for the scary and frightened man he is as well. We need all the help you can give. Don't do what you did with Hillary. Talk about Warren positively, or any of the women running. You can make up for what you did to HRC in 2016 and slay the dragon in power at the same time.
3
maureen, biden may eventually become the democratic candidate despite your best efforts to derail his campaign. you were so sure that HRC would win that you advantage of her supposed victory to write many a column pillorying her for one supposed fault or another. take care or your trashing of biden may end up with another trump win.
1
You helped destroy Hillary so please leave Biden alone. Imperfect is not the same as disgraceful. You have partial ownership of the last election that gave us Trump. Don’t do it again.
1
Dowd's claim about Justice Thomas that "vicious, duplicitous Republican colleagues ... were jamming an arch-conservative liar onto the Supreme Court" is but one more nail in the coffin of the Court. Once upon a time, the Court, at least, of the three branches of government, had some dignity and credibility.
No more.
Well then, there really is nothing to be done with people who destroy everything that gets in their way but to destroy them. History has no other lesson.
James Comey's handling of Anthony Weiner's computer installed Donald Trump as president. The whole FBI handling of that computer needs investigation from start to finish.
2
I guess it's still true:"Nice guys finish last.".
1
Our nation is in grave danger. We crossed a threshold this week into perilous territory
Ms. Dowd - It’s wonderful to see your powerful thesis exemplified in this column.
You are right in that Joe simply lacked the spine to stop unarguably the worst appointee to the SCOTUS in our lifetime. Thomas was an appointment that where fascist Republicans learned that lying, obstructing, and threatening reprisal if they did not get their way on literally everything was a winning strategy.
Thus Biden set the table for the Garland fiasco, not to mention the replay in the form of Kavanaugh.
And it was brilliant of you to show that this bent toward Quisling behavior runs deep in the Democrat Party.
I really hope that readers who take comfort in the myth of “Centrist Joe” who supposedly can talk to non-existent factory workers, really understand the important warning you make clear in this column.
2
Maureen you are so special . I really wish you would focus on the present problems and figure out how we educated the ill informed public.
Trump is simply a lying lunatic who knows he is unqualified to be the President but knows he has to do everything possible to win re-election or else he will spend many years in prison. And Trump knows Letitia James will make sure of that and DOD,FBI,CIA and the NSA must watch Trump very closely
The media and the Democrats do not hold The Con Man in Chief accountable . The media talking heads continually repeat the idiotic phrase that there was no collusion in the Mueller report and that there was no conspiracy. For goodness sakes there can be no secret when you outright scream on television that you want the Russians and WikiLeaks to help. The Democrats let Trump’s denial of reality work for him politically. In July 2018, right after the GRU indictment and the Helsinki summit, about half of Republicans said Russia had interfered in the election. By February 2019, that was down to a quarter. The media should push back and make Trump acknowledge reality and the House Democrats must do the hard work of highlighting the Putin connection so Trump supporters see and remember all the lies (Trump tower meeting and cover up. Candidate Trump began promoting WikiLeaks on the trail, “WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks,” intervention
DOD,CIA and FBI provide our country cover because the Republican party only cares about their party not our country.
2
Oh Mo, how sweet it is - you taking the high heat for stand-up triples. Your scented rosin is close as we get these sag-bellied days to long lost Doc Thompson.
1
Bravo and Thank you Maureen for this insightful and pointed piece. I only hope Mr. Mueller will read it. Only Robert Mueller has the capacity and stature to clarify the truth for the American people at this point. And, while he is at it, I hope he has the chance to se the record straight on his true party affiliation as a life-long Republican. His silence has been a remarkable act of self-restraint and dignity. Now, history demands that the mettle of his character be demonstrated by speaking the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth for all the world to hear.
1
"The transformation of William Barr from respected establishment lawyer to evil genius outplaying and undermining his old friend Robert Mueller is a Grand Guignol spectacle."
The plays at the Theatre du Grand-Guignol were actually horror shows to an extent where an early director was reputed to measure the success of a play by the number of people who fainted during its performance. That certainly has a relevance to the performance of the Trump administration, but not to Barr.
Contrary to appearances, Trump is not using Barr as much as Barr is using Trump to promote the Federalist Society view that it is the role of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be.
Barr's performance at the Senate hearing last week was not intended to eviscerate his friend Mueller but to point out that what are generally seen as legal excesses by Trump are actually not inconsistent with the powers afforded the president in Article I.
The maddening view that Barr advances as to presidential power was contained in his argument that the president is within his authority to stop an investigation of his actions since he has final authority on the Justice Dept.
The barrier of "norms and traditions" erected to guide the autocratic hand of the president over the years have been ignored by Trump. Barr is only illustrating how illusory the strength of those barriers were.
2
The obscure German philosopher Carl Schmitt laid all of this out in the 1920’s. The left feels that a campaign should be run to make for effective and agreeable government afterward. The right believes that a campaign should be run to gain power and with it to then bludgeon the opposition into policy submission. It is not in the DNA of those who lean left to so oppress their opponents, instinctively wanting to find a way to work with them; the Right could care less about this. Progress only occurs after the Right makes an unholy mess and the moderate Left is then briefly empowered to clean things up.
3
@Frank - in view of the present record breaking economy will it take another 1930's style DEPRESSION to "make for effective and agreeable government afterward". What other calamity would snap our attention into positively directed action? Invading Venezuela? War with China? A cornered rat does not think about compromise.
Why are we all depending on Mueller to defend us, when we have a written constitution which prescribes a specific remedy against tyrants? It’s time for impeachment! It’s the House that needs to step up and do it’s job. To depend on Mueller is to pass the buck. I will support only those Democratic candidates who clearly call for Trump’s impeachment.
3
Trump knew Barr would blow off the Mueller report, that’s why he got the job. Didn’t Mueller see this coming? Everybody else did. Barr sold his soul when he took the job - I don’t know why and I don’t especially care, but it was as plain as day from the start.
As for Joe Biden, The circular firing squad has pretty much made Swiss cheese out of him, but that doesn’t mean the Party Bosses won’t give him the nomination. I’m sure Trump is pleased.
312
@Peter I think Mueller did see it coming (to some extent) that's why he did all the redactions and included summaries at each section. However, all you have to do is read David Brooks after Barr summarized the report (before it was released) to see how completely gullible all the conventional thinkers are. Brooks thought Barr could be trusted and wowo was he ever wrong.
46
@Peter
Regarding Mueller and Barr, it may be as simple as an honorable man not believing that a good friend of 30 years could be so different and dishonest.
15
Total agreement.
Further, Muller needs to testify in front of all congressional committees who so request in open and closed session whether or not Trump, Barr or anyone else objects. He needs to be truthful, speak in fashion that both the lawyer and the 'every-person' can understand. He needs to be the brave public servant as a lawyer that he was as a young Marine soldier who put it all on the line in the service of his country. Only in this case the bullets returning are only words. As in Watergate the tapes were the straw that broke Nixons back and truthful words coming from the 'horses' mouth may be what changes the dynamic, saves this nation and cements Muller as a great and worthy American.
10
@PG As was the fated blue dress was the downfall of William J. who had to admit he lied under oath and then was impeached by the GOP led House of Rep.
So it follows that Dems need to fire up their Impeachment teams and get going, then we can get back to re-electing Trump again.
Unbelievable. It requires a total lack of conscience to speak about a fair play after the Kavanaugh hearings.
9
In my heart, where some sense of justice is craved, impeachment feels mandatory. The list of reasons why is quite long. I scream for justice!
In my brain, I know that there is only so much oxygen in the political room. Impeachment would be a gift to Trump who would demonize the process nicely. Impeachment hearings will be his bludgeon, not ours.
To beat Trump, is to win the election. Find the farmers, the factory workers, the Gig Economy slaves (there are many millions) and talk about Trumps economic failures - he has not delivered his promises of prosperity to anyone but the prosperous. He has been a traitor to his "core" constituency.
And then there is the Putin thing. Trump has cozied up to a man who has attacked our democracy. I call that treason as well. The ad: A list with pictures of all the respected intelligence figures and Republican politicians with their statements about Russian meddling in our elections - contrasted with Trump meeting with Putin. "Why is Donald Trump smiling at this man?" "Why are there no records of their private conversations?" "Who is running our country?"
We can win. We just need to fight fire with fire. Call in the dragons now.
Let the Southern District of NY convict Trump of multiple crimes and watch him wallow in prison in 2021 or 2022.... Then our hearts will relax a bit.
23
@Bob Bruce Anderson - you can't win (we can't win) if you don't give full account of the raging economy.
Ms. Dowd has nailed the sad reality of our political landscape. Let's face it- at some level the majority of our politicians of both parties are hypocrites. If they told us what they really believed we might not vote for them, or much worse, we might not send them campaign contributions. That said, over the course the past 50 odd years Republicans have consistently doubled down on their hypocrisy to great political advantage. At the same time Democrats have been consumed with guilt and thus have acquiesced to the type of corrosive compromises Ms. Dowd cites, which we are led to believe "are in the best interests of the country".
13
Why not 'say it like it is'? Trump and his cronies have devised a cover-up up the central point of the Mueller Report. The Russians devised a way to put Trump in the presidency thru money, mostly, and sophisticated and not-so-sophisticated plunder of the mostly US-based social network system. and - the hacking of the Clinton Campaign servers. In Gilianni's thinking - what's so wrong with getting dirt on Clinton from the Russians? That's the problem: WHAT is so wrong with that? Of course, behind every question is a declarative sentence: There is something wrong with that. We now have an illigimate government and likely a criminal enterprise going on in the White House and with horror - we find the DOJ is now in kompromat with Trump in his illigimate election. Like dominos - the Republicans fell down to get what they wanted out of Trump. At long last, have do none of these people have shame? At long last, none of these people have any shame.
12
When they go low, they win. When we go low, everybody loses. It's time for a complete re-boot.
20
"Like Comey, Mueller believed in his own purity so much that he was blinded to his naïveté."
This seems to be the nub of it. Although in addition to naïveté one might want to consider adding both a patrician reluctance by Mueller to get his hands soiled in the sordid plebeian muck of political controversy and a slavish devotion to scrupulously obeying all rules no matter how petty or inconsequential. The bean counter mindset that made Mueller a thorough investigator likely prevented him from assessing and responding to the bigger strategic picture.
One would like to believe that Barr's arrogant dismissiveness might be enough to draw an angered Mueller out of his protective shell. He did after all write a fairly severe note of objection right after receiving a copy of
Barr's misleading four-page gloss of the special counsel report. But, then, when Barr simply ignored his criticism, Mueller failed to go public with it in a timely manner.
Barr knows Mueller quite well and seems very confident that he will obediently stay in his box.
8
For once, I agree with Maureen. Democrats - wake up! Your opponents have no concept of fairness. It must be clear to anyone with eyes to see by now that they will ruthlessly do whatever it takes to hold on to power. Even at the expense of our democracy. So readers, if you understand just how dangerous our situation is right now, you must call your Congress person and demand that the dems start playing hardball. Start impeachment hearings for both Trump and Barr now. Don't wait for polls to tell you what to do. If you actually have any leadership skills, now is the time to use them in defense of your country.
15
The only high road to counteract the Republican low road is to begin a formal impeachment investigation NOW and get tough on people who disregard our Constitution and the rule of law, beginning with Barr. He is in contempt of the law. Period. He is unfit to be Attorney General so get on with doing the right thing and try to remove him.
We have a legal system in place to handle people who take the low road. It has always been there. It is the Constitution with its power of impeachment. The voting system, as Speaker Pelosi wrongly suggests, is not a viable move in this game of autocratic chess. This game is using time and delay as THE major chess move. Playing to the electorate and hoping for their decency when voting and relying on Republican’s fair play to allow everyone who should vote to vote is the move that got us in this Constitutional crises.
The Republican Party would use every law available to them to punish a Democrat who did a fraction of the wrong any of them do. We have a second “Watergate.” We have the first Watergate as a precedent. Use it. That is the only high road left.
We will surely lose our Republic to a Republican autocracy by remaining on the road that leads to an election managed by Republicans helped by Russian intrusion. The Democrats only have the House left. All the other branches, and also the Senate, are now lost to Autocracy. You only have one move, Democrats, before the Republican Autocracy yells “Checkmate!” Use that move!
Sorry, politics and capitals whether federal or state are scurrilous, nasty, brutish and no holds barred and has been since the founding of this country. Just read history. Taking the high road of civility, comity and being polite rarely works to get elected.
@tom - do you think we founded our very existence as a "country" on the tenet that the best offense is a better defense? Violence over compromise?
There's no happy ending to this presidency. If the Democrats don't impeach because they know the Senate won't convict, then Trump and Barr get away with their egregious behavior and "Trumpism" becomes the precedent for future presidential behavior. If they do impeach, Trump will play the vindictive martyr and could well win again in 2020. Either way, the damage Trump has inflicted on the presidency is incalculable.
10
This is what happens, once again, when you bring a knife to a gunfight and expect a different outcome.
Next on Barr's career path?
The Supremes.
Vote.
10
The last time the Senate Democrats accomplished something was when Gillibrand threw Franken out of the senate.
It is constantly disappointing to watch the D's stumble and fumble .......everything.
This is all perfect for Trump, the swamp is now an abyss, and where he thrives.
7
@coastal,
And Gillibrand will never gain any traction as a candidate for president after that grotesque Machiavellian move.
But she’s still out there, as sanctimonious as ever.
She was up for re-election in 2018, so I looked at her Republican opponent, decided she was too extreme, and left that ballot blank.
Of course Gillibrand was re-elected in a landslide.
Just like Kentucky will never be able to rid themselves of McConnell, New York is forever stuck with Gillibrand.
3
@coastal
sorry to read you think Gillibrand's silly arrogance is a Democrat "accomplishment". She simply solidified the demise of cool reason in her party.
I wonder when the democrats are going to get sick and tired of being conned, manipulated and trampled over by the ruling republicans. When are the democrats going to be sick and tired of being owned by the corrupt party of old white men? The democrat's have a loosing record in recent history (the Anita Hill debacle, the court declaration of Bush II's presidential win after loosing the popular vote, ditto for Trump's win with fewer popular votes, the advancement of Gorsuch instead of Garland to the Supreme court, the advancement of Kavanaugh to the Supreme court, the blocking of decent people from being nominated to the administration by the republican majority Senate, the denial of extreme weather trends causing the relentless breakdown of U.S. infrastructure, the pass given to drug CEO's for perpetrating the availability of dangerous narcotics leading to the addiction of drugs to a helpless group of Americans, the legal defense of blocking medical care to the underserved and the nonstop bludgeon of the Affordable Care Act, the constant assault on science, the shifting of taxation to the lower and middle classes from the upper wage earners, the tax breaks given to corporations responsible for the demise of our air, water and food) I could go on but I want to post this asap.
Who among us is tired of watching the country loose in so many fights for decency, fairness and civility? In 2020 vote the repubs out.
15
"After getting dissed by Barr, will Mueller man up?"
Oh yes, Maureen...that really gets to the heart of the matter, doesn't it? When Nadler and Schiff et al begin interrogating Bob Mueller, do they really know how Special Counsel Mueller will respond?
Will Mueller testify under oath that he would've been willing to bring obstruction of justice charges in spite of the DOJ regulations (written by the lawyers at the Clinton DOJ in 1999) prohibiting the indictment of a sitting U.S. president, had he been able to make the case...instead of making no determination either way?
Will Mueller testify that there's really very little daylight between he and AG Barr on the substance of his final report?
Yes indeed...Special Counsel Mueller's impending testimony is fraught with peril for Congressional Democrats if only due to the "big picture" outline of Mueller's findings...no conspiracy indictments for Trump, his campaign, or members of his family; no indictments alleging obstruction of justice related to a crime that Mr. Mueller found did not exist.
Democrats put Bob Mueller on a pedestal, and now they'll hear from the great man himself.
Be careful what you wish for, eh?
2
Trump did not have to "gobble up" William Barr's soul. Barr was already a party hack who helped cover up the Iran-Contra scandal and recommending pardons for bad actors.
He put out his opinions before he was hired that led Trump to hire him to do exactly what he did. Trump did not have to co-opt Barr. Barr co-opted himself and offered himself up.
13
Now that Hillary is gone as Dowd’s favorite target, I guess Joe Biden will fill the bill. While he does not have a perfect political past, one cannot question his love for our country and his service. In flyover country out here, Biden is a candidate that both moderate Republicans who are disgusted by the perversion of their party and conservative Democrats who identify with labor like and would vote for. Do not let the perfect be the enemy of the good at such a pivotal time in our nation’s history. Otherwise, Ms. Dowd will have four more years of Trump to lament and wonder why he won re-election.
12
@J.
I'm beginning to believe this perspective is essentially correct. The only people who count in this country's politics are Republicans and conservative Democrats. The rest of us might as well be invisible, no matter how many millions of us there are.
The philosophies of "take the high road" and even "if you can't fight clean, fight dirty" will always be playing catch up to the philosophy of "Always fight dirty and unethically".
2
All true, Maureen Dowd. But nobody - nobody - is more horrifically "fair" than the news media in general, and the New York Times, in particular. There is no patently provable Republican lie that the media will not print or broadcast or publish alongside the truth as if the two should be granted equal weight. Nor would any in the media hesitate for a moment to criticize a Democratic official as partisan if they exercised the approach that Dowd advocates. As just one example I think of all of the "journalists" who vilified Democrats as "protectionists" because they opposed the one-sided trade deals that sold out American workers and who praised other Democrats who sold out to the Republicans.
3
Is there anyone left in America who is willing to put country in front of position?
3
We are witnessing the intersection of man and moment. The man is Robert Mueller the moment is survival of the Republic.
A bit dramatic? Sure, but true.
It's time for Bob Mueller who has done the right thing all his life within the chain of command to step outside of his comfort zone and go rogue.
The chain of command is rotten, hollow and dishonest. Barr and Trump are the problem. Mueller should resign from the Justice Department immediately. And tell the story of the Mueller Report
to the Congress and the Country in his own words in full detail.
Let Trump and Barr try and stop him even charge him with a crime. The Country will rally behind him and no jury anywhere would convict him.
Extraordinary times require extraordinary people seizing the moment. Mueller can put us back on track and make America good again.
Maybe the Democratic Party will notice and draft him as their Nominee in 2020.
8
all this sounds great, but its fantasy and wishful thinking won't make it so. you are placing too high a burden on a reticent, by the book prosecutor. its the same mistake Dems have made, wishing for a savior to save the country. there is no savior: it requires a wholesale change in the current Democratic party to change course and fight fire with fire. do you think Republicans would not do this if they only held one half of Congress? of course they would.
2
@Tom Callaghan Please do bring Mueller to capital hill to answer questions. But I doubt he'd come. You may be looking forward to him expounding on the miss deeds of the the Trump team, But when the Republicans on that committee start pressing him on why he omitted known facts such as the DNC funded dirty dossier, it's presentation to the FISA courts, hundreds of illegal leaks by anti Trump career swamp rats he will get roasted.
So please, please bring the Honorable Mr. Mueller up for questioning.
Until Mueller testifies, we will not know what he was thinking when he wrote his 400+ page report. Hopefully, when he does testify he will not be as circumspect in his testimony. Obviously he is a very carful man, but his reputation is now at stake. He needs to be clear, concise and brave if his investigation is to have any real meaning.
His good friend Barr thought so little of Mueller's friendship that he threw him under the bus. Here is hoping that Mueller can convince the Congress, including those Republicans who think it is just fine to continue protecting Trump and the Administration, that there is reason for all of the truth to come out and stop grandstanding by continuing their ridiculous support for Barr and Trump.
Barr should be impeached, stripped of his Law license and thrown in jail a la John Mitchell during Watergate. He is no more than a Mafia-like attorney for Trump, not the attorney General of the United States.
Meanwhile, I am betting on the Southern District of New York to take care of the rest of the Trump Organization and the Trump Family. Talk about a Crime Syndicate.
9
Another example of naivety was the idea that Barr would be something other than a political hack for the President . At this stage in the game , when we know all that we know about Trump , who would want to enter his disastrous Administration other than a political hack . Yet you heard from many people , supposedly in the know , how Barr was a respected lawyer and Washington insider and also a personal friend of Muller . Democrats want to be " fair " and always fight with one arm tied behind their backs .
3
"The transformation of William Barr from respected establishment lawyer to evil genius . . . ."
Barr didn't change one bit. He's always been a defender of the imperial presidency. What's recently become clear (though it should have been obvious all along) is that defenders of imperial presidents must necessarily also have disdain for that most democratic of our governmental bodies, the Congress. Friends of emperors are by necessity enemies of the people.
And on the respect previously doled out so abundantly for Barr . . . could there be a better example of someone advancing thanks to the entitlements of white male privilege?
8
A splendid example of an assortment of facts arranged so as to lead an innocent (or naive) reader to the wrong conclusion. Case in point: "...sending a comely government investigator posing as a research assistant to draw out George Papadopoulos....". The FBI set a trap, using a female - - - a fact hinted at without being forthrightly stated by Dowd - - - as bait, for a Trump associate. And the FBI did so without informing the candidate of their concerns and intentions. In the language of us commoners, the FBI spied on Trump during the election.
Look, I despise Trump. I voted for Gary Johnson, the only candidate in 2016 who displayed anything recognizable as integrity. But the Democrats are just as corrupt as the Republicans, and that's a fact, Jack. They simply offer more erudite rhetoric than Trump. But even polished rhetoric is still just words. If the Democrats can't bring themselves to nominate Joe Biden, who I would vote for in a flash, they will become a regional party, irrelevant on the national stage.
1
@Charles Becker
Even if Biden performed the Yakuza ritual for guys like Don Lemmon or Van Jones on CNN and cut off his little finger in repentance to Anita Hill, it wouldn't be enough for the Party Purists. This coming election will be a test to see if morality, ethical behavior and the rule of law even exist anymore in America. But in the words of Stephen Moore (who doesn't even have a soul to sell to Trump), who cares? "We're makin money!"
I agree absolutely. “For what will it profit a man if he gains his soul, but loses the whole world?”
1
Yup. Good one Ms. Dowd. You got it right. You tell the truth. And now Fox will torture what they will call your obviously faux conspiracy theory in to a solidify-the-base-joke using their caustic lies to do so. You do bring me this much comfort. It appears that our democracy can withstand an arrogant con man at the top spot. You give me hope that a more honest, caring, trustworthy person can correct the listing ship. Finally, you make me wonder if President Obama secretly saved America on the way out the door by throwing a wrench into the obvious intent to sell America and its allies down the river for some graft and greed on Trump's part. We will now watch and see. How bad can Trump harm us? Was democracy saved? Did President Obama thwart the crooked Trump enough to preserve and protect the U. S. Constitution? Please keep of the good work and show your brother this editorial.
3
Ms. Dowd is assuming that all people have a soul that can be "gobbled up". Trump has a gift of attracting and surrounding himself with people who have no soul and no conscience.
4
This thought pattern is why the Washington establishment does not know what to do with President Trump. Ms Dowd starts with the premise that Trump destroys peoples souls, and then goes on to describe the rot of DC politics.
Mr. Trump is not of a creature of Washington, and was unwanted by both parties. When the Dems try to attach him to traditional Republicans , it falls flat. So they attach him to the Russians (when they , Rep and Dems, have sold out the American people for generations) We all know that Mr Trump has not been collecting 6 figure payments from foreign entities for 30 min,
speeches.
I read a story about how Mr Trump treats his employees. he asked one of they to make a complex change in plans in a tight time window, when the employee was asked if the change annoyed him, his reply was that Mr Trump expected a lot out his employees, and paid them appropriately . Contrast that to what the elected officials who we refer to a "public servants", are we getting the bang for the buck that we, the American people, deserve.
Another swing and a miss by the DC insiders.
Mueller and Comey are cut from the same cloth, they are both institutionalists posessing supreme skills of career and reputation enhancement, not boat rockers.
They didn't arrive at their career zenith's by accident, and only fools like me ever believed that Mueller would somehow find the courage to do what needed to be done.
His inability to come to a definitive, unequivocal conclusion
was inevitable. I'm sure most people have long forgotten, if they even were aware at all how Mueller's "investigation" let the NFL off the hook in the Ray Rice domestic violence incident. That was a huge clue, that virtually everybody in the media missed but was in plain sight, where this "investigation" would eventually lead.
This guy was never an avenging angel, he was bought and paid for protector of the King.
3
Without a doubt the best article Ms. Does has written in years.
Mo leaves out the soul of Emmett Flood, which disappeared down the drain with his penning of the letter dissing the Mueller Report as a 'law school exam paper' - knowing full well the Special Counsel was bound by DOJ procedure - and thus trying to step in the way of the obvious logic that Mueller should deliver his report and evidence on 'Individual_1' to the House, for action as a Grand Jury.
As for the 'diabolical Mitch McConnell', MoDo shouldn't be mincing words in describing people who were under sworn Oath to protect and defend this country from all enemies, foreign and domestic - regardless of party.
The GOP'ers chose party over country - repeatedly, unabashedly, much much more than just diabolically.
Barr should be recused from any involvement with the spin-off cases from the Mueller team's work.
4
If Barr hijacked Mueller's investigation, why did the man who appointed Mueller, established the parameters of the investigation and remained in communication with Mueller for the entire investigation, Rod Rosenstein, sign on to Barr's summary report? How can every Democratic Congressman and "journalist" ignore this obvious point.
Ms. Dowd:
I'm not sure what you expect Mueller to say. It won't change the fact that he found no evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians
5
@James
Apparently, you've had the opportunity to see the Mueller report. I haven't and therefore don't know if he actually did or did not find evidence of collusion.
@brooklyn
The Dems would be falling all over themselves saying so if Mueller had, howver he didn't. That's why we have the current circus.
However, there was a lot in the report about obstruction. Because of the obstruction, collusion wasn't provable. It is a safe bet that Putin thinks Trump an idiot and easily lead. In the next election, if there is any Russian interference, it's on Trump's watch. He will own it and pay heavily for not doing anything and so will anyone else in office that didn't stop it.
With Trump's personal protector installed as Attorney General, there's little hope that the FBI will be allowed to do its duty to protect the 2020 election from a new and more dangerous level of Russian attack. The GOP is complicit and America's only hope rests in the people's House of Representatives.
Those who view our democracy as an impediment to their goals are claiming that the FBI's political enemy was the Trump campaign, instead of accepting the plain truth that they were doing their job to protect the nation from foreign meddling in our election system. It is another of the endless ludicrous attempts by Trump and the GOP to obfuscate the facts related to the Trump campaign's treasonous conduct and the damning facts exposed by the Mueller investigation .
Mueller must speak, and do so soon enough to save our voting system from those who abhor democracy.
4
Great column- we are tired of Democrats bringing a knife to a gun fight. Hope they “man up” before there is no democracy to be salvaged.
2
Bringing up the decades old Anita hill hearing will probably make Clarence Thomas think of retiring sooner rather than later. Why would he want his name being dragged through the mud again by the media and Washington Democrat elites? It would be good news for the Republicans, as his replacement would be another conservative and more vocal voice added to our Supremes. Good job, Democrats.
And let's not forget about the violation of the rules when the Republicans refused to advise and consent on Obama's Supreme Court pick. Silly democrats, thinking that the rules matter.
Don't like the way the game is going? Oh, let's just stop playing by the rules and win at all costs.
What a great lesson to teach our kids who play sports.
2
Yes, a " honey trap " to entrap Papadopoulos into a fabricated Russia collusion conspiracy. This wasn't an investigation, but an attempt by the FBI to create a collusion narrative in order to undermine the Trump campaign.
1
The dictionary definition of a bully is "a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people." That's the description of the GOP for the past 40 years. It has combined that strategy with its own propaganda network to implement an extreme right-wing philosophy. Trump is simply the culmination of that effort.
Do you think that Republicans would be wringing their hands and discussing whether to impeach President Hillary Clinton if they were presented with 10 possible instances of obstruction of justice?
We need strong leaders to fight the bullies. Unfortunately, all we have are feckless democrats.
2
It remains to be seen if the dispassionate Mr Mueller remains silent. If he chooses to respond, he is capable of eviscerating Mr Barr in an oh so gentlemanly manner.
You got this one right, Ms. Dowd: "Like Comey, Mueller believed in his own purity so much that he was blinded to his naïveté." Mueller does need to take responsibility for this mess. Meanwhile, still waiting for you to take responsibility for your contributions to "the-Hillary-is-unlikable" that fed into trump being elected.
1
Yes, some souls in this soulless administration may have been eaten a bit at a time, but that can't possibly apply to Barr. He signed up for this, and his performance in front of the committee confirmed it. It's time for Mueller to start doing some singing.
4
Great column Maureen. You have made some very salient points regarding Biden, Barr, and Comey. Has Joe Biden had his consciousness raised since the Anita Hill travesty? Perhaps. Unfortunately, any apology now to anyone connected with that investigation comes off sounding lame and convenient. What he did is certainly difficult to defend.
Comey knew what effect his announcement about re-opening the Clinton investigation while not announcing the investigation into Russian interference in the election would have. His mea culpa is too much, too little, and way too late. He has contributed to this country being saddled with the soul eater in chief.
Barr was brought in to do exactly what he did, which was to whitewash the Mueller Report. He did so with great dispatch once he got his grubby hands on it. HIs "summary" amounted to "nothing to see here folks, move on". Jeff Sessions has proven to be more ethical than he (I cannot believe I am stating this). His putdown of Robert Mueller being "snitty" was the plunge of the knife into Mueller's back. So I am asking myself what Barr gets out of this, except for a damaged reputation for selling his soul. Why was he willing to "mislead" (lie to) Congress as the Attorney General of this country? Why was he willing to be Trump's toady and sell out his own country, and spit on a supposed friend? I would really like to know what makes a man sink so low publicly.
Trump not only eats souls he demands you humiliate yourself as well.
2
Wow, no spice needed here. Maureen's brutally, pointedly direct without a doubt. It's also the way it was & is my friends. Bluntly direct. Advice to Mr. Mueller: when you publicly answer questions & testify @ Congress please speak openly, clearly, honorably without hesitation. OUR Democracy depends on your extensive truthful words along with Mr. McGhan's. The two of you can in a rephrasing of Mr. Franklin's words help us keep our Republic. Integrity & honor matters. Semper Fidelis!
2
The author lambasts "fairness" but did she drag out ancient anti-Biden material to balance out her criticism of Barr? News Flash - Biden is genuine civil servant but has acquired baggage over the decades; Barr on the other hand, is a traitor to his country and to its Constitution. Note the difference, while we still have time.
2
Democrats have no political legitimacy to Modern Republicans and this is seen in their scorched-earth tactics. McConnell embodies the approach with total obstruction. Barr treats Congressional oversight as a joke. Trump acts with total disdain for the established political process.
When one political party holds no legitimacy in the eyes of the other there will be no bipartisanship, no compromise, no cordial deal-making. The de-ligitmatized party (i.e. Democrats) can only be gotten rid of.
Obama learned this the hard way. Old Joe, accustomed to more genteel days, still hasn't caught on. There will be no bipartisanship.
Modern Republicans now view Democrats as deligitmate, not their political opponents but actual enemies and "traitors". Thus, Republicans have sacrified their claims to legitimacy in a plural Democracy in a naked and ugly grab for permanent power.
This is no ordinary election in 2020. It is a grab by Republicans for all the marbles, forever. Modern Democrats may be awakening to this reality, but too slowly I fear.
2
Trump the con man learned his art over a life time of using the rule of law against itself, tying up those to whom he owed money in lengthy legal battles and hiring lawyers like Roy Cohn, Michael Cohen and now William Barr to do the dirty work. But working with a party headed by Mitch McConnell which uses every trick in the book to steal elections is only a bonus. The cancer undermining the rule of law has spread into the Supreme Court where the fox Trump has allowed other foxes into the chicken coup and we fear that Trump will be emboldened to not honor our next vote if he loses, not to mention his buddy buddy relationship with Putin who gave him the last election and threatens to give him another.
If we are to fight for our Democracy, we must not be afraid to throw punches, but must be wily enough to know when to throw them and anticipate Trump's next sucker punch. Pelosi and the Democrats in the House are all that stand between us and total lose of any sense of a Democracy and it is a terrifying moment in our history. It is hard to let her do her job, but trust we must in her ability to defeat the monster that threatens our democracy. And we can support her tenuous position by nominating someone who knows our only hope is in unity.
1
What happened with Clarence Thomas is simple. Senators often get confirmed into the cabinet of President's of their own party. They were afraid that opening the door to Anita Hill would set precedent in confirmations for opening up detailed searches into their own sex life. Ironically if Thomas had been rejected Bill Clinton would never have been President.
Spot on, Maureen. You call out all the wicked operators for who they sadly are. Meeting them with civility has already proven to be inadequate, if well-intentioned. We have been taken over by a wanna-be dictator whose strings are manipulated by our global arch enemy. Wake up, America. It may already be too late, but we'll never know unless we toughen up for a war for our existence.
1
Ms Dowd needs to be more conscientious in her research and to choose her words more carefully. To call Arlen Specter a "moderate Republican " is to stretch credibility to its limits. Specter served on the Warren Commission, so obviously a cover up to conceal the complicity of LBJ, Hoover, intel. agencies, mil. ind. complex in the killing of JFK that even Chief Justice Warren was reluctant to be part of it.It was Specter who concocted the "magic bullet" theory to explain supposedly how 1 bullet fired from a cheap Italian rifle could enter 2 people, JFK and Gov. Connally w/o causing fatal wounds, an obvious impossibility. Specter was part of the plot to conceal the truth about the involvement of our institutions in the death of the president. Moreover, I watched the Anita Hill hearings, and although I was rooting for Ms.Hill, was uncomfortable with her time line which did not jibe, and concluded, as a "profane"that she was lying, that if she feared being harassed by Justice Thomas why did she follow him around from job to job?Senators on the committee also, I believed, sensed that she was being untruthful, that she sought publicity "surtout et avant tout!"No disrespect intended, but Ms. Dowd seems to have lost her edge, that instead of trying to make us laugh, she is now into proselytizing big time.
Why did President Obama choose Biden? Why after the election did President Obama give Biden extraordinary responsibilities to his Vice President.
I walked by a church. It’s bulletin board said, “All imperfect people welcomed.”
1
There are days when I still miss J. Edgar Hoover.
The day that Mueller’s Report was released was one of them.
When Hoover went after a dangerous crook or a gangster, he always nailed ‘em.
1
"Barr ground his wingtip into Mueller's throat". Nothing truer has ever been said. Yep. And when he did, my faith in America died.
It seems odd that America is dying because of 'fairness' but you make a great argument, Mo. And on a personal level, I can't stop thinking that these two men - Barr and Mueller - have been social friends for thirty years.
David Mamet, if you're listening, there is a great play here just waiting for you. The destruction of a friendship, the destruction of a once great democracy. Maybe you can help me understand what is happening right in front of our eyes: the end of the Rule of Law and the making of an authoritarian party.
Might as well rename America, folks: Trumplandia reigns.
1
The difference between Democrats and Republicans is quite easy to understand. Republicans play to win, they are willing to do whatever it takes. Democrats play in order to get the participation trophy which is handed out as a consolation prize to the losers.
2
Dowd has lost her way.
Fairness would have been to let additional witnesses be heard.
Fairness and honestly and the rest are sacred principles, more valuable than a bad actor who struts upon the stage for a moment.
Dowd in some ways is saying it is best to be more like Barr, get with the "play the game" mode --and away from principles such as fairness.
Such a path is a treacherous and pure folly (you end up like Trump --rich yet empty).
Have faith Maureen. Or refind your faith (it's there).
2
Lots of good material, as usual, from Maureen Dowd. If I may quibble:
"Mueller believed in his own purity so much that he was blinded to his naïveté."
--Mueller had one task and one only: to determine if criminal laws were violated. Because he found nothing on that score, he foolishly opined that his report did not "exonerate" Mr. Trump. "Exoneration" is a political judgment, and it was not Mueller's to make. So much for "purity."
"Barr helped the White House by outmaneuvering the mute special counsel in shaping the narrative about “my baby...""
-- Given Mueller's gratuitous assertion about "exoneration," of course it was Barr's job to try to contain the damage. He did so by issuing what he called the results in "binary" form, i.e., were there or were there not commission of criminal acts. There were not. And this is what Barr stated. Personally, I agree with Barr's assessment of Mueller's letter. It was a silly stunt intended to redress what Mueller himself signed up to do, and that was to determine one fact and one only.
2
Amen...democrats just don't get it...Republicans play to win...they neither have the policies or the numbers to win fairly..so for, decades, they cheat...whether it be Mitch McConnell's subtle rule based cheating or Trump's not so subtle break the rules cheating. Do you think for a minute that the Republicans would be debating impeachment hearings against a President with Trump's record---
801
@Amanda Jones
I especially like “rules based cheating”. So following the rules is cheating if the outcome doesn’t comport with your political views; nice.
3
@Bill
Don't be obtuse.
Rules cheating is using the letter of the law to subvert its intent.
It's using the procedures of congress to prevent the minority party from ever bringing a bill to the floor. It's running down the clock to prevent examination of witnesses. It's constructing hearings to obfuscate rather than find the truth. It's using bare majorities to change procedures that normally require super-majorities such as removing the filibuster.
None of these are technically against the law or constitution, but it would be disingenuous to call them fair. And what would you call something that's neither fair nor intended by the rules but cheating.
102
@Bill: Rules-based cheating is like when you hold up a supreme court nomination for 8 months without a hearing, just because the rules say you can. Or when you gerrymander districts in your favor just because the rules say you can.
It sounds as if for you, if the outcome comports with your political views then cheating is fine as long as some pretense can be made that they followed the rules.
95
I see two approaches to cheating in games. In one approach you just don't, cheating and wrong. In the other approach cheating is part of the game and the penalties for cheating are part of the game. So what if the other team gets a free throw because you've broken the other guy's leg. He's gone for good and it only cost a couple of points, maybe. We are living with a man who sees the gains from cheating as profits and the penalties as just the cost of doing business and delayed costs at that.
574
Excellent analogy. Applies equally to “the diabolical Mitch McConnell”.
46
@Richard Spencer
Yep, reminds me of The Karate Kid. Except this is not a sentimental feel-good movie and I suspect we will not be able to fight, or win, despite a broken leg.
12
@Richard Spencer
I disagree with you on one point: "We are living with a man who sees ..." I would alter that sentence to read, "We are living with a political party - the Republican Party - that sees the gains from cheating as profits and penalties as just the cost of doing business and delayed costs at that. The public and the republic, well, let's just say that's collateral damage."
50
Thank you Maureen for coming to the aid of these honest government officials trying to protect us from President Trump. I don't care what means the media has to take to ensure Trump is impeached. As more information is coming out about the "Witch hunt" origins we must fight to block the prosecution of the Obama administration staff.
1
@pfm
"we must fight to block the prosecution of the Obama administration staff...."
Why is that? Are they too above the law?
1
Totally agree with this column. Democrats keep expecting Republicans to work with them, but at some point you have to move on. Republicans are the party of divide and conquer and, at this point, even overtures of cooperation from them need to be looked at with suspicion.
6
Biden is beneficiary of the media's love for old white men they seem to think are electable.
What is missing is the complete indifference to ANY of the women running. A gay mayor gets more coverage than any of the women. Does anybody think a gay president is in the cards? In what universe is he "electable"?
Someone who's main claim to fame is ALMOST winning an election gets lots of coverage. None of the women, sitting senators and representatives, get much of anything.
One of the reasons we have DJT is the fact that he was/is omnipresent in the news. By covering every tweet, every campaign stop, every diatribe, the media certainly helped him get elected. He was/is able to get his message out, loud, clear, and mostly fact free.
The Democrats have a nasty habit of bring a knife to a gun fight. True of Obama, true in 2016. Biden is sharpening his knife; the GOP is swaging bullets.
533
@uwteacher So true! The free press is so important, but if they are not careful soon they will not be free nor will we in America! Our Democracy cannot survive four more years of Trump!
33
@uwteacher
"Does anybody think a gay president is in the cards? In what universe is he "electable"?"
There was a time not so long ago when electing a person of color to the presidency seemed highly unlikely, so yeah, Mayor Pete is electable. After all he's still a white male.
37
@uwteacher
It isn't that the media has a love for old white men, it's that the electorate has a love for old white men. It's called, paying homage to the author bell hooks, a white supremist, neoliberal patriarchy. Mayor Pete - props to him for running as an openly gay man, my heart swells with Pride, much as it did when Harvey Milk won - but Mayor Pete remains a white man, part of the white supremist, neoliberal patriarchy.
Yes, "president" Trump is always in the news because people read the news about DJT and it becomes, therefore, sellable, i.e., neoliberal. As a result his message of white supremacy has gotten out and that makes his base unassailable - his numbers have never dropped below 38%, ever.
Biden, and every other democratic candidate, are indeed sharpening their knives, ready play fair and by the rules. The Republicans are arming themselves with every weapon in their (and the Russians') arsenal because they want to win by any means possible. They have a vision of America, shared by a minority of Americans, and they mean to see that vision as a reality.
No matter what.
18
I had forgotten much of the detail Thomas-Hill debate, so its recent revival in the political debate caused me to go back and really dig into it.
And its really interesting how, with time, it has become clear.
Anita Hill was first talked into challenging Thomas because she was led to believe that she would be making an anonymous attack on the nomination.
Then once she did openly testify, her testimony kept changing. From morning to afternoon she changed.
Far from Biden being too harsh, he did quite well with a testimony that was riddled with flaws.
Go back now and look at what did happen, rather than just believe this cherry picked bits and pieces of the testimony. Not that Biden is the most wonderful candidate, but he should NOT be raked over the coals for the debacle that was the Hill testimony.
1
I’m an avid sailor when I race my boat I usually bring along someone who is nimble and can switch from side to side during the race. But I would never let that person touch my tiller and captain my boat. That’s Joe Biden.
3
An astute analysis. However, it assumes that we still expect our politicians to be fair, to possess integrity, and to act according to a set of ethical standards. Politicians have long been a bit short on purity of motive -- but the assumption of Trump has taken us to the heights of a new low: We are living in an age of post-ethical behavior, with a judicial system increasingly packed with Trumpist conservatives guaranteeing a long-term absence of decency in judgments.
Biden attempts to recraft his image without really owning up to his contemptible behavior withe the Thomas-Hill catastrophe. Barr, in a way, represents the "best" example right now of a figure so swallowed whole by Trump that he hardly seems to be trying to present an ethical face, relying instead on legalistic maneuvers.
Race may have been an issue with Thomas-Hill -- but it's not with the Republicans now, though being white, far right, and righteously blind to national mental health are mandatory.
Our age is tumultuous, and Mueller's report had the potential to show one small avenue to possible clarity. Instead, the White House remains an edifice tarred, tarnished, and even more nationalistic. I fear for our future every day.
3