The Hypocritical Dreamworld of Maureen Dowd

Maureen Dowd has always lived in this kinda dream world where Republicans are always bad, Democrats are always good and she acts and writes like she's perpetually fifteen. Her world is a bubble that includes the entire upper East Side but of course stops well before the Bronx. I tend to not read her stuff anymore because it's kind of embarrassing that a) she actually gets paid to write for the NY Times and b) has received awards for doing so.

Anyway, MoDo brings us these highly intellectual words today:

Now that we’re nationalizing, couldn’t we fire any obtuse bankers and auto executives who cling to perks and bonuses even as the economy is following John Thain down his antique commode?

Perhaps MoDo ought to read something besides the New Yorker and Vanity Fair because the Ivory Tower she writes from is teetering like the Leaning Tower of Pisa:

The New York Times Co. said Wednesday that ad revenue at its news media properties dropped 15.8 percent in December as the recession weighed on what is usually a lucrative holiday season.

December's reduction from a year earlier wasn't as steep as the 17.2 percent drop in October and 21.8 percent in November.

For the quarter, total ad revenue at the company fell 17.6 percent, with an 18.4 percent loss in the news media unit alone.

Or this:

The New York Times Co. said Wednesday that fourth-quarter earnings plunged 48 percent and online sales fell for the first time as the recession depressed spending by advertisers. The results still beat analyst estimates, and its shares rose almost 5 percent.

The Times also announced it has retained investment firm Goldman Sachs to help explore a sale of its 17.8 percent stake in New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team, Fenway Park, a portion of a cable sports network and other properties.

It appears that MoDo doesn't even read anything about the precarious state of her employer. Maybe she puts her hands over her ears and says "na na na na" real loud so she doesn't have to listen. I mean, were she paying attention, she might not have written this:

The former masters of the universe don’t seem to fully comprehend that their universe has crumbled and, thanks to them, so has ours. Real people are losing real jobs at Caterpillar, Home Depot and Sprint Nextel; these and other companies announced on Monday that they would cut more than 75,000 jobs in the U.S. and around the world, as consumer confidence and home prices swan-dived.

It would appear that MoDo's boss Pinch is dangerously close to earning the title of "former master of the universe" himself. Without an injection of $250-million from a shady Mexican businessman MoDo may have found herself writing for the Toledo Blade.

I guess Maureen didn't take notice that people have been losing their jobs at the Times as well and in big numbers. Those workers are "real people...losing real jobs"

With today's news, I'm guessing that people who have jobs like assistant to Maureen Dowd will lose their jobs. This might be a good thing because MoDo will have to leave her office to get her own damn latte and may notice that there's only about ten people still actually receiving a paycheck from Pinch.

Exit question: What does it say about the business that the NY Post and WSJ are faring much better in the current environment?