Some think New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd writes with a gamma knife rather than a key board. But she's usually pretty funny in her over-the-top, ad hominem attack kind of way. Herewith the best of Ms. Dowdhttp://www.newser.com/2008 - Newseren-usNewser Feed GeneratorThu, 20 Nov 2008 1:31:56 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/41891/dowd-bring-in-obamas-cleaning-crew.html?refid=rss_all_defaultFor Maureen Dowd, the election of Barack Obama means more than just an end to the Bush years; it's a chance for Washington itself to regain its moral standing. Outside the White House on election night—"there was no U-Haul in the driveway"—the New York Times columnist considers the monuments of her hometown, which "have lost their luminescence in recent years," and what an Obama-led capital would look like.http://www.newser.com/story/41891/dowd-bring-in-obamas-cleaning-crew.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThu, 06 Nov 2008 8:20:50 CSThttp://www.newser.com/story/39408/mccain-resorts-to-atwaters-bag-of-dirty-tricks.html?refid=rss_all_defaultBefore Karl Rove, Maureen Dowd reminds us, it was Lee Atwater who masterminded the Republican smear campaign, and his demolition of Michael Dukakis was his greatest, dirtiest success. Atwater painted the 1988 candidate as a weak Harvard-educated elitist with a weird last name, a man who supported "the Scary Black Man" and was not on "the American side." Watching John McCain's ugly campaign, the New York Times columnist asks simply, "Sound familiar?"http://www.newser.com/story/39408/mccain-resorts-to-atwaters-bag-of-dirty-tricks.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWed, 08 Oct 2008 7:32:31 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/38939/dowd-dumped-from-straight-talk-express.html?refid=rss_all_defaultStraight talk not only got New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd banned from the McCain-Palin campaign planes, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , it got her marooned in Pittsburgh. After writing a scathing satire of Sarah Palin's candidacy—harsh but hardly unprecedented for the gleefully snarky writer—a stunned Dowd was left behind in the middle of a campaign swing, forcing her to overnight in a local hotel while the rest of the press pack traveled on.http://www.newser.com/story/38939/dowd-dumped-from-straight-talk-express.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThu, 02 Oct 2008 12:00:46 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/38841/newman-proud-liberal-embarrassed-sex-symbol.html?refid=rss_all_defaultPaul Newman was an unapologetic liberal, Maureen Dowd reminds us in a column on the actor who was also her teenage crush. He made Nixon's enemies list for supporting Eugene McCarthy and opposing the Vietnam War, and had "traits that have been in short supply in the Bush administration," Dowd writes: "shrewdness, humility, decency, generosity, class." He also taught the clueless-in-the-kitchen reporter how to make a good salad.http://www.newser.com/story/38841/newman-proud-liberal-embarrassed-sex-symbol.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThu, 02 Oct 2008 12:00:46 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/37052/just-you-wait-charlie-gibson-just-you-wait.html?refid=rss_all_defaultMaureen Dowd hops a plane to Wasilla, Alaska, where Sarah Palin will hold her first interview as a VP candidate this weekend. Media types might be flocking to the Last Frontier, but Palin has been sequestered from the press, brushing up for her sit-down with Charles Gibson. She's the Eliza Doolittle of the race, "pulling the political equivalent of an all-nighter."http://www.newser.com/story/37052/just-you-wait-charlie-gibson-just-you-wait.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWed, 10 Sep 2008 7:13:38 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/36594/as-the-vices-vices-stack-up-gop-says-life-happens.html?refid=rss_all_defaultSarah Palin has brought an “onslaught of wild soap opera storylines” to the McCain campaign, and his party is defending itself by insisting that “life happens,” Maureen Dowd observes in the New York Times . Palin already has a Troopergate, a pregnant teen daughter, and a National Enquirer headline —and the party that once attacked such narratives is now using them to its advantage.http://www.newser.com/story/36594/as-the-vices-vices-stack-up-gop-says-life-happens.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThu, 02 Oct 2008 12:00:46 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/36253/palins-story-a-political-chick-flick.html?refid=rss_all_defaultSarah Palin’s rise to the national stage makes for a great political chick-flick, Maureen Dowd observes in the New York Times . The plot: “the 2-year governor of an oversized igloo becomes commander in chief after the president-elect chokes on a pretzel on day one.” And experience, schmexperience —“The PTA is great preparation for dealing with the KGB,” Palin would say after an Alaskan face-off with Vladimir Putin.http://www.newser.com/story/36253/palins-story-a-political-chick-flick.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThu, 02 Oct 2008 12:00:46 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/35933/things-to-do-in-denver-when-youre-dems-hate.html?refid=rss_all_defaultA former John McCain strategist described the odd mood in Denver perfectly, Maureen Dowd writes in the New York Times : “Submerged hate.” That would explain the uneasy proceedings, which have been marked more by Clintonian drama than anything else. At a recent new conference, Dowd observes, “Hillary looked as if she were straining at the bit to announce her 2012 exploratory committee.”http://www.newser.com/story/35933/things-to-do-in-denver-when-youre-dems-hate.html?refid=rss_all_defaultWed, 27 Aug 2008 9:55:58 CDThttp://www.newser.com/story/35651/mccain-cheapens-the-pow-card.html?refid=rss_all_defaultJohn McCain’s campaign refers to his prisoner-of-war past so much that it’s becoming a “punch line,” writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times . “By flashing the POW card to rebut any criticism, no matter how unrelated,” McCain “is cheapening his greatest strength," she adds. His apparent obsession is also dangerous because it opens troubling questions about his attitudes toward military conflict.http://www.newser.com/story/35651/mccain-cheapens-the-pow-card.html?refid=rss_all_defaultThu, 02 Oct 2008 12:00:46 CDT