KINSLEY JOINS THE FRAY….Michael Kinsley, the guy whose feud with Susan Estrich started up the recent controversy over women’s representation on op-ed pages, weighs in today:
When the New York Times anointed Maureen Dowd as a columnist nine years ago, I gave her some terrible advice. I said, “You’ve got to write boy stuff. The future of NATO, campaign spending reform. Throw weights. Otherwise, they won’t take you seriously.” The term “throw weights” had been made famous by a Reagan-era official who said that women can’t understand them ? whatever they are, or were.
Dowd wisely ignored me and proceeded to reinvent the political column as a comedy of manners and a running commentary on the psychopathologies of power. It is the first real innovation in this tired literary form since Walter Lippmann….But Dowd is different, and she is the most influential columnist of our time.
He goes on to talk about Larry Summers, reverse discrimination in favor of conservatives, and problems of mathematics. His conclusion? “Everyone involved should be trying harder, including me.”
