Maureen Dowd, "Pampered Princes Fling Gorilla Dust": "What I Wouldn't Give for a Large Sock with Horse Manure in It!"

"What I wouldn't give for a large sock with horse manure in it!"

- Woody Allen as Alvy Singer in "Annie Hall," 1977

In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Pampered Princes Fling Gorilla Dust" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/opinion/sunday/dowd-pampered-princes-fling-gorilla-dust.html), Maureen Dowd, the Queen of Snark, writes:

"Much was made of the alpha tone of the second presidential debate. But it was more like a parody of alpha, a couple of pampered, manicured Harvard princes kicking up 'gorilla dust,' as Ross Perot calls it. In a truly commanding performance, you don’t jab fingers, invade space, bark interruptions."

As we are informed by "A Way with Words" (http://www.waywordradio.org/gorilla_dust/), "gorilla dust" refers to "bluffing, posturing, or hollow attempts at intimidation." This, indeed, seems an apt description of the second Obama-Romney presidential debate.

Or was this spectacle more akin to the "sport" of professional wrestling, which is richly interlaced with thespian skills, and in which the would-be referee also takes part in the action?

Dowd seems unhappy with both candidates; however, she is unsparing in her criticism of her once beloved Barry:

"It has been said that Obama didn’t show up for [the first debate], but the reverse is true: the real Obama did show up, indulging in flashes of petulance, self-pity and passivity at a treacherous moment for himself, other Democratic candidates and all the people working their hearts out — and emptying their wallets out — for him.

. . . .

In some ways, the two rivals are alike: cold, deliberative fish, self-regarding elitists with upbringings out of the norm and trouble connecting at times, as when Obama echoed Jon Stewart’s word 'optimal' on 'The Daily Show' and sounded aloof about the tragedy in Libya: 'If four Americans get killed, it’s not optimal.' The mother of one of those Americans, Sean Smith, told The Daily Mail of London, 'It’s insensitive to say my son is not very optimal; he is also very dead.'"

And so, at a time of crisis and grave danger, Americans will soon be going to the polls and asked to choose between two men who neither mean what they say nor say what they mean.

Welcome to a twenty-first century black hole of narcissism destined to suck America through a vortex of greed and corruption, leaving only the desiccated bones of a once great nation. Today, it's all about "me." There is no longer any vestige of honesty, integrity, honor or sacrifice.

If only I could have moderated the second debate instead of Candy Crowley. Trust me: I would have come prepared with a large sock with horse manure in it.