Maureen Dowd, "Bigger Than Bambi": Dumber Than Dumbo

This past week we learned that Robert Levinson, who was kidnapped in Iran in 2007, was working for the CIA. What efforts has Obama made to free Levinson? Did his name even once arise during secret negotiations in Oman between the Obama Administration and Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei regarding Iran's nuclear weapons development program? My heart goes out to the Levinson Family.

Meanwhile, in her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Bigger Than Bambi" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/opinion/sunday/dowd-bigger-than-bambi.html?_r=0), Maureen Dowd informs us that she is "intrigued with the literary donnybrook over niceness raging on the Internet."

Ah yes, a "literary donnybrook." I am also intrigued by this vicious pillow fight. Hey, stop laughing at me.

Needless to say, the Queen of Snark comes down on the side of snark:

"Not to review books negatively is in essence to subsume book reviewing into advertising, public relations and promotion. Succumbing to uplift, edification and happy talk is basically saying that there’s something more important than telling the truth: not making enemies, not hurting people’s feelings.

All quarrels are not petty. Sometimes quarrels are about big things, and it’s an actual privilege to take a side in them."

Of course, Dowd is absolutely right: Taking a side in a quarrel is indeed a privilege (yes, I'm trying my best to be nice), and there are even those who are willing to pay for it, as was once illustrated by Monty Python in its "Argument Clinic" sketch.