Marshall: Back Off Plagiarism Charges

Says Josh Marshall passage came unattributed from a pal

(NEWSER) - Fans of Talking Points Memo did a doubletake when they got to a passage in Maureen Dowd's column yesterday on the timing of Bush use of torture; Josh Marshall had written the same thing—short of three words—three days back. Dowd has corrected her column online, and the New York Times issued a correction today, but she calls it an oversight, telling the Huffington Post that she had not read Marshall's blog, but was offered the sentence unattributed by a friend. More»

(NEWSER) - Karl Rove fired back today at Maureen Dowd for criticizing former President Bush’s frequent vacation time in Texas, Politico reports. “I think Maureen Dowd is a bitter, twisted, deranged columnist for the New York Times,” Rove told Fox News, “who misses no opportunity to show her disdain for the conservative side of the aisle.” Rove added that he likes her writing. More»

Krugman, Friedman, Dowd, Rich, editorial board all pile on prez

(NEWSER) - The Obama administration bore an avalanche of criticism this weekend from the usually friendly New York Times. Influential columnists Paul Krugman, Frank Rich, Thomas Friedman, and Maureen Dowd—plus the paper’s editorial board—all piled on a president who “is increasingly overwhelmed, and not fully appreciative of the building tsunami of populist outrage,” Politico reports. More»

Convo with liberals follows dinner with conservatives

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama recalibrated his bipartisan scale today, CNN reports, meeting with liberal commentators a day after convening with conservative writers at columnist George Will's home. The left-leaners included Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich of the New York Times and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. Obama aides remain mum about both off-the-record meetings. More»