Top Ten Cloves: Other Possible Excuses Maureen Dowd Could Used For Plagiarizing TPM's Josh Marshall

News Item: How would the NYT react if Joe Biden gave an excuse this lame?

10. Thought "Josh Marshall" was a big department store in Chicago

9. Didn't think the "pajama-wearing, cheeto-eating" crowd would notice

8. She was trying to piss off the Chenny Fluffers on CNN

7. It's Sweeps Month!

6. Believed Alex Rodriguez was "tipping" her that it was okay to plagiarize

5. Just the burden, the strain, of having to write TWO columns, per week

4. Got confused, thought she was lifting material from 'The West Wing'

3. She was jealous of Ann Coulter

2. Thought she had given up plagiarizing from Polk Award winners for Lent

1. She, and her friend, were just goofing around, playing the old Johnny Carson 'Carnac the Magnificent' game, and the TPM thing came up, and, somehow, made it into her column


Bonus Dowd Boner Riffs

Nicole Belle: Ruh Roh! MoDo Caught Plagiarizing From TPM

Glenn Greenwald: The myth of the parasitical bloggers

TBogg: The Incredible Shrinking Pundit

Digby: Karma

Skippy, the bush kangaroo: maureen dowd - my sweet lord, she's so fine!

Hillary Clinton's Great Day!

Well, for starters, there weren't any primaries or caucuses scheduled yesterday, so she didn't suffer her 12th consecutive defeat.

After getting her butt kicked again, in Wisconsin, that by itself could have the Clinton Camp with smiles on their faces.

But truth be told, the Clinton Campaign, and the Clintonistas, are beginning to look like the orchestra on the deck of the Titanic.

They play, on-and-on, as momentum, if we stay with the theme is the gigantic, moving-at-warp-speed-iceberg named Barak Obama.

And The Other Clinton acknowledged that, via ABC News;

"If she wins Texas and Ohio I think she will be the nominee. If you don't deliver for her, I don't think she can be. It's all on you," the former president told the audience at the beginning of his speech."

But, before the storm clouds could gather sufficiently to ruin Hillary's Great Day, it started raining gifts.

For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk

Her potential (hark back to The Other Clinton, and the miracle needed) opponent in the general election moved in with the umbrella to take over the front pages of nearly every newspaper and website.

Unless you've been taken in an Extraordinary Rendition, you couldn't have missed the NYT bombshell that Here's Johnny Boy McCain had an improper affair (and we use that term loosely, as it may rest on "business" versus "romance") with a telecommunications lobbyist, named Vickie Iseman.

Now, two things here;

1. It's very likely that Hillary let loose with a sigh of relief, that a major newspaper broke a story of an improper relationship and the name "Bill Clinton" wasn't in it.

2. Hillary likely cursed after hearing the news, that the name in the improper relationship wasn't "Barack Obama"

However, as the old saying goes, you don't punch a gift horse in the mouth, and Hillary is walking around today with a bounce in her step.

No blaring headlines on how her campaign is over.

No marathon cable news talkfests on how her campaign is over.

No exposes on the Clinton Campaign badgering delegates, to save her campaign from being over.

This gift from Here's Johnny Boy McCain has legs - two legs.

First will be the hounding of McCain, his campaign, former campaign workers, family, friends, nannies, gardeners, et all, by the media to dig into the romance angle, of McCain was playing around (and, how remarkable the the resemblance between Iseman and his wife).

Secondly, The New York Times is coming under heat, that the story held back information, wasn't complete, that there's something there they are not saying.

If, and it's a huge if, the NYT is just running a hit piece, something more appropriate for a tabloid, the media will bury them. Tear them apart. It will ugly and vicious and bodies will pile up very quickly.

All of which gives Hillary hours, possibly days, of clear sailing.

She can smoke cigarettes and drink beer, belching unapologetically ... She can walk down the street and spit on sidewalks ...

Headlines and kirons for the immediate future will carry "John McCain" and not "Hillary Clinton".

And for that, Hillary Clinton had, and is having, a great day!

Must Read! Barry Crimmins: Time's up for Thomas L. Freepass

Well, if I want to use a Friedman Unit, I think I can safely say that The New York Times will, over the next year, to six-months, continue to carry the horseshit that Thomas Friedman promulgates in the Grey Lady's pages.

He has another doozy today, leaving behind The Commander's Guy gem advice that we should go shopping, Friedman is ringing the clarion bell for businessmen, particularly from Europe, to fly more ... Indulge in more air travel to the United States so we, as a nation, can move from the day of 9-11, to the day of 9-12.

That's only the tip of it and satirist Barry Crimmins has a spot-on, most hysterical take on Friedman's column today - “9/11 has made us stupid.”

"In explaining the concept of the 9/12 candidate as if it is so complex only he can demystify it , Friedman begins by asking: What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 – mine included – has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.

Yours included, Tom? Say it ain't so! Friedman knows nothing of jokes but he sure can make you gag with crap like his ham-handed installation of the "mine included" escape hatch. (I mean after six years of being wrong, the guy takes absolute minimal responsibility by sticking two words between two hyphens. Now there's some tough self-love!)"

So, get over there to the Barry Crimmins Website and read Time's up for Thomas L. Freepass


Bonus Friedman Slapdowns

Libby: Friedman forsakes 9/11 mentality

Atrios: Now He Tells Us