Battle of the titans: Collins vs. Dowd

Perhaps it's unfair to suggest that Gail Collins and Maureen Dowd are in competition.  The competition is more between me and a friend.  About twice a month we get into a discussion as to who is the better columnist--both as you know write for the "New York Times."  He prefers Dowd, but then whenever he refers to her, he calls her "hot."  I prefer Collins.  Both are Irish Catholic and both attended Catholic schools, yet I find their styles very different.  Dowd almost never ceases to irritate me.  I still can't understand why she's viewed as a political columnist when so much of what she writes has little to do with policy and everything to do with personality.   Collins, to quote Emily Naussbaum,  "favors, amid her satirical digs, a midwestern mildness: respect for one’s opponent, and apologies when called for (including the New York Times’ position on the Iraq War). In her online dialogues with David Brooks, Collins occasionally admits to something readers may identify with: “door-pounding, head-banging rage” on topics like the perfidy of Joe Lieberman. But what’s so singular about Gail Collins is that this rage rarely distorts her thinking. Instead, she models a useful idea—that it is possible to be outraged without being paralyzed. As for the troubles of her own profession, she recommends to journalism students a similar healthy pragmatism. “I tell them they’re heirs to the most exciting time. And they should marry someone with health insurance.”

Collins on the upside of sex scandals: “What would any of us know about how impeachment works if it hadn’t been for Monica Lewinsky?” On Cash for Clunkers: “Believe it or not, it turns out that Americans will buy a lot more cars if you pay them a bunch of money to do it.” On health care: “The Republicans seem bent on making sure that every single 40-year-old woman in America gets a free mammogram even if she never sees a doctor for anything else for the rest of her life.”   

If Romney wins the Republican nomination he won't have Collins to thank.  Is there anyone who reads Gail Collins who doesn't know that Romney drove to Canada with his dog, in kennel, tied to his rooftop.   So what does this have to do with politics.  Not much, just wanted to say publicly, "thanks Gail, I love your columns."