News and makeovers at The New York Times

Instead of "All the News That's Fit to Print." The New York Times should consider as it's motto, "News Sometimes, and Makeovers Too."

Maureen Dowd, arguably The Times' best-known makeover artist, is at it again.

The latest person to receive a Maureen makeover is Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Visit Michelle Malkin to learn more about how Dowd clipped, twirled, and colored Rumsfeld's remarks until she had just the perfect makeover for a Times debut.

Makeover Maureen's best-known creation occurred in May 2003. Her subject was the President of the United States. Here's what I said then in a letter published in Raleigh's News & Observer:

One element of McCarthyism involves making a false statement(s) about a person, then fabricating a quote(s) from something the person said to "prove" the falsehood. The theme paragraph of Maureen Dowd's May 15 column "Caught up in terrorism again" is blatant McCarthyism.

It begins with this falsehood: "Busy chasing off Saddam, the president and vice president had told us that al- Qaeda was spent."

President Bush has never said al- Qaeda was spent. He's often says the opposite.

For example, in a recent televised address he said, "Al-Qaeda is wounded, not destroyed. The scattered cells of the terrorist network still operate in many nations, and we know from daily intelligence that they continue to plot against free people."

Here is Dowd's fabricated quote: "'Al Qaeda is on the run,' President Bush said last week. 'That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated....They're not a problem anymore.'"

Bush actually said: "Al-Qaeda is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly, but surely being decimated. Right now, about half of all the top al-Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem anymore. And we'll stay on the hunt. To make sure America is a secure country, the al-Qaeda terrorists have got to understand it doesn't matter how long it's going to take, they will be brought to justice."

Bush can be criticized for many things but he shouldn't be subjected to McCarthyism. And neither should your readers.

There are many indicators, including polling results, which suggest that in the last few years The Times has lost respect among the American public and journalists here and overseas.

But with Maureen's Makeover Parlor right in the middle of The Times' editorial office, would you expect anything else?