Summary: A Media Matters for America review of Maureen Dowd’s columns since the beginning of 2007 reveals that Dowd frequently characterized Sen. Hillary Clinton as masculine, while portraying Sen. Barack Obama and John Edwards as feminine. By contrast, Dowd rarely feminized the all-male Republican field and, during the period Media Matters reviewed, has never feminized Sen. John McCain, whom she has referred to in one column as a “tough guy[.]”
Media Matters goes on to criticize Dowd for calling Obama, “Obambi.” To be fair, however, Bambi was a guy . . . and, of course, a deer.