Dowd's Search for Truth

I can't say this too often, but I enjoyed Maureen Dowd's recent column (text available here). Actually, I enjoy (though I usually don't agree with) all of her columns that don't focus on politics. When she writes about W. and the gang, she spends too long dreaming up new nicknames for her targets and forgets about substance, but that is a bagatelle. In this column, Dowd is at her best:

Despite George Washington and the cherry tree, we no longer have a society especially consecrated to truth. The culture produces an infinity of TV shows and movies depicting the importance of honesty. But they're really talking only about the importance of being honest about your feelings. Sharing feelings is not the same thing as telling the truth. We've become a country of situationalists.

Journalism, politics and publishing have been tarred by scandals that have revealed a disturbing insensitivity to right and wrong. Random House isn't concerned that an author makes up stuff in a book labeled nonfiction; it just kept counting the money after The Smoking Gun exposed James Frey's lies about his own life.

When Mr. Frey went on "Larry King Live" with his mom to defend his book's "essential truths," Oprah Winfrey called in to back him up. She sounded disturbingly like Scott McClellan. Despite doubts about facts in the book, she said, "the underlying message of redemption" still "resonates" with her. She should have said: "Had I known that many parts were fake, I wouldn't have recommended the book to millions of loyal viewers. I wouldn't have made this liar a lot of money." She should take a page from Stephen Colbert and put the slippery Frey on her "Dead to me" list.

Judging by the end of her article, she and I disagree about where the truth will ultimately lead (and maybe even the means of getting there), but I'm glad to see that truth is still important to at least some in the media--a principle that should not be assumed.