OBAMA, CLINTON AGREE TO SUPPLY MAUREEN DOWD WITH SEVERAL MONTHS' WORTH OF MATERIAL

Part of me is pleased that the Clinton and Obama team proved the naysayers wrong and reached an understanding, well in advance of the convention, that Hillary's name will be placed in nomination. It's also nice that Clinton associates are telling The New York Times that Hillary, as a superdelegate, will vote for Obama.

But it's going to be even more painful than usual to read Maureen Dowd in the next couple of weeks. Dowd's next column practically writes itself: unmanly Obambi allowing himself to be upstaged by a girl (and her husband, and her daughter) at his own convention, on multiple nights. Drama! Drama! Drama!

Of course, at the actual convention, Obama won't be upstaged -- he's going to draw a huge, enthusiastic crowd for his big stadium speech. But that will lead to even more snippiness from Dowd -- snippiness that will be indistinguishable from McCain's "celebrity" line of attack. And then Dowd will repeat the tropes from her convention-week columns every chance she gets at least until November.

On the other hand, here's a partial list of Republican convention speakers:

* Dick Cheney.
* George W. Bush.
* Rudy Giuliani.

OK, I guess we win.

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UPDATE: The Huffington Post's Diane Tucker was having similar thoughts about Dowd:

Now that Hillary Clinton's name will be placed into nomination at the Democratic National Convention, heads up everyone: Maureen Dowd's next over-the-top, anti-Hillary column is coming.

Dowd is the op-ed columnist for the New York Times that Slate calls "the driver, navigator, and chief mechanic on the Hillary Hate Bus." ...

Well, Dowd's not particularly fond of Obama, either, and she's very good at bashing both simultaneously -- see, for instance, yesterday's column. She bashes Republicans only after she's helped elect them, but her hatred of Democrats -- all Democrats -- never dies.

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UPDATE: Is there any pleasing the PUMAs? No. A No Quarter post is titled "VICTORY!," but the multiple conciliatory gestures clearly still aren't good enough:

Again the olive branch falls short, her name in nomination is called "symbolic", still short of truly recognizing her campaign or her supporters.

When she loses the roll call vote, these people are going to shout "FRAUD!" at the top of their lungs -- and then make another round of appearances on Fox. They will never accept this result. They will never stop.