Here's the editorial. There are some Maureen Dowd bashers out there, but I'm not one of them. I wouldn't describe myself as familiar with her oeuvre, but I think I was pro-Dowd before I even read her just due to the kinds of views the people who bash her hold.

Anyway, this article frames the rumors that Colin Powell and Richard Armitage will be stepping down at the end of this term as a neocon pre-emptive strike plot similar to their invasion of Iraq.
They don't agree with Powell's preference for diplomacy over war and his general disagreement with the neocon way of doing things, so they want him out.

I'm amused with Dowd's ability to write a politics column that comes across like she's writing Hollywood gossip like Sid Hudgens: "Off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush."

Back to the issue at hand, though, I'm more worried now than I was a few days ago that Powell will be forced out and Bush will win re-election. This is going to mean someone like Newt Gingrich or Paul Wolfowitz as SecState, only making it more likely that we'll be drawn further into the violent quagmire this administration has gotten us into.