Maureen Dowd has written for Time, GQ, Harper's Bazaar, Mademoiselle, Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, Ladies' Home Journal, Sports Illustrated, The New Republic and Redbook, among many other publications. She became a New York Times Op-Ed columnist in 1995, having written about the White House and its occupants since the Reagan era. Previously, she wrote the "On Washington" column for The New York Times Magazine.

Dowd joined The New York Times as a metropolitan reporter in 1983. She began her career in 1974 as an editorial assistant for The Washington Star. When the Star closed in 1981, she went to Time magazine. Dowd is a native of Washington, D.C.