Thanks to Drudge, I was reminded of Maureen Dowd, and read her funny column. But isn’t it odd I had to be reminded of a top NY Times columnist? When I lived in NY, I had to have the Times every day. I had it delivered in other cities. Today, it takes a correspondent to remind me of even the magnificent Frank Rich. David Brooks, the replacement for Bill Safire, is totally forgettable. Bill Kristol is memorable only for his awfulness. Paul Krugman is a Keynesian disgrace.

What about the news coverage? It was last important when the Times helped lie us into the war on Iraq. I still sometimes pick up the paper in an airport, but unlike in the past, it’s a quick read, and I never look at its awful website. From being a globe-girdling giant, the Times is becoming the shopper for the Upper West Side. But not for the young people there. No young person reads the Times. Circulation and profits are plummeting, of course. The Walter Duranty News is headed out.