The New York Times

By Rod Sterling

Remember a couple of months ago some clown climbed the outside of the NYT building? I watched that being televised in a bar called Phil's in Richmond. I haven't been drinking in almost 40 years but I still like to put my elbows on a bar. It was lunch hour and the place was busy. Mounted over the bottles on the back bar was a pro-football sized flat screen TV.

They were televising the climber from a high rise across the street. As he reached the 20th floor, you could see a gaggle of NYTimes employees gaping out the window at the guy. The bartender and I made smiling eye contact and I said to him: 'MAYBE THIS IS ONE STORY THE NEW YORK TIMES WON'T SCREW UP.' (except I didn't say 'screw').

My Jersey accent cut through the general noise like a knife and there was dead silence. ("My broker is EF Hutton and EF Hutton says.....")

It seemed to me an eternity while I thought to myself: "Uh-oh, I crossed the line with these crackers." It was probably about three seconds and then they burst out with laughter and applause. (They operate on all 8 cylinders down here - they just do it slower).

Even in Richmond, Virginia, people are laughing at the NYT. Their arrogant, superior, we-know-what's-best-for-the-people style of reporting (if you can still call it that -printing is probably a more accurate term) is over. Line up the folding chairs for the wake.
They had to print a retraction by jumping on Sarah Palin too quickly. Until the funeral, they ought to reserve, say, Wednesday, for an edition that just handles retractions.

Somehow this reminds me of watching Truman Capote on Johnny Carson many years ago and Capote was asked to comment about a book someone else had written. In that inimical voice he whined "That's not writing, it's typing."

But nobody should try to stop them and all the other liberal critics of Sarah Palin (especially the women: Eleanor Clift, Maureen Dowd, Sally Quinn) because they are exposing themselves as complete phonies. Give them all the rope they need. Some will never recover. Sally Quinn said "Newsrooms all over America are filled with laughter over (McCain's) choice." And all the rest of America will be filled with laughter over Sally Quinn.