In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times.

Paul Krugman/Voodoo Health Economics

The Short Version: The Maverick is an idiot.

In her words: “[T]he McCain health plan — actually a set of bullet points on the campaign’s Web site — is entirely based on blind faith that competition among private insurers will solve all problems.  ”

Score: B- (Bitter)
Krugman delivers a bitter but sadly unentertaining rant against McCain that predictably enough spills over onto Obama and finally the public at large. Although we don’t disagree with any of his McCain points, there is a whiny, condescending quality to this piece that seems to say: “why can’t everyone be as smart as I am?” 

David Brooks/The View from Room 306

The Short Version: The assassination of Martin Luther King marked a shredding of the cultural fabric in the United States.

In his words: “The key tension in King’s life was over how to push relentlessly for change but within an existing moral structure.”

The Score: B (Benign)
Brooks writes with eloquence about King’s death and his analysis of the social conditions rings true. As usual, we are mildly annoyed by the lurking sense of conformity that informs almost all of Brooks’ writing, but here it is kept safely to the side.