In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.
Frank Rich/Party Like It’s 2008
The Short Version: Friends, thank you! I, Frank Rich, have won the Democratic primary!
In his words: “This is not 2004, when another Democrat from Massachusetts did for windsurfing what the previous model did for tanks.”
Score: B- (Blather)
Given that we endorsed Obama [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.
Paul Krugman/Thinking About November
The Short Version: Obama’s probably going to blow it because whites don’t like him!  
In his words: “In recent decades, Democrats have had little trouble unifying after hard-fought primary campaigns. ”
Score: F (Failure)
This is a depressingly cynical (but untruthful) column that implies that Clinton should have won [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.
Gail Collins/The Torch en Route
The Short Version: Hillary wants to run. So what?  
In his words: “South Dakota wants its turn. It wants to have Chelsea visit its community colleges and refuse to answer questions about Monica Lewinsky. ”
Score: A- (Amusing)
Collins continues to strike the perfect balance between [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.
Thomas Friedman/The Democratic Recession
The Short Version: Thanks, oil! You’ve caused democratic government to wane around the world.  
In his words: “I’ve long argued that the price of oil and the pace of freedom operate in an inverse correlation — which I call: “The First Law of [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.
David Brooks/Combat and Composure
The Short Version: Hillary is a monster!
In his words: “But, as Sunday’s contrast made clear, Obama still seems like a human being.”
Score: B (Basic)
We’ve also been put off by Clinton’s completely over-the-top (and hilarious) attempts to distance herself from “the elitist,” but we’d [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.
Paul Krugman/Success Breeds Failure
The Short Version: Don’t get too excited about the financial markets.
In his words: “[T]he next crisis will probably be worse than this one.”
Score: B- (Been there)
Krugman describes an entrenched cycle of boom/bust/haphazard regulation in the financial markets that is oddly reflected his column, [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores OMG four wtf!? selected opinions in The Times.
Franck Rich/The All-White Elephant in the Room
The Short Version: The Maverick’s preacher is just as crazy as Obama’s!
In his words: “But he did say that God created Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for its sins, particularly a scheduled ‘homosexual parade there [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.
Bob Herbert/Overkill and Short Shrift
The Short Version: Why can’t we get a grip?
In his words: “The challenge for the working press right now is to see if we can force ourselves past the overwhelming temptations of Wright and race and focus in a sustained way [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.
Paul Krugman/Party of Denial
The Short Version: I still love Hillary even if she supports that stupid gas-tax holiday.
In his words: “But if the Democrats really want to pin the denialist label on John McCain, health care is the place to focus.”
Score: D+ (Desultory)
Krugman delivers a very [...]

In which The Gay Recluse attempts to reconcile his traffic-whoring impulses with a desire to flee the crazies.  
In March, as part of a new traffic-whoring initiative, we opened up The Gay Recluse to commenters. By and large we’ve been very pleased with the results, not only in terms of traffic but in terms of the many new [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.
Gail Collins/How Will It Play in Apex?
The Short Version: It’s hard to say who’s worse: Blabbermouth Bill or The Reverend Wright.
In her words: “On the other hand, young voters who have yet to have their hearts broken by a politician find it wicked (sic?) depressing.”
Score: A (Applause)
We like [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.
Bob Herbert/The Pastor Casts a Shadow
The Short Version: Oh nos! The Reverend is going to wreck everything!
In his words: “Faster than anyone could have imagined, the young Mr. Obama became Senator Obama and then the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.”
Score: B- (Bit much)
This column unfortunately [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinions in The Times.
Paul Krugman/Bush Made Permanent
The Short Version: The Maverick is a Loser!
In his words: “Mr. McCain proposes making almost all of the Bush tax cuts, which are currently scheduled to expire at the end of 2010, permanent.”
Score: B- (Basic)
We already know that the Maverick is not [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times.
Frank Rich/How McCain Lost in Pennsylvania
The Short Version: We’ll see who’s laughing in November!
In his words: “On the way to the finish line, the prolonged primary race, far from destroying the Democratic candidates, may do more insidious damage to the Republican nominee, lulling his [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times.
Gail Collins/McCain’s Compassion Tour
The Short Version: The Maverick is a major asshole.
In her words: “[H]is reaction does suggest that on his list of presidential priorities, the problems of working women come in somewhere behind the rising price of after-dinner mints.”
Score: A (Awesome)
Gail Collins [...]

In which The Gay Recluse makes fun of the sad straights who appear in this week’s Modern Love offering in The Times. Those looking for our quantitative analysis should click here.
Was I on a Date or Baby-Sitting? OMG! What an Asshole!

By JULIE KLAUSNER and THE GAY RECLUSE

Published: April 27, 2008
So this asshole in a rock [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selection opinion pieces in The Times.
Paul Krugman/Self-Inflicted Confusion
The Short Version: Friends! I told you Hillary was the best, and because you ignored me and got wrapped up in the Obullshit message of “change,” you shall now suffer accordingly.
In his words: “The attacks from the Clinton campaign have been badminton compared with the [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times.
Gail Collins/Hillary’s Smackdown
The Short Version: Don’t panic, it’ll be ok.
In her words: “If you want to worry about something, worry about the way both of them have been pandering themselves over the edge.”
Score: B (Benign)
Although we don’t want to be reading about Obama and [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times.
Bob Herbert/Clueless in America
The Short Version: Kids are stupid.
In his words: “While we’re effectively standing in place, other nations are catching up and passing us when it comes to educational achievement.”
Score: F (Forgettable)
If you’re in the mood to be scolded on account of how shitty [...]

In which The Gay Recluse scores selected opinion pieces in The Times.
Paul Krugman/Running Out of Planet To Exploit
The Short Version: Let’s face it. We’re probably running out of oil.
In his words: “But this time may be different: concerns about what happens when an ever-growing world economy pushes up against the limits of a finite planet [...]