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

Gail Collins/George Speaks, Badly

The Short Version: George is a loser.

In her words: “Our credit markets are foundering, and all we’ve got is a guy who looks like he’s ready to kick back and start the weekend.”

Score: A- (Acerbic)
When even Gail Collins sounds like she wants to rip your head off, you know something’s wrong. Let’s hope she gives similar treatment to McCain, who for all intensive (grammar maven smackdown — see comments!) intents and purposes will be more of the same, and possibly worse.

Bob Herbert/The Winds of Albany

The Short Version: David Paterson in a paragraph or two.

In his words: “It would have required an extraordinary leap of the imagination for a teenager in that shipping department in the wartime 1940s to believe that his child would someday become governor of New York.”

The Score: B- (Boring)
Herbert provides a Parade Magazine-ish “Up Close and Personal” account of David Paterson and his father Basil. Totally boring. (Btw, the Port Authority building in the article is on 16th Street, not 18th: a small mistake, but not one we like to see at The Times.)