It's Thursday, which means that the Post has let Richard Leiby loose on the public again. Beyond finally leaking that he receives daily talking points from Karl Rove and outing Fishbowl's Golden Idols (you know who you are), Leiby today spilled the beans on why the Post has always struggled with its gossip column:

Authentic gossip is what it's always been: second-hand stuff, overheard conversations, blind quotes from anonymous sources like doormen and waiters. It's generally dead wrong. Which is why the Post won't print it. We spend hours and hours making phone calls to find out if what we hear is actually TRUE.