How Do You Hate The NYT? Let Us Count The Ways

So we were surprised by the results of yesterday’s NYT/TimeSelect poll. First of all, who knew that Thomas Friedman was a regular reader? Two “different” “anonymous” tipsters wrote in to say that he alone was a bargain at $50 per annum. Thanks, Tom. Good to know you’re reading.

Other than that, either David Brooks and John Tierney are really worthless individuals or there was a little left-of-center slant among the voters.

The rankings were, in case you’ve forgotten: (1) “I’d pay $50 a year to NOT hear their opinion”; (2) “Not a plugged nickel”; (3) “Pay? This are the internets! They’re free!”; (4) “Fine. I’ll fork over the cash. Not happy, but the column’s worth it.”; (5) “$50 a year is a bargain!” (6) “All of Donald Trump’s dough.”

The results, as audited by Katharine Harris and Diebold:

David Brooks (2)
Maureen Dowd (3)
Tom Friedman (3)
Bob Herbert (3)
Nicholas Kristof (3)
Paul Krugman (4)
Frank Rich (6)
John Tierney (1)

Several readers also added some editorial comments about the oped writers:

Maureen Dowd: I would, however, pay to have her make sense, or at
least sustain one topic for a whole column. Vote: (2)

Paul Krugman: I would bump him up to a 4 if I didn’t already know that he would call Bush the root of all evil. Vote: (3)

Frank Rich: Rather than pay to read him, it might be fun to remind him that he grew up in the DC area rather than Manhattan. Vote: (3)

Then, of course, there was this sage (who may or may not have been William Safire): “You gotta be kidding…not a plugged nickel. I wouldn’t even bother with the free registration to read these clowns.”

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