Steve Gilliard: OH Judy, I have something for you

Ok, I broke down and signed up for Times Select.

Normally, I wouldn't have EVER done so, but this was a manditory exception, like when I paid a locksmith $300 to get into my apartment with a smile.

Was it a brilliant Krugman post?

No. He's brilliant all the time.

Bob Herbert?

Come on.

Obviously, it's MoDo and she's going after Judy Miller in her column.

Dowd can be frustrating, but she's loyal and to the right people, those who pay her to write. I know people jumped on Irish Catholic background over dogging Clinton, but there's a flip side to that, intense loyalty and no problem holding a grudge. This is years of grudge work coming to the fore. One of the things I've always liked about the Irish women that I know is their toughness. They all smile and make jokes, but fuck with them and they will ground you into dirt.

Let me put it this way, if anyone liked me like MoDo says she likes Miller, well, I'd have to check to see if I owed them child support.

I've always liked Judy Miller. I have often wondered what Waugh or Thackeray would have made of the Fourth Estate's Becky Sharp.

The traits she has that drive many reporters at The Times crazy - her tropism toward powerful men, her frantic intensity and her peculiar mixture of hard work and hauteur - have never bothered me. I enjoy operatic types.