No more free Bobo

So the New York Times is taking away the trough. At least for those not willing to shell out $50 annually for the collected wisdom of Brooks, Dowd, Krugman and Kristol.

I, for one, am not shedding any tears. Ezra said it well:

Blogospheric laziness has given the Times' op-ed columnists a must-read status they really don't deserve. Brooks and Tierney are widely linked, but only because they're easily demolished when you've just woken up and have nothing original to say. Krugman's nice enough, but his arguments generally ricochet through the blogosphere days, or even weeks, before he makes them. So who's left? Kristof? Herbert? Dowd? Rich? It's just not worth the cost.

Having said that, Kevin Drum has made a very entertaining game of refuting Bobo's columns with facts from the very same edition of the New York Times. Yesterday's example was particularly fruity. Enjoy while you can.