I’m always amazed (not) when New York Times columnists, like Gail Collins, and other members of the infamous liberal media elites are able to discern that the national zeitgeist is identical to the latest Republican talking points.

In summary, there appear to be only two constants in our ever-changing world. One is that Barack Obama is going to be on television every day forever. No venue is too strange. Soon, he’ll be on “Dancing With the Stars” (“And now, doing the Health Care, Energy and Education tango …”) or delivering the weather report. (“Here we see a wave of systemic change, moving across the nation …”)

Hey Gail, you can have your Georgie “Boy Wonder” Bush and Dick “I only talk to Brit Hume, Rush Limbaugh and Tim Russert because I know they will they faithfully regurgitate whatever lies I tell them as God’s own truth” Cheney back any time. I bet you liked it so was so much better when we had a President that only talked to hand picked audiences of cult worshipers and right wing radio talk show hosts. Where National Security Advisers warned us about the looming danger of nonexistent mushroom clouds. Where the number of presidential press conferences held were the fewest in modern history, but you still rolled over begging The Phony Cowboy from Crawford to rub your bellies like little puppies.

Got to give it up to Gail though. A woman so compassionate, with so much empathy for the downtrodden masses (by which I mean National Republicans), that she willingly does pro bono work for them. But then again, you’ve been doing that even before they fell on hard times, haven’t you? Or maybe you are simply so brain dead it’s easier to marginally justify your position on the NYT Op-Ed page by mindlessly repeating what other people say, no matter how inaccurate it might be.

At least with Bill Kristol you knew he was a complete raving ideologue who would say anything in defense of his agenda. But you, Gail, you’re supposed to be the female columnist at the Times who actually has something intelligent to say, the anti-Dowd, as it were. So when you lazily (or otherwise) drop in little bits of Republican truthiness into your columns it makes me wonder if you ever really deserved the esteem and sterling reputation to which some people seem to believe you are entitled. Because a liberal who uses conservative spin to bash a Democratic president without even acknowledging her sources is either stupid, ignorant or simply a poseur, someone pretending to be an honest public intellectual who uses her platform at the Times as an agent provocateur against the very ideals she supposedly espouses. Or maybe your just a comedian like Rush Limbaugh, one with a bigger vocabulary and a plummier accent. Take your pick. Personally, I’m not sure which of those options is worse.