Oh jeez. Philadelphians Against the Inquirer anyone? --Ray

It's the truth, Ruth. I haven't seen any reports yet covering the press conference, but Editor and Publisher has the skinny.

NEW YORK A press conference will be held at 1:30 this afternoon at the Philadelphia Inquirer to announce that it has added former Sen. Rick Santorum to its stable of columnists...

The story in the paper today includes: "Talking about the threat of Islamic terrorism is now Santorum's main occupation, though the Republican sounds laid-back these days. He is pitching a movie idea to Hollywood and laughed off speculation about a political comeback in Pennsylvania."

That's terrific. I have a pitch for Santorum's movie. It's about an Islamic detainee in Guantanamo who falls in love with one of his interrogators. The title: Man On Dog.

What might be even worse is that the Inquirer is already advertising the hire with a non-news story ("Santorum presses his case against Islamic extremism"). The parenthetical note that Santorum's about to start writing for Tierney is buried halfway down.

Inga Saffron and a few still-talented reporters aside, is there any reason to read, let alone buy, the Inquirer at all?