Things are a little awkward at the New York Times lately. The 'McCain possibly maybe having an affair' story was a flop, they just lost all-star critic Kelefa Sanneh to the New Yorker and their foremost legal expert, Linda Greenhouse, is taking a buyout. But if the Spitzer story has taught us anything, it's that hookers are a waste of money and that the New York Times' Metro desk is becoming the paper's (unlikely) best asset in this new new media battlefield.