This morning, James Taranto defends the Wall Street Journal against Joe Nocera's charges that the paper uses "Democrat" as an adjective. Whatever. But as I have been thinking about why I don't find the Journal as compelling as it used to be, it occurs to me that I loved its old lay-out: a lead news story in the left column and a deep feature story on the right. Both stories would inevitably be rich with useful detail, and I think they made a lot of breakfast-time readers smarter.
I am not sure whether the front page was blown-up during the Murdoch era, but if it was, he has yet something else to answer for.
