Feet of clay

In a recent article discussing the growing popularity of pet care products, the Economist made the offhand and gratuitous comment that dogs

are costlier than cats, but superior in every respect.

Readers of the British magazine are, by nature, civilized and reserved. But eyebrows were raised in subsequent letters to the editor.

The Economist has long been a favorite magazine. The statement quoted above, however, made casually and neither ironically nor as the writer's quirky personal opinion but rather as the recitation of a well-established fact, is so startlingly bizarre and patently false that the journal's accuracy with respect to other matters -- as well as the good judgment of its editors -- is called into serious question.

I feel as though I had long relied upon the opinions of a distinguished Harvard professor, until -- one day -- his mask slipped, and behind the mask I discovered Rick Perry.

I'm not canceling my subscription, but will certainly read the Economist with a more skeptical eye in the future.