NYT's numerology fettish

Louis Farrakhan likes 19 and the NYT editorial board seems to like 3.

Of all the things going on in the world, they had to do this on their 09 NOV editorial page.

An administration with no agenda and no competence would be hard enough to live with on the domestic front. But the rest of the world simply can't afford an American government this bad for that long.
...
Ronald Reagan managed to turn his messy second term around and deliver - in great part through his own powers of leadership - ..

What was that last bit? I NEVER heard that from the NYT during 80s.

Right now, the vice president is devoting himself to beating back congressional legislation that would prohibit the torture of prisoners. This is truly a remarkable set of priorities: His former chief aide is under indictment, Cheney's back is against the wall - and he's declared war on the Geneva Conventions.

Bush cannot fire Cheney, but he could do what other presidents have done to vice presidents: keep him too busy attending funerals to do more harm. Bush would still have to turn his administration around, but it would at least send a signal to the nation and the world that he is in charge, and the next three years might not be as dreadful as they threaten to be.

You can almost smell the gnashing teeth and spittle.