Oh Maureen. Did you run out of things to say about the “beer summit”? Or Obama’s fly-swatting skillz? Last I checked, the world is still blowing up — or maybe there’s a temporary lull. But Maureen Dowd thinks the soon-to-be-forgotten souffle of the moment, Julie & Julia, by deadly director Nora Ephron, is occasion for us to be treated to Ms. Ephron’s deep thoughts about food. Priorities!

For anyone whose political identity was formed during the poison years bracketed by Walter Cronkite‘s tenure as CBS evening anchor, the avuncular newsman was like the kindly, reassuring narrator of a political horror story.

If, as CBS News president Sean McManus mourns, that Cronkite’s status “will never be duplicated again,” it’s not only due to the modern fragmentation of the news audience — it’s also because, ideally, the country will never again go through such an extended trainwreck.