About Mary McGrory

Recently I just found out about a fascinating woman. Her name is Mary McGrory and I had never heard of her before. She was basically someone who had no clear career direction when she got out of college but got involved in the newspaper industry, almost by happenstance.

She started out as a book reviewer. But she brought a freshness to her writing that was not seen in the newspapers at that time. Her writing caught on magnificently and, in time, she was allowed to broaden her writing scope. Ultimately, she seemed to fall into the category of investigative journalist/commentator.

It does seem hard to peg here. She seemed to combine the writing of a columnist (e.g., David Brooks, E.J. Dionne Jr., Maureen Dowd, etc.) with the hit-the-streets reporting of a daily reporter.

In any case, her columns are stunning. She seemed to do what political cartoonists do so well--skewer the pompous and grandiose. And do it so well that it is highly entertaining and also informative. And more importantly to me it confirms what Martin Luther King Jr. said about the arc of the moral universe being long, but it bending toward justice. That is, those who misuse their power, to some degree, get their comeuppance.

And hell, now maybe more than ever, at least in the political realm, some are overdo for their skewering and comeuppance.

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