Wow. NY Times heir A.G. "The Future" Sulzberger is really having to earn his stripes. Last weekend he was dispatched to cover the Puerto Rican Day parade, and this weekend he covered the Jew/gay-haters from Westboro Baptist Church.

Just as he did last weekend, Sulzberger worked with a more experienced reporter, Colin Moynihan, who was likely armed with pepper spray in case any of the crazies made any sudden moves at "The Future," and just like last weekend, Young Sulzberger was ace when it came to ferreting out a money quote.

Rebekah Phelps-Davis, 48, said that her group had come to New York to take on the large Jewish population for its support of "the homosexual agenda." To that end, around noon on Sunday, she stood near the entrance to Central Park at 72nd Street, cordoned off by blue wooden police sawhorses. The group was out of sight of its intended target - a celebration inside the park marking the centennial of Tel Aviv - but its members did their best to provoke those who happened by. ("We do not intend to convert the devil," she explained.)

Young Sulzberger reports that, with the exception of one woman who tried to rip an Israeli flag away from one of the protesters, New Yorkers basically ignored Fred Phelps' group of wackos, just as we do everything else that tries too hard to get our attention.

Meanwhile, the burning question on everyone's mind has to be this—How will Young Sulzberger react to the gratuitous decadence and depravery at next weekend's Gay Pride parade, because you just know that the elders at the Times plan on sending him out to cover it. Luckily for Young Sulzberger though, we have a feeling that the gays will be quite kindly to him.



Messages of Hate Met With Scorn and Shrugs [New York Times]