Thanks to the 276 different people who took the time to email us this New York Times blog post from Jennifer “I probably shouldn’t make pathetic attempts at insults with a middle name like” 8. Lee. Apparently our reputation for obsessing over a) transit issues and b) people who try to compare D.C. to New York City are well known at this point.

So apparently Ms. Lee was recently a visitor in our fair city, and she happened upon one of those adorable Metro ads that remind us all that eating and drinking on Metro is against the law. You know the ones — they insinuate that other, nameless subway systems have problems with rats, but we don’t, because of our strict rules. Lee makes the assumption that Metro means New York City’s subway system. And hey, they probably do, even though a Metro spokesperson denied that was true.

Feeling as though the Metro ad campaign has somehow injured New York City’s reputation, Lee then proceeds to try to bash Washington, D.C. The emphasis belongs on try, though, as she fails pretty miserably. She calls our nightlife “pathetic”, and then cites some weird story she wrote in April of 2004 about how it’s hard to get in to Bloomberg News’ post-White House Correspondents’ Dinner party. Because, you know, the only thing to do at night in D.C. is party with Tim Russert once a year.

But Lee saves her best shot for the look of our beloved Metro system map:

City Room will say, sure, Washington’s system may be rat-free, but its subway map also has all the sophistication of Fisher Price.

If that’s not the saddest excuse of a put-down, we don’t know what is. Our subway map is brightly colored and easy to read? The horror!