I have found that it is better for my sanity not to look at the comments’ section at either the NYT or Washington Post. The comments’ section is generally an indicator of the readership of said paper or viewership of said news’ site. This indicates overwhelmingly that the readership of the NYT and WaPo are liberal, and that is no surprise at all because the articles are written from a liberal slant. The NYT and WaPo pride themselves as “elite” journalism, and their readers think they are very smart and intellectually elite because they read them. Then they all go to them comments’ section and proclaim how much smarter they are than stupid conservatives.
On the other hand, a well-articulated rebuttal can be read by a wide audience and be saved for posterity in the paper of record! You can become virtually “immortal” (they save this stuff “forever”) and in your own little way by getting a great comment published in the NYT!