The past couple of weeks show that Brian McGrory can be a really good reporter - just as long as he tries to keep his opinions out of the way. A shame, really, since you'd expect the Rising Star of Metro Columnists to express opinions. But his column today highlights his problem: With one fewer column per week, he tries to combine two thoughts (Deval Patrick is a cheap bastard and George Bush is a spendthrift bastard) and somehow winds up blaming Deval Patrick for the war in Iraq. Or something. Hard to tell. But at least he's on talking terms with Tom Menino again.