Is Maureen Dowd really being shuffled down the op-ed deck?

Michelle Malkin posts that our screechy friend Maureen Dowd, the ultimate high school queen bee, is being demoted. As evidence, Ms. Malkin points to the fact that the NY Times is engaging in some column shuffling, with Dowd being moved from one of her normal publication dates. Although I certainly would love to see Dowd have her sting made less toxic, I have my doubts about Ms. Malkin's read on this. The fact is, if you regularly check out the NY Times "Most Emailed" website, you'll see that devoted NY Times readers routinely send Dowd's columns to the head of this list. With that kind of reader cachet, I just can't believe she's being demoted. I suspect, rather, that she's being used as bait to lure readers to buy the paper on days other than Sunday, or to check out sections they usually ignore.