Regular readers of IHWYJS know that, to put it mildly, I am no fan of Bill Kristol. And I was cautiously hopeful that when he (thankfully) wrote his final op-ed at the New York Times, he would be replaced by a more intellectually rigorous, less embarrassingly partisan, more honest, and more interesting conservative voice.
They got it right. Altlantic blogger Ross Douthat is the anti-Kristol. He is young, and he is also incredibly bright, very thoughtful, a fantastic writer, and he is unhindered by any strict dogmatic form of partisanship or ideology. I disagree with him on just about all of the major issues of the day (he’s a conservative, after all). But I imagine this will be a big improvement on the conservative side of the op-ed page at the newspaper of record. Times readers deserve challenging and informed opinion from various points of view. This will help.
(Full disclosure – I knew Ross fairly well when he was a student, which may cause me to be somewhat biased here. But I stand by my confidence in him).
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Yes, we welcome the new Republican overlord at the NY Times.