Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Times, It is a Changin'

Bill Kristol is out; Ross Douthat is in. George Packer of the New Yorker muses on what it all means, and speculates as to what sort of columnist Douthat will be.

Packer's prognosis: better, at least, then most of those other clowns on the NYT's editorial page. As he rightly notes, most of the Grey Lady's columnists have lapsed into self-parody. Week in, week out, it's always the same. Allow me to offer a one-sentence summary of each writer:

Thomas Friedman: America needs to be more competitive and needs to use more green power.

Maureen Dowd: I watched a movie this week that really reminded me how much I hate George W. Bush.

Frank Rich: I watched a movie this week that really reminded me how much I hate Republicans in general.

David Brooks: Barack Obama is trying to do too much, too quickly; also, I really like Edmund Burke.

Paul Krugman: Barack Obama is not doing enough, and not doing it fast enough; also, I really like John Maynard Keynes.

Nicholas Kristof: Bad things are happening in Africa, and you should be concerned about it.

Bob Herbert: Bad things are happening in America, and you should be concerned about it.

Gail Collins: Who?

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