Douthat to the NYT

By Michael J.W. Stickings

As Marc Ambinder is reporting, the young and prodigal Ross Douthat, currently at The Atlantic, is headed to the New York Times op-ed page to replace the disgraced and departed Bill Kristol. He and David Brooks will make up the conservative wing of the Times punditocracy.

I don't read Douthat all that often -- and, when I do, I generally don't agree with him -- but I regard him as one of the few conservatives who actually thinks outside the box of current right-wing orthodoxy. And, unlike Kristol, he's not a partisan hack and propagandist. Sure, it's not much of a compliment to say that someone is an improvement over Kristol, who was an embarrassment at the Times, and who is one generally, but if a right-winger was what the Times wanted, Douthat wasn't a bad pick. At the very least, he should be an interesting, if aggravating, read, perhaps even, as Andrew Sullivan puts is, "a boon to intelligent conservatism," which is hardly a crowded field, not least with Dear Leader Limbaugh and his minions dominating the right these days.

So... Congratulations, Ross. We'll be reading.