What's Right - and Wrong - About NYT's Op-Ed Hire

After deciding it no longer wanted William Kristol to fill its pages with strategy memos for Sarah Palin and other rising stars on the right, The New York Times has added The Atlantic'sRoss Douthat to its stable of op-ed columnists. As I noted in this article for The Nation a year ago, Douthat belongs to a small circle of conservative commentators who understand that the marriage between economic and social conservatism that was stitched together during the Reagan years is unraveling. A party that claims to be "pro-family" but opposes doing anything to help parents deal with the crushing burdens of health care, job insecurity and housing foreclosures is going to marginalize itself, Douthat has been telling his comrades on the right for a while now. Although I don't share his views, particularly on social issues, I agree with my colleague Chris Hayes that, for this and many other reasons, Douthat will likely churn out thoughtful commentary of the sort that Kristol did not.

So what's the problem with this hire? The problem is that it will not give readers of The Times any clue what most Republicans today – certainly those holding the reins of power – actually think. America's preeminent newspaper will now have two conservatives (David Brooks is the other) chiming in to argue that government isn't always evil, that tax cuts aren't always good, that something really does need to be done about health care, that markets aren't always wonderfully virtuous, and so on. This will make it a lot easier for progressives to put down their coffee in the morning without feeling queasy. It will also make it that much easier for conservatives to argue - accurately - that The Times is out-of-touch with their beliefs. The conservative strand of economic populism that Douthat champions persuaded exactly zero House Republicans to support the recent stimulus bill. Given this, a bolder move would have been to hire an unrepentant libertarian who, in the face of the worst market meltdown since the Great Depression, could explain to the rest of us why unregulated capitalism is still the ideology of choice in the GOP.

Comments (21)

1. Douthat can stake out some new territory for the GOP that they MIGHT be able to build on in 2016 or so.

   But he'll have to wait until the neo-cons die off and the evangey-fundey Christian Right is aged out (as younger evangelicals are more interested in poverty and the environment and less concerned about abortion and gay rights).

   lvlib/antisoc, comanche/RIO, MAASCH will go off to the rest homes.

   The Republican Party isn't dead. It just needs to remember Theodore Roosevelt, Wendall Wilkie, Ike, and even Goldwater....and forget Dubyas, Cheneys, Roves, and the "young crop" of Reagan religionists like Palin and Jindal.

   Posted by Mask at 03/11/2009 @ 8:27pm

2. " ... So what's the problem with this hire? The problem is that it will not give readers of The Times any clue what most Republicans today – certainly those holding the reins of power – actually think ..."

   Do you really imagine that the Republicans you describe are thinking anything at all beyond "Fight the other party at all costs!"? Does it take a pundit to explain to you that a group of dead-enders who have the choice of falling on their swords and admitting they are wrong in their absolute rejection of anything not Bush Republican or going down fighting mindlessly and obstinately have chosen the latter, because at least then they don't give up their reason to exist in the first place?

   Posted by syfriendly at 03/11/2009 @ 8:30pm

3. Interesting post, Mr. Press.

   It's true, the guys who might actually have ideas on the right are the guys who have no useful voice in the Republican Party. It's a bizarre time for Republicans as well as for the nation. I'd also argue that when the excrement really begins to hit the oscillating device there is a very good chance that the level of imbecility is likely to rise even higher --if that is imaginable.

   I repost the Moyers Journal link with Ross Douthat and Mickey Edwards:

   www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07112008/watch.html

   Conservatives who can actually articulate coherent thoughts.

   It's novel, I know.

   Posted by b_kool_66 at 03/11/2009 @ 8:45pm

4. It's true, the guys who might actually have ideas on the right are the guys who have no useful voice in the Republican Party.

   Posted by b_kool_66 at 03/11/2009 @ 8:45pm

   hmmmm,

   where have i seen that before?

   Posted by frosty zoom at 03/11/2009 @ 9:14pm

5. "could explain to the rest of us why unregulated capitalism is still the ideology of choice in the GOP."

   posted by EYAL PRESS on 03/11/2009 @ 7:39p

   Maybe, because it is the best of many alternatives. The French have heavily regulated, unionized capitalism. Now, you would think lots of government regulations would prevent bank meltdowns, and yet the French government still had to bail out its banks to the tune of 40 billion dollars.

   So,you may think we need lots of regulations, but do you think Barney Frank and the Dems have a clue what those should be? LOL!

   Posted by twillie at 03/11/2009 @ 10:04pm

6. Why would a real conservative go to work for the NYT? There is nothing to be gained by doing so considering it may soon be out of print anyway as many liberal biased rags are going.

   I tend to think this guy must be a moderate regressive extremist in a worsted wool suit who has dropped his bow tie for a well trimmed full beard perhaps!

   Posted by comancheamerican at 03/11/2009 @ 10:10pm

7. Sorry, my mistake. 500 billion dollar bailout for French banks. But, since Democrats are smarter than the French, they can figure out a way to regulate banks the RIGHT way. Right?.....

   Posted by twillie at 03/11/2009 @ 10:16pm

8. RRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHTTTTT!

   Posted by comancheamerican at 03/11/2009 @ 10:23pm

9. Geither should head the IRS ONLY to avoid future tax problems and gain a perspective on how he helped create the financial crisis and the real value of money!

   Posted by comancheamerican at 03/11/2009 @ 10:39pm

10. Has the NYT done ANYTHING right in this millenium?

    Sold its old HQ for ~$170 million in `03 only to see the buyer flip it not less than 2 years later for 3 times as much;

    Bought the Boston Globe and promptly saw its value sinks to next to nothing;

    Sold the country down the river by revealing highly classified terrorist financing surveillance program;

    Lost all the credibility that used to make The Gray Lady the Gold standard, now its stock is worth less than its daily rag;

    Maintained its high dividends (until `08) via liquidation of assets to keep the Sulzbergers HAPPY;

    Got on its knees to Carlos Slim to borrow $250 million at 14% interest, something a knee-jerk lib just knows it's usurious;

    Sold the 21 floors in its new HQ building, the portion it owned, and leased it back for an effective interest rate of over 10%;

    What a bunch of financial yahoos!

    Posted by Happy at 03/11/2009 @ 11:09pm

11. , they can figure out a way to regulate banks the RIGHT way. Right?..... Posted by twillie at 03/11/2009 @ 10:16pm

    treasury secretary gramm......

    Posted by frosty zoom at 03/12/2009 @ 12:58am

12. treasury secretary gramm......---Posted by frosty zoom at 03/12/2009 @ 12:58am

    Hey, this is just a "mental recession" and we're just a bunch of "whiners"!!!

    Posted by Mask at 03/12/2009 @ 07:44am

13. Hey, this is just a "mental recession" and we're just a bunch of "whiners"!!!

    Posted by Mask at 03/12/2009 @ 07:44am

    Actually it is a lie promoted by the liberal media, like the NYT. There is no recession. Ask Pontificus, he will tell you. Just as HAPPY the financial whizzer told us there IS NO RECESSION, back in August. Same guys that told us McCain would win in landslide, Saddam was a threat, Obama was a Islamo Fascist Marxist and Bush is in the top ten greatest presidents.

    Quite a batting average, eh?

    But, they still expect us to listen to them.

    ----

    It looks like Newt Gingrich, last of the great divorced conservative Family Values types, has been dipped in liberalism! He was in Michigan yesterday talking about the FAILURE of our health care system. He had a quote something like this, " If you don't think we are on the edge of a great depression, you have your head in the sand." His take is that health care reform is at the core of economic recovery. He is calling for government support of teen mothers, via prenatal supplements, PAYING teens to not get pregnant, REQUIRING college students to exercise.

    His basic idea? Reform starts with behavior modification, promoted by The State.

    Let the comparisons to Pol Pot begin!

    Isn't the power of "the left" staggering? I mean really! Here we are a "fringe group", yet we control the Federal reserve, most media, The UN, the scientific community, Wall Street, Treasury Sec (ney president!) Paulson and now we have Newt Gingrich. All the while we are lazy, mentally ill, inept and know nothing. But, given all those impediments, we still beat out the moneyed power and the intellectual superiority of the conservatives.

    Amazing awesome power!!

    tiny little box.

    Posted by crabwalk at 03/12/2009 @ 08:30am

14. "I'd welcome a sane voice from the right. "osted by snowball666 at 03/12/2009 @ 08:25am

    Wouldn't we all.

    they are out there.

    They have been sidelined the last 8 years, in large part by the vociferous voices of the American Taliban. Mask is right, as the remaining 28% ers die off, the new crop will be less dogmatic and more focused on..gasp.. the community as a whole, including care of the Earth, care for all of gods children and less focus on hatred of The Other.

    Posted by crabwalk at 03/12/2009 @ 08:45am

15. I think the place to look for regulation of banks is... Lebanon.

    What did they do right? What can we learn from them?

    Posted by crabwalk at 03/12/2009 @ 08:53am

16. Posted by snowball666 at 03/12/2009 @ 08:54am

    No..no...no!!!

    The recession started Nov 5, 2008.

    Don't you know that?

    It really got into the swing when a Marxist former head of Goldman Sachs was put in charge of the Treasury. What we did not realize for decades is that Wall Street is run by Socialists.

    Now we know.

    Posted by crabwalk at 03/12/2009 @ 09:01am

17. But he'll have to wait until the neo-cons die off and the evangey-fundey Christian Right is aged out (as younger evangelicals are more interested in poverty and the environment and less concerned about abortion and gay rights).

    lvlib/antisoc, comanche/RIO, MAASCH will go off to the rest homes.

    The Republican Party isn't dead. It just needs to remember Theodore Roosevelt, Wendall Wilkie, Ike, and even Goldwater....and forget Dubyas, Cheneys, Roves, and the "young crop" of Reagan religionists like Palin and Jindal.

    Posted by Mask at 03/11/2009 @ 8:27pm

    Two points.

    1. If the GOP becomes the party of moderate/progressives, it will and should die.

    2. Why is it that you and so many leftist bloggers here railed against Rove and others who bragged of a permanent majority for Republicans, now call for a one party system where the only "good" Republicans are those who are liberal light?

    What you really want is no democracy. No debate where alternative views and proposals are presented to the American people who can then make a choice.

    It looks like the "mask" on you and the left actually being in favor of democracy has been removed.

    Posted by antisocialist at 03/12/2009 @ 09:46am

18. Two points-

    1. If the GOP becomes the party of moderate/progressives, it will and should die.----Posted by antisocialist at 03/12/2009 @ 09:46am

    That may be happening RIGHT NOW, Larry. The RNC Chair just said that "abortion should be an individual choice"

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/11/ steele-abortion-is-an-ind_n_174092.html

    2. No, I want you and Rush and Sean and Glenn Beck and Loufa Bill O'Reilly and Michael Savage-Weiner out there talking...and keep talking...and everybody possible to hear them.

    It's the First Amendment....and good politics ...for the Other Side.

    Posted by Mask at 03/12/2009 @ 10:07am

19. Posted by antisocialist at 03/12/2009 @ 09:46am

    I think you are looking at this as black & white, LVL. I don't see Ron Paul or "Old Right" conservatives favoring non-interventionist foreign policies with much of a voice in the Republican Party. I'm not sure Ronald Reagan would be too keen on federal programs like No Child Left Behind.

    The bottom line is that Republicans have demonstrated - the Schiavo case being an interesting example - that they are no longer the party of state rights, home rule, and local self-government. I don't think they can argue that they even favor small to mid-size businesses anymore.

    It is clear that the agenda of the Religious Right and an ethic of "winning" at any cost has transformed the party into something different, something some argue is no longer even "conservative". I think there is something to that perspective, given that people like Tom "The Hammer" Delay ran the show for awhile.

    So, there is lots of room to become different, more "big tent" while at the same time becoming more conservative and not Democratic Party lite.

    But, then again, you know this.

    Posted by srjenkins at 03/12/2009 @ 11:57am

20. The Times is the voice of the people who run things in this country. Part of MSM, right-wing news, NPR (National Pentagon Radio). That is to say, they have an ax to grind, an ideology and they have a tendency to print dreck.

    As our misguided country takes on the many countries in the world we don't like, and stumbles on the economic front, the Times can be found, as usual, cheer leading and rearranging the deck chairs..

    Posted by hkaplan at 03/12/2009 @ 12:26pm

21. Posted by hkaplan at 03/12/2009 @ 12:26pm

    Let me guess...you only read "Mother Jones"?

    heheh

    Posted by Mask at 03/12/2009 @ 1:24pm