Tuesday, March 01, 2011

Frank Rich Leaving NY Times for NY Mag

A new gig, starting in June. Sounds like he might be blogging, as part of it.

This opens up space on the NYT op-page for the hiring of Doghouse Riley and Roy Edroso.

(h/t: David Kurtz)

Posted by bjkeefe at 11:58 AM
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6 comments:

J. A. Baker said...

This opens up space on the NYT op-page for the hiring of Doghouse Riley and Roy Edroso.

Meh. They'll probably follow Fred Hiatt's lead and hire someone like Pam Geller or Jim Hoft.

7:14 PM, March 01, 2011
bjkeefe said...

Don't think I'm not already starting to worry about it.

Probably won't be a full metal wingnut. But what I fear is they'll think, "Eh, we already have liberal flamethrowing with Krugman. Let's get a moderate." So, it'll be someone like Peter Beinart. Or, lord help us, McMegan Ardle.

7:22 PM, March 01, 2011
J. A. Baker said...

A McMegan hire would have some comedic potential, though. I, for one, would love to see her try to explain to New Yorkers why she thought it was okay to threaten them with 2x4s back when being against Operation Iraqi Liberation was a treasonous offense.

10:52 PM, March 01, 2011
bjkeefe said...

I vote no. Anyone who wants those sorts of lulz can head over to The Atlantic. The NYT op-ed page is too important a platform to give a regular slot to someone so thoroughly unqualified to opine.

Remember the Bill Kristol year? Yes, we had some laughs (e.g.), but the joke got old pretty fast.

Besides, we don't need another apologist for (from) the selfish rich, telling the selfish rich what they want to hear. For a lot of comfortably well-off moderates (the center of the NYT demographic), this is about the only opportunity they'll take to get a solid liberal perspective on current events.

11:25 PM, March 01, 2011
J. A. Baker said...

Holy shit, the NYT's experiment with Kristol Meth is only three years gone? For some reason I thought it was in 2006/2007...

Okay, I'll concede that the comedic value of McMegan wouldn't outweigh the cost in brain cells, but I can't help but get the feeling that the NYT sees Ross "Chunky Reese Witherspoon" Douthat as their center-right voice and thus they need to go whole hog on appealing the Teabagger demographic. Remember how after the trumped-up ACORN nonsense they effectively made Breitbart their assignment editor? In such a scenario, McMegan would be a relief.

11:30 PM, March 02, 2011
bjkeefe said...

First off, he's been promoted. He's now "Chunky David Brooks."

In any case, he took over the second conservative slot after Always Wrong Kristol was sent packing. Two's plenty, I say. People who need more conservative opinionating are welcome to go to the WaPo op-ed page, where they can get all flavors of it, from neo to paleo to socio, every damned day.

I take your point about that unfortunate moment of spinelessness, but let's just say that I hope Frank Rich's replacement has to clear a bar that's a little higher than "Uh, well, not as bad as Breitbart."

12:00 AM, March 03, 2011

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