The Fifth Columnist
How Bill Kristol landed that 'Times' gig.
Gabriel Sherman
The New Republic
This fall, New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. launched a search for a new conservative columnist. It had been nearly three years since William Safire had retired from his weekly column in 2005, and Sulzberger's initial replacement, libertarian John Tierney, lasted just 20 months before abandoning his column. David Brooks remained as the lone conservative voice on the page, and, say people familiar with the younger Sulzberger's thinking, he wanted to hire a lightning-rod conservative, much like his father, Arthur "Punch" Sulzberger, had done in appointing Safire in 1973.
So, last fall, Sulzberger and Times editorial-page editor Andrew Rosenthal prepared a list of some 25 conservative writers. According to a person with knowledge of the search, the names included Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, The Atlantic's Ross Douthat, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations Max Boot and three Weekly Standard staffers: senior editor Christopher Caldwell, associate editor Matthew Continetti, and the magazine's editor and founder, Bill Kristol. On December 30, Sulzberger selected Kristol, who gave up his column at Time magazine for the Times appointment.
Immediately, the announcement triggered fulminations from bloggers and pundits. At the Times, Kristol's appointment rankled reporters and editors, who interpreted the move as the latest in a series of tone-deaf decisions by Sulzberger, including his $100-million investment in the Discovery Times TV channel and his crusade to free Judith Miller during the Valerie Plame leak investigation. Times staffers feel Kristol is an unimaginative writer with a rancorous history of attacking the paper. Sulzberger sought to make a splash in hiring Kristol, but, like many of his management decisions, it has backfired.
Kristol's debut column on January 7, a breezy dissection of Mike Huckabee's candidacy, was roundly panned in the journalism community. (The Atlantic's James Fallows remarked on Kristol's "breathtaking banality.") Among other problems, Kristol misattributed a quote from Michael Medved to Michelle Malkin-proof, some said, that his other responsibilities would result in his "mailing in" his Times copy. "He doesn't know what it's like to write for The New York Times," one staffer said. "So, welcome to the NFL."
(Continued here.)
Gabriel Sherman
The New Republic
This fall, New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. launched a search for a new conservative columnist. It had been nearly three years since William Safire had retired from his weekly column in 2005, and Sulzberger's initial replacement, libertarian John Tierney, lasted just 20 months before abandoning his column. David Brooks remained as the lone conservative voice on the page, and, say people familiar with the younger Sulzberger's thinking, he wanted to hire a lightning-rod conservative, much like his father, Arthur "Punch" Sulzberger, had done in appointing Safire in 1973.
So, last fall, Sulzberger and Times editorial-page editor Andrew Rosenthal prepared a list of some 25 conservative writers. According to a person with knowledge of the search, the names included Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, The Atlantic's Ross Douthat, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations Max Boot and three Weekly Standard staffers: senior editor Christopher Caldwell, associate editor Matthew Continetti, and the magazine's editor and founder, Bill Kristol. On December 30, Sulzberger selected Kristol, who gave up his column at Time magazine for the Times appointment.
Immediately, the announcement triggered fulminations from bloggers and pundits. At the Times, Kristol's appointment rankled reporters and editors, who interpreted the move as the latest in a series of tone-deaf decisions by Sulzberger, including his $100-million investment in the Discovery Times TV channel and his crusade to free Judith Miller during the Valerie Plame leak investigation. Times staffers feel Kristol is an unimaginative writer with a rancorous history of attacking the paper. Sulzberger sought to make a splash in hiring Kristol, but, like many of his management decisions, it has backfired.
Kristol's debut column on January 7, a breezy dissection of Mike Huckabee's candidacy, was roundly panned in the journalism community. (The Atlantic's James Fallows remarked on Kristol's "breathtaking banality.") Among other problems, Kristol misattributed a quote from Michael Medved to Michelle Malkin-proof, some said, that his other responsibilities would result in his "mailing in" his Times copy. "He doesn't know what it's like to write for The New York Times," one staffer said. "So, welcome to the NFL."
(Continued here.)
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