Matt Zeitlin

Have I mentioned how great the New York Times Opinionater Blog is?  I mean, Tobin Harshaw and Chris Sullentrop are just great, smart guys.   And no, this burst of praise has nothing to do with Harshaw callling me a “teen super-blogger.” Nothing at all.

A second note that’s more relevant to the original post.  While I praised Kristol’s first column, James Fallows is right to say that the writing is a bit cliche-ridden and Kristol does, in fact, quote Michael Medved when he cited Michelle Malkin, but I think Yglesias’ line of criticism, that the Times made a mistake in hiring Kristol because “You need to read his work with a decoder ring to try to figure out what’s happening” is misguided. You do need a decoder ring to read Kristol — but that’s precisely why Kristol was a good hire.  In an election year, we get an inside view into the mind of a key and influential figure in the conservative media establishment.  While that mind may be sometimes horrifying and daft, he’s still an important dude, and when he talks, people listen and the political climate can even change.  And from the Times‘ perspective, the fact that there is so much buzz about a rather anodyne horse-race column is a vindication, more than anything, of their decision.  Frank Rich or Maureen Dowd haven’t been able to create this much discussion or (probably) draw as much traffic to the site recently as Kristol has on his first day.