Via Editor & Publisher: (h/t The Huffington Post)
A day after the Huffington Post first reported it, The New York Times has announced that it has indeed hired conservative pundit, and Fox News analyst, Bill Kristol, as a new regular op-ed columnist.
Liberal bloggers had been up in arms over the move. Kristol said, in an interview with Politico.com, it gave him some pleasure to see their “heads explode.” Kristol was perhaps the most influential pundit of all in promoting the U.S. invasion of Iraq and has strongly defended the move ever since.Times’ editorial page editor Andy Rosenthal defended the move. Rosenthal told Politico.com shortly after the official announcement Saturday that he fails to understand “this weird fear of opposing views….We have views on our op-ed page that are as hawkish or more so than Bill….
“The idea that The New York Times is giving voice to a guy who is a serious, respected conservative intellectual — and somehow that’s a bad thing,” Rosenthal added. “How intolerant is that?” Read on…
This will do little to convince their readers that he didn’t just make a huge mistake by hiring a pundit who has zero credibility and is one of the biggest hacks in all of wingnuttia. Mr. Rosenthal, it is not intolerant of the American people to want truth and accuracy from the supposed paper of record. It’s not about having opposing viewpoints, it’s that Kristol has been wrong on just about everything he’s said for the past five years. Not a little wrong, but really, really wrong. But according to Rosenthal, he’s really serious and gee, people really respect him. Well, I guess that makes up for all of the propaganda…war-mongering partisanship…hackery that Kristol has been given a national platform for already.
Maybe we should take a look back at the very serious and respectable prose of William “The Bloody” about his new employers:
Conservatives, populists, humorists, smart alecks, men and women of good will everywhere, including even a few Blue America types–in sum, a solid majority of our fellow citizens–are enjoying the misery of the New York Times. It is hard not to relish the sight of smugness shown up, pomposity punctured, and self-righteousness smashed.[..]
Even if (former Editor in Chief Howell) Raines were to go, everything we know about Sulzberger suggests his next pick would be no improvement. Fundamental regime change at the New York Times is not in the cards. Inspections and sanctions won’t work. Even the French can’t help. The Times is irredeemable. The question is whether a new newspaper of record will replace it.[..]
More important, this new paper would serve its readers by producing serious “news analysis” on the leading stories of the moment, not unintentionally comical meditations by disengaged semi-retired reporters.
Furthermore, this new paper wouldn’t create in its own ranks a “culture of fear.” Its reporters and editors would speak their minds among themselves, without concern that a minority viewpoint might cause them to lose favor. [..]
Finally, this new paper would have a culture of accountability without favoritism, and responsibility without defensiveness–the opposite of the current Times regime.
And how about this:
“I think it is an open question whether the Times itself should be prosecuted for this totally gratuitous revealing of an ongoing secret classified program that is part of the war on terror.” [Fox News, 7/2/06]
“I think the Justice Department has an obligation to consider prosecution.” [Fox News, 6/25/06]
And Rosenthal thinks we’re the intolerant ones. Heh.
Filed Under: Hackery, NY Times, Pundits, Right Wing Pundits, Right Wing Stupidity
No Trackbacks To “New York Times Defends Hiring William “The Bloody” - He’s Respected & Serious“
Godwin alert!
Goebbels was “respected and serious”, too.
well, this is the e-mail response I got when I complained about it:
Thank you for your e-mail concerning Bill Kristol. We appreciate your
interest and your taking the time to let us know how you feel.
Mr. Kristol’s column will be appearing on the Op-Ed page, where we offer a range of diverse opinions — often differing from our own editorial
opinions. Given that we are a news organization that believes in vibrant
political discourse, we have brought Mr. Kristol on board after a long and thoughtful search through the ranks of strong conservative voices.
Will you — or will we — agree with him? Probably not.very often . . . but that is the point of offering multiple views and providing intellectual
diversity. We hope the column will engender open debate and discussion in
the democratic tradition of newspapers. And we hope that you will continue to read and to express your views to us. We very much value your readership.
Sincerely,
Catherine Mathis
SVP, Corporate Communications
The New York Times Company
The best weapon against the times is your subscription. Unsubscribe!
[sorry to repeat my comment from the thread below, but it is more relevant here–especially given the letter in comment #2 arguing that the NY times wants to present multiple points of view]
Nobody has pointed out that the NY Times editorial pages are quickly becoming a subsidiary of the Weekly Standard. I find it hard to believe that hiring former Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol will provide a fresh point of view, when the NY Times ALREADY HAS former Weekly Standard Contributing editor, David Brooks!
Kristol’s record of being VERY WRONG is now NYT’s record. I laugh at them both.
Only a slithery little Zionist rat would join NYT after bashing it.
Respected..oh yeah by the dregs of the republican party and the corporate masters of the Media.
Serious..oh yeah when it comes to trying to spin his crap.
RIDICULOUS.
unreal….they obviously learned Nothing from all the debacles of recent years….maybe they should hire Judy Miller back…and Jayson Blair…hell- just go for it and hire Karl Rove…
First Rove, and now Guppy Mouth.
It’s all part of the continuing plan of corporate media to force-feed the masses with twisted, disturbed propaganda originating from people who are military cowards and disingenuous.
Another reason we need a POTUS who will work to destroy corporate media by busting up the handful of monopolies that helped bring us a culture of terror.
Unsubscribe — I did so, and the rep instantly understood my complaint (she knew who Bill Kristol was, and she realized it wasn’t about money; I think they will realize their mistake when many long time subscribers leave them (I’ve been a 15 year subscriber). Email them at editorial@nytimes.com, with your thoughts, as well. Make sure to make the point that it’s not that he’s conservative, but that he’s just been wrong on everything, and that they are pandering.
“The idea that The New York Times is giving voice to a guy who is a serious, respected conservative intellectual — and somehow that’s a bad thing,” Rosenthal added. “How intolerant is that?”
Because he’s published by Fox News on Shiny Paper ?
The bottom line for the NY Times is that getting controversial people to appear in its pages brings in more readers and money too. It doesn’t matter if their opinions are total lies; what matters to them is generating attention and readership.
This gives new meaning to the old catchphrase ‘if it bleeds, it leads’ — !!!
It is just part of the corporate news mindset that there is NO obvious right or wrong, NO obvious truth no matter what our eyes and common sense tell us. The new modern news gathering dictates that there must always be an equally valid opposite viewpoint expressed, no matter how ridicules such view turns out to be. Not to worry. Mainstream print journalism will follow TV network news down the road once trod by the buggy whip makers, as “We the people” turn to our own use of the blogs and other internet tools to bring the world news as it really happens, not as some profit driven corporate overlord would have us believe it happened.
I guess the reichwing are just going to have to stop using the catchphrase “Liberal New York Times” — if they are even able to (which I doubt).
Says it all:
From the Aug 31, 2003 episode of “Fox New Sunday” -
“Fox’s Bill Kristol recommends war with North Korea”
Iraq was just starting to show signs of quagmire and Kristol was all ready to start the next war… this time against a country with nukes.
There really is something wrong with the people who run this country.
What is it that Rosenthal doesn’t understand about “William Kristol: War Criminal”?
Rosenthal, at best, perceives Kristol as conservative editorialist who advocates for wars. In fact, Kristol is a reckless Machiavellian insider who played a major active role in creating a maniacal crusade that has directly resulted in the deaths of untold thousands of innocents.
BIG difference.
remember the NYT thought judy miller was a real reporter also …….
The NYT has seen from bush’s behavior that ‘i’ll do it and too bad’ works. Their complicity in the run up to the war is really more shameful than giving this jerk a weekly spout off. judith miller is the most disgraceful contribution the ‘paper of record’ made to the duping of america, and still there isn’t really any accountability on that front. They haven’t been nearly as sorry as they should be and had a lot of making up to do. With friedman, brooks and safire isn’t there enough on the right. The most consistent gripe most who have protested this employment is the fact that he had been totally wrong in his perceptions and their consequences…and he still has a job.
Respected? He’s not respected by anyone I respect. But hey, perhaps Murdoch won’t have to buy the NYT after all, it’ll just slowly fade away and then they’ll be no big daily with any other view but theirs. Isn’t that what the Right and Neocons are about anyway?
Unreal.
Of particular note - as some have already pointed out - is firstly, the fact Kristol rips the Times and then deems it fit to work for them without so much as batting an eye; secondly is the fact the Times page editor Rosenthal claims that the outrage over the hiring of Kristol is somehow a sign of intolerance in light of the fact that Kristol himself is quite possibly the most intolerant neo-con shill to ever walk the face of the earth. This post pretty much nails it.
Respected and serious…
Not factual or correct on any of his percieved opinions? Loke the Sunni, Shia and Kurds pop culture that they cannot get along?
Now when Cheney or anyone one the right whines about the liberal NY Times they will be shedding tears for that liberal Kristol………………
Wow.
After adding this yutz to Brooks, all they have to do is add Podhoretz.
Then publish strictly in Hebrew.
The NYT apparently thinks that it is respected and serious. Well, at least in Boner Ridge, Virginia - where I live, we know what to do with paper. Always keep a stack of it in the outhouse.
This just goes to show you that guys like Kristol are nothing more than media whores, and I know I am doing all whores a disservice by using that name. Both the media outlets and the pundits have no care about what is said in our national discourse. They only care about getting the money. Cause a little controversy, lose a couple of readers here, gain a few there, in the end increase the bottom line.
I can guarantee everyone out there that I don’t believe that Kristol totally believes everything he says, just so long as what he says continues to get him a fat paycheck for not doing a whole lot.
Kill your subscription. I consider FOX news pure unadulterated bullshit and I don’t watch the network, or it’s local affiliate, for any reason. If they bring him on and their subscriber base drops, then they get what they paid for….
“Last time I saw a mouth like that, it had a hook in it.”
Al Cervik on Bill Kristol.
I’m sure I’m in the minority here, but I say, why not give the bankrupt conservative movement in this country all the rope it needs to hang itself? I say, put Kristol on the op-ed page of the NYT as a daily reminder of the type of thinking that has brought this country to its sorry state. What are we progressives worried about? That the American people will once again rally around another neo-con debacle? Not “bloody” likely.
[refers to deleted post]
I’m serious too
I’m seriously appalled
I buried Paul
Serious Black
Tom (not Tom) @ 1:
I had the same reaction. Why not a column by Goebbels after WWII? There has to be a sleazy, cringe-inducing story behind the Times’s hiring this worm. Goebbels may be a particularly apt analogy.
Charles Manson, respected by some, seen as deadly serious by many others.
NYT, would you hire Mr. Manson in the name of “Tolerance” or how about “Fair and Balanced”?
The Paris Business Review says that the Boycott of the NTY is going great!
When you start to sound like a liberal version of Bill O’Reilly it’s time to rethink your opinions.
How can anyone call William Kristol a “respected conservative”? The man is a half-witted media clown. He offers the same type of divorced-from-reality partisan narrative as Ann Coulter. The only way he differs from her is in the way he packages it.
There *are* “serious conservatives” out there whose opinions I’d be interested to read. People who acknowledge reality, are well informed, but have arrived at different conclusions from my own. That’s great– I’d love to read that sort of opinion. But William Kristol is nothing close to that.
What’s NTY, New Trannies for You?
a guy who is a serious, respected conservative intellectual
Circular reasoning: the media want him, so he must be respectable, so the media want him.
Tom (not Tom) @ 1:
Needed repeating.
Mr. Kristol is “serious” like a terminal disease. Mr. Kristol is “respected” by corporatists, liars, fascists and war-mongering whores the planet over…
They can print his nonsense, I won’t read it. I just hope they have a footnote indicating he is insane and an enabler of crimes against humanity.
I know this is off topic, but too important not to bring forward now. Just waiting for the excuse from the MSM that he had a heart attack.
www.worldreports.org
HENRY PAULSON HAS DIED AFTER BEING SHOT IN THE CHEST
TOP AIDE TO VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY SHOT DEAD AT CLOSE RANGE
Wednesday 2 January 2008 02:18
UPDATE, 5.00PM 2ND JANUARY 2007:
Site Monitor: Please do not post in all bold. I just did a quick check and there is no confirmation of this story anywhere except this unsubstantiated report. We do not want our threads hijacked by false news.
Sorry, this is off topic ..
I just heard Hartmann insult Kucinich on air by accusing him of ‘ranting’ about financing. Kucinich called him on it.
While I generally agree with his politics, I am beginning to see Hartmann as a bit of an ego monster and cant really broadly support him.
Last I checked there are ALOT of old school conservatives (Reagan and Goldwater types) that think Kristol is a dick head.
They may not have put it as “dick head” but that term seems to be implied more often than “serious” and “respected”
I dare NYT to get an endorsement from George Will, Pat Buchanan, or John Dean on hiring Kristol
I dare’s ‘em
Mr. Rosenthal, if by respect you mean I would piss on Wilhelm’s Kristol’s grave after eating a heaping plate of asparagus, then yeah, I respect him.
Kristol is “respected” by WHOM? Who can “respect” PNAC?? The NYT has lost its mind to say nothing of its liberal credentials. Oy veh.
How comforting that that “liberal bastion” of reporting, The New York Times, wants to infuriate liberal bloggers and appease the most reckless and stupid members of the political establishment. Seriously, when was the last time Kristol was right on anything? Guess the NYT felt obtuse and imperialist hawks were already underrepresented in its pages? Do they read their own paper? Or have they just donned the Mustache of Understanding?
I gotta say, I am so sick of this standard MSM response about “intolerance” or “if both sides are angry, we’re probably doing our job.” Right-wingers are always trying to game the ref, regardless of cause. For the most part, liberal bloggers want truth and accuracy. John Dickerson’s been sharp enough to note the difference. One can be partisan and put accuracy first, while one can also be a partisan hack like Kristol and not. It’s a pre-emptive dismissal of legitimate criticism. It’s such BS, as if disliking Bush, Kristol and the rest of the gang was solely irrational, with no basis.
April fools must have stated early in 2008. For NYT to claim that Vampire Kristol is serious, intelligent and respected is like giving Bush the nobel peace prize.
Stop buying the New York Times, and they won’t be able to pay the moron. Newspaper sales are already in the dumps, most of their $$ comes from advertising but only if they have readers.
I’m so sick of the librul NYT!
Apple @ 21:
Didn’t NewsCorpse already buy the NYT?
Of course he should be called