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A Foggy Kristol Ball

By Susan J. Douglas

The Op-Ed pages of the New York Times, still the most influential and prestigious newspaper in the country, do not feature a regular column by a feminist, a Latino, an African-American woman, an Asian American, a young person, a Muslim, a lesbian or gay man. Or anyone from the working or laboring classes, for that matter. Nonetheless, Publisher Arthur Ochs… return to article

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    The Kristol columns have been astoundingly vapid. He’s either pulling his punches or he really is that bad a writer. This week he declared Obama the Democratic winner. Given his track record on everything else he has ever said, I’d start printing “Re-elect Hillary in ‘12” bumperstickers now.

    United States Posted by momodo on Feb 12, 2008 at 9:14 AM

    The New York Times, a publication as reflective of our intelligentsia’s elitism as it is accommodating to capitalism’s deepest pockets, may well be and most probably is now enormously sensitive to The Wall Street Journal’s position as a Murdock clarion call. Those of us from the laboring class who cut our teeth on our parents’ blue-collar rally to the intelligence, humanism and courage of Adlai E. Stevenson were profoundly impressed with The Times colossal efforts at revealing the depravities of the Cold War’s arms-merchant playground in Vietnam and Kissinger’s insidious liaison with domestic policies run by thugs and fascists. Even we fervent advocates of The New Left sometimes had to credit The Times with bringing to light things that proved seismic in the shift from Eisenhower’s noblisse oblige to Jack’s, Bobby’s and Martin’s stirring arousal of conscience as an American anthem. My late father taught me early in life to keep an eye on the publications of those with whom I disagree, because “ya gotta keep an eye on them sons-a-bitches.” Like you, Ms. Douglas, I don’t know what I’d do without ITT, The Progressive, The Nation, The Atlantic, Harper’s, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone and other publications that appeal to my sense of things and yearning for comfort in a culture that no longer provides respectful appreciation of leftist perspectives. An avid reader of The Times, The Post, and The Globe, I find myself as amused by the selection of Kristol as I am on my local newspaper’s (The New London Day) overly generous and, therefore, suspect allotment of op-ed space to Cal Thomas. Those of us who, like you, if I may be so presumptuous, are comfortable in their skin and unabashed about their leftist leanings, are not at all outraged by Mr. Kristol’s inclusion in that Pantheon of elitism that this op-ed Hilton beds. We are hopeful, however, that the NYT’s leadership may be setting Mr. Krisol up as its antidote to the venom that the neo-con rattler’s fangs will inject into the body politic in the year ahead. Let’s hope that with Krisol in the op-ed suite, NYT editors have him as foil against Swift Boat thrusts. Mayhaps a Radical Chic revival is waiting in the wings.  Like Nicholas Von Hoffman, Kristol is a man to be reckoned with.  Unlike Von Hoffman, however, it’s not because of his intelligence. Bring it on, Mr. Kristol. We welcome something to laugh at in these most direly trying times of anger without rage. Keep an eye on him, Ms. Douglas. His value lies in his service as Sycophant Weathervane: pointing right, rarely right, unable to write, gilded sound bites for our delight.

    United States Posted by Bud Wizer on Feb 13, 2008 at 2:41 PM

    Billy Kristol:  Hees So Funny, I seen all of his movies!  But really, this article told it like it is.  I really don’t take the TIMES seriously anymore.  What sucks is that Billy has is own rag that he prints and his mug is all over the corporate media.  Why did the TIMES give him another outlet? Bastards!

    United States Posted by jazzfan on Feb 13, 2008 at 6:19 PM
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