In The Blogs

Ross Douthat

| Wed Mar. 11, 2009 1:46 PM PDT

Marc Ambinder reports that the New York Times has hired his Atlantic colleague Ross Douthat as an op-ed columnist. This is basically to take Bill Kristol's place as their #2 conservative columnist (alongside David Brooks) and it seems like a pretty good choice to me for a couple of reasons. First, Ross has a fluid, intelligent writing style that's well suited to the 800-word op-ed format. Second, he fits the post-Bush zeitgeist: he is, at core, a conservative Barack Obama.

What I mean is this: like Obama, he's always careful to acknowledge the arguments of his adversaries and to take them seriously. Like Obama, he does this overtly and deliberately. And like Obama, this is mostly for rhetorical effect: both of them use this technique to mask the fact that they rarely change their minds. They might listen respectfully, but after they're done they go on doing whatever they intended to do in the first place.

This isn't a criticism (I don't change my mind very often either, after all). In fact, it makes him a more than normally worthy dissenter to the Age of Obama. His column should make for interesting reading.

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Kevin Drum is a political blogger for Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here.

Comments

I liked Ross when he was

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 2:18 PM PDT.

I liked Ross when he was writing his book and getting excited about remaking the GOP into a genuinely populist, non-insane movement that wasn't afraid of government and didn't pander to the dark side. In the last six months or so, though, he's been making post after post about Christian apologetics, the immorality of secularism, abortion-as-eugenics, and a fair amount of other creepy things. He's turned a bit too backwards-looking for my tastes, and seems to want to become a hybrid C.S. Lewis-William F. Buckley kind of figure. Also, the captcha wants me to put in an umlaut. What the hell.

Am I the only one who finds

Submitted by bjk (not verified) on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 2:56 PM PDT.

Am I the only one who finds him very missable and dull and tedious? I don't really care for a careful and considered opinion on social issues because I don't care about abortion or porn or whatever.

You wrtie: "this is mostly

Submitted by BryanCKennedy (not verified) on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 3:14 PM PDT.

You wrtie: "this is mostly for rhetorical effect: both of them use this technique to mask the fact that they rarely change their minds" I feel that this masks an essential point - are these recitations reflective of these arguments having been seriously considered in a prior analysis and therefore of course not leading at the point in time of speaking to a change in policy OR were these arguments recited never seriously considered at all OR lastly simply strawmen.

UGH!

Submitted by Danno (not verified) on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 3:14 PM PDT.

Kevin, you must not be very familiar with R Douthat's writing. I'd like to suggest that all of you read Roy Edroso's blog column in the Village Voice if you want to get the REAL lowdown on the hacktacular Mr. Douthat. http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2009/03/ross_douthat...

It's pronounced DoucheHat.

Submitted by CrazyRidesRockets (not verified) on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 3:19 PM PDT.

It's pronounced DoucheHat.

I agree....

Submitted by Kevin Drum on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 3:30 PM PDT.

that Ross spends too much times these days going on and on and on about abortion and eugenics and fine points of Christian theology. It's his blog, of course, but obviously that stuff isn't my cup of tea. However, I assume he'll be doing less of that at the Times. There's nothing wrong with the Times having a social conservative on board, but I assume Ross is smart enough to understand his new audience and provide them with a broader range of topics to chew on.

Kevin, Kevin, Kevin...

Submitted by danno (not verified) on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 3:38 PM PDT.

There you go again, giving a conservative the benefit of the doubt. Charlie Brown--meet Lucy and the football. Didn't your mother ever teach you that when you ASS U ME...

But what reason is there to

Submitted by bjk (not verified) on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 3:39 PM PDT.

But what reason is there to believe he has something interesting to say on non-social issues? I don't remember him every saying anything very interesting on foreign policy or immigration or the economic crisis . . . I just figured out why I never visit his blog. No pictures.

Ah ah, now. He can be

Submitted by MNPundit (not verified) on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 4:25 PM PDT.

Ah ah, now. He can be insane. Remember "liberal eugenics." Also when that teen and her friends killed her family a while back Ross (I am fairly sure it was Ross) was most horrified because she was probably in a bisexual relationship as a teenager. He's a better think than Kristol sure, be he still has a twisted psyche.

MNPUndit, you spread the

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 5:45 PM PDT.

MNPUndit, you spread the same rumor over at Benen's blog, and you are wrong. That was Rod Dreher, not Ross. Get your facts right before smearing someone. I'm not a fan of Ross, but making up stuff about him is crude and demonstrates a twisted psyche all its own.

Eh...

Submitted by Simplicio on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 6:25 PM PDT.

I'm always frustrated at how much of the political conversation in this country consists of Brooks like intellectually dishonest and mindless spewing of talking points. But on the other hand, Ross Douthat almost goes to far in the other direction, at least on his blog. Its a pretty endless stream of "on the one hand, on the other hand" naval gazing. It's pretty boring, honestly. Haven't read any of his articles though, so maybe he's better in hat format.

Yeah, he's basically a

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 9:33 PM PDT.

Yeah, he's basically a creep.

The mask of civility

Submitted by DanJoaquinOz on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 10:14 PM PDT.

So, by virtue of being an only moderately rabid rightwing ideologue, Douthat's appointment to the Time's op-ed page is being cautiously welcomed by many progressive bloggers. This seems roughly akin to a serial abuse victim praising her new partner because "he doesn't punch me as often". If a veneer of civility, a decrease in howling factual errors and the ability to make repulsive ideas remotely more plausible, count as improvements, then the replacement of Kristol with Douthat is indeed good news. By the more exacting metric of 'intellectual honesty', however, Douthat is, arguably, even worse. His despicable equivocation of the pro-choice platform with "eugenics" is merely emblematic of that dishonesty.

Yeah, NYTimes really needs a

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed Mar. 11, 2009 11:38 PM PDT.

Yeah, NYTimes really needs a Jonah Lucianne without a sign on his face that says 'I am stupid'.

response to douthat

Submitted by alex (not verified) on Thu Mar. 12, 2009 12:09 AM PDT.

i consider myself pretty liberal, and am admittedly surprised that the new york times could not come up with someone with a little more intellectual heft. nevertheless, i feel nothing but shame at the comment thread over here and at kevin drum's old home at washingtonmonthly. i haven't read the infamous eugenics "screed" cited by steve benen, but i did read all the links at the village voice hit job and found their descriptions deceptive at best. so the guy made some semi-controversial but not completely uninformed, or illogical, conjectures that were - yes - influenced by his conservative viewpoint. so? the kind of vitrol on these blogs makes me feel like i'm in the comments section of littlegreenfootballs or michellemalkin. its embarrassing. if people want to spew venom toward the new york times op-ed page it'd be much more productively directed at do-i-have-a-war-for-you friedman and i-think-my-readers-are-very-stupid brooks.

The Voice write-up

Submitted by Dan (not verified) on Thu Mar. 12, 2009 8:35 AM PDT.

I tried to read some of the original material but, as it says in the Voice, The American Spectator's been scrubbed.

Yeah, right

Submitted by Steve LaBonne (not verified) on Thu Mar. 12, 2009 5:28 AM PDT.

You really think the tedious writing of this ignorant dork would earn him a column in the NYT were it not for their ridiculous Wingut Affirmative Action Program? Please.

Damn. I was hoping for

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu Mar. 12, 2009 7:46 AM PDT.

Damn. I was hoping for Chuck Norris. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=91103

alex

Submitted by Danno (not verified) on Thu Mar. 12, 2009 8:58 AM PDT.

Please show me the comments that are posted in this forum that even approach the slime that apprears regularly in the comments on littlegreenfootballs or michellemalkin. The tone of the VV piece might be highly sarcastic, that's Edroso's style. But to claim the descriptions of Douthat's writing as "deceptive at best" shows you are "naive at best" or, at worst, having serious reading comprehension issues. And please, don't clutch your pearls too hard in shame. Wouldn't want you to break the strand.

I fail to see how this is

Submitted by jewelry stores (not verified) on Sat Aug. 15, 2009 1:39 AM PDT.

I fail to see how this is any different that BusinessCard2, which has been around for years and is executed much better. Only card.ly is charging money for it.