Like, whatever

The NYT today made official and cluelessly defended yesterday's Huffington Post rumor that William Kristol will be joining their opinion page. From E&P:

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?”

How many people must die before a pundit is held accountable for their words? At the same time, how many people must die for politicians to be held accountable as well? Like the Democrats in Congress dealing with their "friends" on the other side of the aisle, the NYT treats this hire as business as usual. The cheerleading of torture, no problem. Warrantless wiretapping, no problem. Obstruction of justice, who cares? In the eyes of the establishment William Kristol is just an honest, serious, broker, expressing an opinion and somehow I am the intolerant one.

Mr. Rosenthal cannot understand the outrage. I cannot understand how he doesn't.

Update: It's a family affair. TBogg explains:

Like Bill Kristol (and John Podhoretz, and Jonah Goldberg and Mark Halperin) Andrew Rosenthal is a legacy hire, so let's not even pretend that we're talking about a meritocracy here. Why work hard and be smart and when your last name is the Golden Ticket to Willy Wonka's House of Media Aristocracy? So, of course Andy doesn't understand why people might take offense at his hiring a man whose name might as well be Billkristolisfuckingwrongabouteverything. Sure it's not like Kristol was being hired as a straight news reporter where facts are everything, unless you're Judith Miller, but he might have considered hiring someone with a passing acquaintance with things like the real world where there are consequences for being wrong and being stupid and the idea that you can smirk your way through the bloody consequences is not acceptable. But, no. Kristol and Rosenthal are mirror images of each other; both born on third and still wondering why the other kids never pick them first when choosing up sides.