THANKS FOR THE BALANCE, GUYS - AT 6:58 A.M. ET:  In a singularly unimpressive debut at The New York Times, "conservative" columnist Ross Douthat argues that Dick Cheney, whom he clearly despises, should have been the GOP candidate for president last year.  The logic here is that Cheney would have lost in a landslide, and the political right would have realized what changes had to be made to make the Republican Party viable again. 

So begins the new career of a "conservative" columnist.  The fact is, The Times fired Bill Kristol, who played that role, and brought in another soft-core conservative, Douthat, to write alongside even softer-core conservative David Brooks, an eminently decent writer, but hardly a torch carrier for rightist ideas. 

What The Times really needs is another William Safire.  But they will not hire anyone in that league.  They really don't want him.  Too effective.

April 28, 2009