If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em

Bill Kristol is getting some real estate on the op-ed pages of the Grey Lady.

I actually think it's a smart decision on the Times -- it inoculates them from criticism on the right that they are a leftist propaganda tool, brings neoconservative readers to the paper and gives their traditional left-leaning audience something to get pissed off over without them having to go to a traditionally conservative medium.

But for Kristol this seems just ridiculous. What is he going to do on the Times pay-roll, serve as the neocon ombudsman? A far more effective place to do that is from his perch as the editor of the Weekly Standard. He's said so many absurd things about the Times in the past that this just looks like he's taking advantage of the Times' prestige and/or money. Frankly, I just don't see how he gains anything from his new digs.