NYT Loves Bureaucracy
The Weekly Standard has a few Times-related items in its front-of-the-book feature "The Scrapbook," including an amusing peek at the liberal myopia on display on the paper's new editorial page blog"The Board."
"Everyone who's been sadly putting down the New York Times editorial page thinking, 'That was great, but one page just isn't enough for me,' must be in clover now....Written by the 19 members of the paper's editorial board, who produce the short, unsigned opinion pieces that grace the paper's editorial page, the blog cleverly offers even more short, unsigned pieces of opinion writing. In its first week, the topics on The Board ranged from calling on voters to lobby their representatives to override the president's S-chip veto; to obsessing about torture; to making fun of Condoleezza Rice; to urging reporters to follow 'the Karl Rove Connection' to the firing of several U.S. attorneys this past summer; to insisting that Rudy 'Giuliani has no right to take sole credit for New York's revival.' Oh, they brought up Larry Craig, too."
Indeed, a Wednesday post sported the headline "Worth Reading: Government Is Good" (almost as enticing as "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative," an oldNYT headline chosen by The New Republic as the most boring headline ever) over a snort-worthy post celebrating the joys of bureaucracy.
"We recently came across a website, governmentisgood.com, that is worth checking out.
"The site, which is operated by Mount Holyoke College professor of politics Douglas J. Amy, is, as it says itself, 'an unapologetic defense of a vital institution.'
"Governmentisgood.com aims to counteract years of conservative arguments that government is inherently wasteful, corrupt, and generally useless.
"The site features not just the expected arguments, like how government protects the rights of the disadvantaged, but discussions of why capitalism requires government, and a spirited defense of bureaucracy."
Maybe the editorsjust enjoy standing in line.
