PM Carpenter: The sorry mess of the media

April 12, 2005

Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times' mea-culpa specialist, is a strange duck. For some time now he has written less as a liberal commentator and more as a media referee, pointing out personal fouls here and there and blowing the whistle on those he believes are playing without gentlemanly poise.

For example, he recently importuned liberals – yes, liberals – to tone down their anti-administration rhetoric, which seems like asking the FDA to go easy on drug companies. We were becoming too strident, said Mr. Kristof, with Bush-bashing now resembling the Clinton-bashing of yesteryears.