Fresh Meat

There is hope yet for the youngin's! The NY Times hired a 29-year-old conservative columnist to dazzle the Op-Ed page with his wit and right wing insight. Too bad its another conservative dude, but he sounds like a fresh mind with a bit of the flexibility and willingness to compromise that was missing from his predecessor, William Kristol.

The New York Times has hired Ross G. Douthat, a 29-year-old conservative writer and editor at The Atlantic, as an Op-Ed columnist, nearly two months after ending the year-long run of another conservative columnist, William Kristol, officials at the paper said Wednesday.

Asked when The Times last had such a young columnist, Andrew Rosenthal, the editorial page editor, said, “I don’t think ever.”

Mr. Douthat (pronounced DOW-thut) has written a popular blog for The Atlantic and articles in the magazine, as well as being a senior editor there, and he has had articles published in other publications. He is also the author of the books “Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class” (Hyperion, 2005) and, with Reihan Salam, “Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream” (Doubleday, 2008).

His writing steers away from partisanship — he frequently criticizes Republicans — or doctrine, showing a concern for income inequality that is usually the terrain of more liberal writers. On abortion, he said in an interview, “I’m sort of a squishy pro-lifer,” interested in finding areas of compromise. He initially favored the war in Iraq, but later opposed it.

Mr. Douthat will begin writing columns online in mid-April, but his job will soon include columns in the paper and a blog, he and Mr. Rosenthal said.