New York Times Has a Scoop: Conservatism Exists

The long rise of America's conservative movement has finally caught the attention of the New York Times. The worried Old Gray Lady is assigning a full-time correspondent to spend the next year on discovering what mischief the right is up to.

The move is a turnabout for the Times, which has always looked down its nose at conservatives and preferred to pretend they don't exist. After all, they don't exist in the rarefied little world of the Times' movers and shakers.

According to the New York Observer's "Off the Record" feature, David Kirkpatrick, who had been covering the book industry, will now cover conservatives as conservatives, and not as part of the GOP or the Bush administration.

Jim Roberts, the Times' national editor, says Kirkpatrick "will examine conservative forces in religion, politics, law, business and the media — a job that will take him across the country and make him a frequent presence in Washington."

"His coverage will cut across the political campaigns this season, but we expect that much of what he does will transcend the race itself and delve into the issues and personalities that drive — and sometimes divide — conservatives."

The Times' state of mind emerged with executive editor Bill Keller's comment that he "winced a little when I read that job announcement, because it was a little like 'The New York Times discovers this strange, alien species called conservatives,' and that's not what this is about."

The Wall Street Journal's editorial page editor, Paul Gigot, told the Observer: "Maybe they figured out that's where the intellectual energy in this country is coming from. Maybe they could save time and read us. Cut out the middleman."

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