Liberals who try to write thoughtful articles about trends in conservatism often return to a familiar theme: If only today’s conservatives were as genteel and principled as the conservatives of yore. The NYT takes this tack this morning with a piece headlined “At National Review, a Threat to Its Reputation for Erudition.” The web is apparently coarsening us: We are “tainted … by the tone of blogs, reader comments, and e-mail messages.” Whatever. (Technically, we don’t even have reader comments on NRO, though many of us do post emails we’ve received on these here internets.)

The most amusing line is about the departure of Chris Buckley, who is identified as a columnist for “Tina Brown’s blog, The Daily Beast.” You know, that storied redoubt of erudition.