Michael Crowley writes that conservative criticism of him “says fairly depressing things about today’s Republican party.” I’d say his article says fairly depressing things about contemporary liberal journalism. Hatch was “open minded” when he was helping to create new entitlements, but now he’s a “ruthless foot soldier” who is trying to confirm conservative judicial nominees and, worse, makes arguments about them that implicitly suggest that Ted Kennedy is not a perfect example of a Catholic. Hatch has become a “hyper partisan.” I think that’s a fairer criticism of Crowley, based on the sum of his work for the New Republic.