I think the appointment is one more confirmation that the internal critique of the Times in the aftermath of the Blair fiasco diverges from the external critique. The liberalism will at best be toned down and made less crusading. I still find the paper’s line-up of columnists scandalous. I know that the paper generally has a Catholic slot on that page, and also know that it is inconceivable that the paper would pick a writer who agreed with her church’s teaching on abortion. But in this vast land, couldn’t the Times find one mainstream conservative op-ed columnist to be a regular? (I’m not sure William Safire would even bother to characterize himself that way.)