Some events come as a shock to the system, even as they don’t especially surprise. Bill Kristol’s unceremonious sacking — “This is William Kristol’s last column.” — was such an event. Sure, Memeorandum filled up with commentary in the 24 hours after said last column was published, but this came as no surprise. Even Kristol himself had telegraphed indifference about whether his one-year contract would be renewed.
And so begins another search for another voice somewhere to the right of at least David Brooks.* That is, assuming the Times even chooses to do so: the Times had no self-identified conservative columnist for a number of years before hiring Brooks and it’s not necessarily a given that another will be hired on. Libertarian John Tierney himself spent a few months on the op-ed page before deciding he’d rather write about science anyway. If we’re judging by Kristol’s tour, the Times needs to scratch a bit deeper and find a voice from someone not standing in line for the Acela Express.