... and the far left, predictably, are losing it. Publius Pundit has the details on the official NYT announcement of the Weekly Standard editor's hiring, as well as links to the foaming at the mouth frenzy on display this weekend by The Usual Suspects, who are wondering if the NYT will "balance" Kristol with another liberal columnist.

Yeah, because we all know that the NYT columnist page is tilted far too much to the conservative side. Of course to the left, just one right-leaning writer out of seven or eight means a page must be "out of balance" - to the right (case in point).

The NYT editorial page editor, Andy Rosenthal, played the far left's "fears" like a fiddle in his defense of the NYT's decision:

Rosenthal told Politico shortly after the official announcement Saturday that he fails to understand "this weird fear of opposing views."

"The idea that The New York Times is giving voice to a guy who is a serious, respected conservative intellectual -- and somehow that's a bad thing," Rosenthal added. "How intolerant is that?"

Gosh, he's just now figuring out the left's touting the virtue of their "tolerance" is all a big farce?

Captain Ed quips:

I have to admit that I find the controversy refreshing. It's good to see the progressives admit that a half of Bill Kristol outweighs the five liberal commentators at the Gray Lady. It also shows, as Rosenthal notes, the rhetorical intolerance that many progressives display on a fairly regular basis. When they cancel subscriptions to the one national newspaper most amenable to their politics simply because it allows one competing opinion to appear, that says something about their insecurity.

Yep. However, what with all the little "threats" to cancel subscriptions coming from the leftosphere, and knowing how desperate the NYT is to keep and increase their readership, I'm taking bets on how long it takes for them to decide it's in the "best interests" of their readership to "offset" Kristol by adding yet another lefty columnist to their stable.

Cross-posted from the SisterToldjah blog.