What turns young Times columnists off

As many of you know, the Times has chosen Ross Douthat of The Atlantic to replace Billy the Bloody Kristol in the William Safire Chair for Mendacious Conservatives. And, not surprisingly, despite all the good will Ross has been getting (since we liboruls are easily duped by seemingly self-reflective Republicans), he's...um...a little...off.

And, of course, there is the other point: here is a Reese Witherspoon look-alike who has offered Ross Douthat the extremely precious gift of wanting to make love to him, and he writes her into his book in this way with what look to be sufficient identifying details. You can write that paragraph in a way that is calculated to try to make her feel bad about herself should she ever read it; you can write that paragraph in a way that does not try to make her feel bad about herself should she ever read it; normal human sociability and empathy suggests that one should try to do the first second; Ross Douthat chooses to do the second first.

This, by the way, is Reese (albeit, not a "chunky" one).

This, by the way, is Ross.

UPDATE: The comments to Brad's original post are hilarious.