A Times Editorial Page shift?

This is more of a sense than anything else, but I sense a shift in the New York Times Opinion section. It seems less liberal. Knee-jerk centrist sometimes?

Andrew Rosenthal became the section's editor last year, and I'm wondering if that is the cause for this apparent shift (at least to me). Rosenthal obviously made his impact when he signed up William Kristol as one of the op-ed columnists. Kristol is one of the most conservative pundits out there, but also I think not one of the smartest. Fair enough to try to balance an opinion page with alternative views, but the Times could have done much better than Kristol. I can't think of better ones off the top of my head, but there has to be some conservative thinkers out there better than Kristol.

Earlier last week, we had an op-ed from John Bolten and John Yoo. Say what you want about Bolten, but how does a discredited lawyer like Yoo get space in a national newspaper? Yoo is the guy who authored the Justice Department torture memos.

And from time to time, we get op-eds from a group of Iraq promoters, Richard Perle being one of them, as sort of an update on where things are at in Iraq. These people were entirely wrong about the war and what it would do for Iraq, us, and the world. Yet they are still recognized in a national forum for their opinions.

I also wonder if the editorial shift has affected which and when letters get published. The letters on Israel and Gaza seemed to be overly even while the online comments for the editorial and Friedman's column on the subject were more weighted against Israel. My letter obviously wasn't published. Haven't had one published in awhile.