Hey, remember when Howard Kurtz praised The Washington Times, saying it “has always been a legitimate newspaper” and made “an effort to be fair” to both parties during the 2008 presidential election? Or the time he said the paper “is far more balanced since John Solomon took over last year”?

Well, since Kurtz's former Washington Post colleague John Solomon resigned as the Times' executive editor, editorial page editor Rich Miniter was fired and is suing the paper, and 40 percent staff layoffs were announced, Kurtz has had a bit of a change of heart. In his article today on the paper's cutbacks, the Times is “a conservative alternative to much of the mainstream media” that attracted “marquee conservative names” to its banner and features “conservative editorial pages,” “its recently launched Web site, TheConservatives.com” and a “conservative radio program.”

Kurtz still makes time to praise Solomon for having “focused heavily on fairness, banning such practices as putting 'gay marriage' in quotes.” He does not, however, attempt to reconcile Solomon's purported focus on fairness with Solomon's launch of the aforementioned conservative web site and radio program. Nor does he address the Times editorial board's anti-gay war against Department of Education official Kevin Jennings, or its use of scare quotes in identifying “Jeff Davis, Mr. Jennings 'partner' of 15 years.” I'm sure he'll get to the bottom of those right after he's done with "Tiger watch."