Brent Nyitray
Fairlington Blade
Let the mutherfuker burn!
jnc4p
Kevin S. Willis
Michigoose
lmsinca
markinaustin
Arcanaut
novahockey
quarterback
ScottC
yellojktI always enjoy reading “Top 10” type lists even when they piss me off with their choices. This list of top political pundits is no different. I like that it includes Allahpundit and Jim Pethokoukis, but am stupefied by the inclusion of Andrew “Sarah Palin’s uterus is hiding something” Sullivan or Glenn “I’ve never written anything not at least 20 thousand words long including my grocery list” Greenwald. Morning Joe’s also a strange choice.
I also admit to a bit of Schadenboner over Greg Sargent not being included. I guess “AquaBudda” just wasn’t the scoop we thought it would be.
Who got left out or shouldn’t have been included in your opinion?
–Troll
Filed under: Uncategorized |
All Things in Moderation 
Oh my, if I listened to all those people I'd never get anything done.After reading the list, I can only surmise there are a lot of paths to becoming a pundit. I sincerely hope I never mistakenly end up on one.
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Bill O? What, is everyone still ticked at Juan Williams? How about Dana Perino? Larry Sabato?Morning Joe is very watchable – I rarely watch it but my very non-political wife does every now and then. I think if Maher and Stewart make the list, then Dennis Miller should have a place (although I would probably drop all 3 really).
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I like the issues that Greenwald covers but would agree that he could tighten up his writing. PL crashes more than it loads anymore.
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I agree that Maher should not be on the list. I'd add Glenn Reynolds.
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Sabato. Volokh. Johnson & Kwak. The baseball statistician guy at the NYT, "538".Volokh can go right to the top of the list as far as I am concerned.He is a (somewhat conservative) legal commentator who is accurate, scholarly, and a "goto" guy in our profession.I will read Johnson & Kwak where I avoid Krugman. They are not polemicists. I do not know which ones to remove. I cannot imagine either Sarah Palin or Bill Maher as insightful, but do not have the first hand experience to support my imagination.
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Ann Coulter is on the list. She's sort of like the anti-Maher. But I've read/listened to about 20% of those people, none of them regularly, anymore (in fact Ace of Spades, Ricochet Podcast and ATiM are my only regular political toe-dips, right now . . . and No Agenda, for the Real News™).Maher has said some smart things, way back when. I suspect my comparison with Ann Coulter is apt: Coulter is very smart, and has some great insights, but is so provocative (and so consistently–that's her promotional shtick) that unless you can keep passing by "liberals are evil" and "all bad things are caused be liberal" type rants, you're not going to notice. Certain folks tend to offend certain groups so much it's hard to hear any actual insights they may have for many . . . Again, I was a big Palin fan at the outset, but as pundit–which should free her up–she tends to be even more opaque, and traffic mostly in talking points or defensiveness. That I've heard; I've neither heard nor read everything any of these people have said (or written).
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McWing:I'm with you on Andrew Sullivan. I also don't get the inclusion of Jon Stewart. Afterall, he's "just" a comedian, as he will tell you any time you try to tie him down down on some of the asinine points he makes. Or, at least, the asinine points he used to make back when I bothered to watch him. Maybe he's changed.
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John Stewart: It's a funny show, and he's worth watching. As always, some of the bits intentionally miss the point, but still—he was there pointing out how Fox and CNN were mentioning polls were Ron Paul did fairly well without mentioning Ron Paul–instead skipping from the front-runner to the person in 3rd or 4th place. I was impressed. The guy who made the list said Sullivan was off his Trig Trutherism and was saying substantive things again. I'll have to check that out, sometime. Not doing it today. Stewart also did a bit once where his position contradicted what he himself had said, on his own shown, several years earlier–and he dug out that footage, and played it, and called himself out as a douche bag. He's still liberal, but he's a good guy. And, while not "fair and balanced", liberals and lefties get about 30% of the grief Stewart has to deal out, which is more balanced than most pop culture forums, when it comes to political parody. Except maybe The Onion. Stewart is one of the few I can claim to consume all the time.
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Mark,Nate Silver = 538.Scott, Stewart (and his influence) are very overrated. Surprised that Krauthammer and Limbaugh were left out.
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Kevin:Stewart can be pretty funny, but so is Stephen Colbert. I think putting Stewart on a list of must-listen-to political pundits is like putting Colbert on a list of must-see witnesses to testify in front of congress about migrant workers.Oh, wait….
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Lizzie O'Leary???? I have a Bloomberg Terminal in front of me and Bloomberg TV on all day and I cannot think of a single thing she has done or written. While I don't necessarily agree with him politically, Al Hunt is the guy at Bloomberg, especially when he is hitting on Margaret Brennan on the air.On the conservative side, I would put Amity Shlaes just because she is consistently able to get a rise out of Krugman which is worth its weight in gold.I also would add Jonah Goldberg just because I really like his writing.
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Brent: Indeed. Sarah Palin, but not Jonah Goldberg? Really? Never watch Bloomberg, so I'm in no position to comment.
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David Weigel seems to call them as he sees them. I have a long-standing crush on Maureen Dowd (I know where she lives) but she just doesn't seem as relevant any more.
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