I visit Drudge all the time and have no problems.
You need to run Ad-Aware SE Personal 1.05 (free), Spybot Search and Destroy, and the related Spyware Blaster. Also occasionally run CWShredder. And I swear by Ad Muncher, which blocks popups and banners. Most of the spyware either comes from visiting porn or music download sites or from advertising links that have been hacked. Ad Muncher blocks a lot of that and saves time loading sites too. It costs a bit but is well worth it. Very clean, well-designed, and small footprint.
I once went to Drudge and immediately found myself in a pop-up cycle where if I 'X'ed out of one ad, the other popped back up, over and over. I couldn't get rid of it until I restarted my computer.