Posted on 12/06/2012 11:05:24 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Who Are the Best Conservative Columnists?
Posted By Dave Swindle On December 5, 2012 @ 11:00 am In Conservatism,Ideology,Writing | 92 Comments
This week my friend John Hawkins released his annual ranking of the 50 best conservative columnists. A very generous guy, John included me on the list. And ahead of George Will too!
I wonder, though: what does it mean to be a columnist today?
I’m a traditionalist on the definition. Merriam-Webster claims that it’s “one who writes a newspaper or magazine column.”
Well, what qualifies as a column? The defining characteristics, which I invite others to dispute or refine in the comments: A) a regular appearance usually either weekly or bi-weekly, B) a standard word count in the range of 600-1500 words, and C) usually with a focus on opinion, analysis, or entertainment — not “objective,” fly-on-the-wall journalism.
But that’s the Old School understanding I learned in journalism classes in the pre-blogosphere days. Now in the New Media era a “column” counts as any piece of writing and “columnist” doubles for “writer.” And that’s fine — language evolves and we only gain so much from playing the semantics game. Here at PJ Media we call our all-star team of writers “Columnists” even though the content they produce ranges across the spectrum from blog posts to journalistic articles to traditional op/ed columns to extended essays on to Ed Driscoll’s podcasts and Zombie’s unforgettable photos.
But the truth is that the name does still fit for most of the PJ Columnists, and pressed to answer John’s challenge to provide “YOUR LIST of the best conservative columnists” I’d have to actually create two, the first of those I edit now and the second of those I wouldn’t mind editing someday. The 10 PJ columnists who predominantly write on a regular basis in the “newspaper column” style, of a 600-1500+ word, opinionated, elegantly stylized analysis (in no ranked order):
Roger L. Simon, Barry Rubin, Andrew Klavan, Roger Kimball, Michael Walsh, Andrew C. McCarthy, Claudia Rosett, David P. Goldman, Victor Davis Hanson, and Michael Ledeen
The other PJ Columnists I’d classify as top-tier bloggers (Stephen Green, Ed Driscoll, Helen Smith and Blog Father Glenn Reynolds) and deep essayists (Ron Radosh and Ion Mihai Pacepa.) J. Christian Adams’s Rule of Law, Richard Fernandez’s Belmont Club, and the mysterious Zombie transcend categorization in their own unique ways — the three of them have each taken the tools of New Media to innovate their own new mediums.
So about that second list… I decided to take John’s list and A) edit it down to my top 10 choices, B) re-order counting down to the best, C) throw on 5 more conservative columnists I adore who John neglected to include.
But here’s the problem: I’m fairly confident about the ranking of only the top 2. I could see legitimate reasons for why one should rank higher or lower than others.
So for my top 20 list of Best Conservative Columnists (forthcoming soon here at PJ Lifestyle) I thought I’d first hear the arguments of others about A) who should go where, B) which five additional columnists deserve inclusion, and C) if anyone I’ve already selected does not warrant placement.
Weighing who goes where requires juggling multiple factors:
So here’s version 1 of the list. (I’ve put John’s ranking in parentheses after their name if they appeared on his list.)
15. Seth Mandel (not included)
14. Jonathan V. Last (not included)
13. Sean Trende (16)
12. Frank Gaffney (not included)
11. Ben Shapiro (20)
10. Walter Williams (6)
9. Jonah Goldberg (5)
8. Michael Barone (14)
7. Charles Krauthammer (17)
6. Daniel Pipes (not included)
5. Dennis Prager (13)
4. Mark Steyn (1)
3. Stanley Kurtz (not included)
As stated, I’m not planning on budging on my last two choices — and will make my arguments in the completed list. But if anyone would like to make the case against Thomas Sowell and Ann Coulter as the Conservative Movement’s two top writing MVPs, then by all means…
Mark Steyn and Howie Carr
Thanks, thackney. And as long as this is mentioned, let me share with you all, something: I have been going through a core-level depression, what with the events that have unfolded in the last 4 years, November 6th especially. To see my country placed on life support for it's eventual demise has been exceedingly difficult for me.
It has made it impossible to write anything besides funeral durges, and I think we've all had enough of those.
So, I have not been writing, until I feel a little more hope -- IF I feel a little more hope -- about the future.
I enjoy reading Sowell’s work. Anyone can explain complex concepts, but to explain them in simple terms is a gift that few have.
Malkin is by far my favorite. She is very intelligent, can think on her feet, and has something none of the other columnists have....she is HOT!!!
We might burn, but will rise from our own ashes.
Write that, it IS the future.
I would also add two columnists at the WSJ - Kim Strassel and Mary Anastasia O'Grady - somewhere on the list.
rejoice in the bs that this world is offering to those who have no hope, knowing that God has better things for those who seek Him...
John 16:33
David Limbaugh belongs in there as well, IMO.
RE: John 16:33
How about the talk show and TV host who keeps saying: “Let not your hearts be troubled”?
Thank you, thackney.
John 16:33
New International Version (NIV)
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
Interesting angle. And I have another.
That is John 14:1 and 14:27.
The later is my preference.
Mark Steyn is absolutely the best. Noone else is even close. Sorry Laz. :-) You’re good too, but Mark is in a league all his own.
I am with you Laz... there is nothing positive to look forward to. It is as if satan owns everyone in DC.
LLS
You are not alone.
I, too, have been depressed - - and angry.
I have written off a lot of people because of their willing blindness to what’s going on. They voluntarily voted for their childrens’ chains and I can’t fathom it.
Hope about the future eludes me. My hopes/dreams/plans for the future are now dust. Maybe, in the long run, that’s a good thing from a spiritual perspective. It’s hard to see that from here, tho. I just have to go through the grieving process. I grieve for our country and for what it once was.
Perhaps you should start a funeral dirge column. That could be cathartic.
Laz: I know how you feel. I feel the same way. I’ve been in the same funk since Nov. 6, my posts reflect this and more than once I’ve been called out for it. My depression is rooted in a profound love of history, and the lessons it teaches us about the immutable nature of human beings. History does not repeat per se, but it provdes the perspective that people always act the same. And history tells me that we are a nation in decline. We are too burdened with debt, no longer comptitively productive, and generally lacking any sense of personal sacrifice or even minimal comptence.
Indeed. And there’s a man who the Black population ought to be venerating.
Born dirt poor grew up in Harlem and pulled himself up and out to become one of the best journalists alive bar none.
Number one should be last, with Sowell numbr one ... The Laz ahead of Barone.
Where is Daniel Greenfield / Sultan Knish?
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