Well, the left does have Camille Paglia. At least I think the left has her... it's hard to tell sometimes. She's all over the map, I suppose.
But, she's certainly not a rock-solid conservative by any stretch, and yet I enjoy her work because she is a brilliant writer.
I doubt you'd hear a liberal voice admiration for William Buckley on the basis of brilliant prose. And his prose is brilliant.
Hmm. I find Buckley's writings (or at least his columns) rather disjointed with poor conclusions as if he had dictated them to someone and never given them a second thought.
His earlier work was much better, IMHO.