Posted on 09/18/2003 12:14:16 PM PDT by Tolik
Right Wing News emailed more than 125 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to send us a list of who they considered to be their "favorite editorial columnists". Representatives from the following 37 blogs responded...
4ranters, Abode Of Amritas, Amish Tech Support, Balloon Juice, Betsy's Page, The Blog Of The Century Of The Week, Sasha Castel, Colby Cosh, Common Sense & Wonder, D-42, Curmudgeonly & Skeptical, DANEgerus Weblog, dcthornton.blog, Ed Driscoll, Kim Du Toit, Fraters Libertas, Ghost of a Flea, The Greatest Jeneration, Gut Rumbles, Hud's Blog-O-Rama, Insults Unpunished, Jessica's Well, Lead And Gold, Joyful Christian, Patio Pundit, Peaktalk, Daily Pundit, Damian Penny, Poliblog, Powerline, Right Wing News, Sine Qua Non, Tacitus, The Ville, Whacking Day, The Yale Diva, Zogby Blog
All bloggers were allowed to make anywhere from 1-15 ranked selections. The selections were scored based on a weighted scale. A rank of 1-5 was worth (3) points, 6-10 was worth (2) points, & 11-15 was worth (1) point.
So for example, a 1st (3) & 13th (1) place selection would be worth 4 points wheras having three bloggers rank a columnist at 11th (1), 12th (1), and 15th (1) place would be worth 3 points total. Got it? Good.
Also, as an added bonus, I included the number of first place selections each columnist had. The columnists who were picked first on someone's list have the number of #1 votes they received following a "--". Note that some of the columnists who received a #1 vote did not get enough other votes to qualify.
Without further adieu, the "favorite editorial columnists" of the right side of the blogosphere are as follows (with the number of points following each selection) are as follows...
| Total Points | Number of # 1 votes | ||
| 1 | Mark Steyn | 82 | 15 |
| 2 | Charles Krauthammer | 48 | 1 |
| 3 | Thomas Sowell | 44 | 3 |
| 4 | Jonah Goldberg | 43 | 1 |
| 5 | George Will | 34 | 3 |
| 6 | Michelle Malkin | 32 | 0 |
| 7 | Walter Williams | 31 | 1 |
| 8 | Victor Davis Hanson | 27 | 2 |
| 9 | Christopher Hitchens | 25 | 0 |
| 10 | Ann Coulter | 24 | 2 |
| 11 | James Lileks | 23 | 0 |
| 12 | David Horowitz | 21 | 1 |
| 13 | David Warren | 17 | 0 |
| 13 | Larry Elder | 17 | 0 |
| 15 | Andrew Sullivan | 14 | 0 |
| 16 | Larry Miller | 11 | 0 |
| 17 | John Leo | 10 | 0 |
| 17 | William F. Buckley | 10 | 0 |
| 19 | John Podhoretz | 9 | 0 |
| 19 | Bob Novak | 9 | 1 |
I need to think a bit on mine, and will try to summarize the posted votes later.
BTW, Ann Coulter's book "Treason" was terrific. I learned things that I never knew and would still not know thhe truth, but for her book. "Treason" ought to be a required reading book in high schools and colleges.
Three insightful writers with unique styles. But I wouldn't rank them on the same scale any more than I would rank the best Thai restaurant against the best Indian restaurant against the best home cookin.
Deb Weiss, formerly known as Freeper "Debo21," stopped writing her twice-weekly column, A View From Here, in April 2002. I'm sure she has her reasons, but it is such a shame she's not around. Deb was the anti-Dowd -- articulating with uncommon wit and charm the reasons why she disagreed so vehemently with the pompous leftists parading through the morning news, Op-ed pages, and the Sunday shows.
I said often that it is a shame that Dowd won a Pulitzer when Weiss writes rings around her. And the most amazing thing is that to my knowledge, Weiss never received a cent in compensation for her excellence. If you don't believe was the nation's best columnist, you would have to agree that she was the best columnist that worked for nothing.
Although it's not current, an archive of her works is still on the Drudge Report, although there is no link. I don't know if Deb is as stunning as Ann Coulter or Michelle Malkin, but read her stuff and see if you don't fall in love with her.
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