Hey. Lists are always fun. Let me make a list of well-known pundits I really like a lot, and well-known pundits I generally despise. It's fashionable to bash pundits, but I really like some pundits, and think they serve a highly valuable function.
I'm sure you'll all have your own lists and many of you will think mine's daft, but that's okay, it's all in fun, right? Besides, you can make up your own lists, and tell me why mine is all wrong:
Pundits I LikeImportant note: The above list is mostly random, off the top of my head, and not in order of priority.Lawrence O'Donnell
Bill Kristol
Alan Colmes
Susan Estrich
Michael Barone
Tony Snow
Brit Hume
Tony Blankley
Mary Matalin
John McLaughlin
Dennis Miller
David Corn
Peggy Noonan
James Carville*
Rush Limbaugh**
Christopher Hitchens***
Pat Buchanan****Pundits I Dislike Intensely
Michael Kinsley
Eleanor Clift
Sean Hannity
Michael Savage
Arianna Huffington
Bill Maher
Anne Coulter
Daniel Schorr
James Carville*
Rush Limbaugh**
Christopher Hitchens***
Pat Buchanan****
* - When Carville is thoughtful, he's incredibly smart and insightful. When he decides to put on the partisan blinders, he's very honest about it, and I like that--but he's still putting on blinders. I put him stronger in the "like" than "dislike" column.** - Limbaugh can be fun, and very funny. But the more seriously his audience takes him, the more seriously his critics take him, and worst of all, the more seriously he takes himself, the more I just want to kick him.
*** - Hitchens is incredibly eloquent. He also has a mean streak so nasty, it's often clear he's just being mean because he can be, and when he does this, it repels me.
**** - More strongly in the "dislike" than the "like" column, he can be engaging and interesting. He is, at least, an original thinker, and such a breed is rare among pundits. The same might also, I suppose, be said about Hhitchens.
Now here's the interesting question:
Can you spot what's mostly in common about the pundits I most like? If anything?
Most of the ones you like are on Fox News Channel?
What I notice about your I Like list is the absence of characters such as Paul Begala, Lanny Davis, or Rahm Emanuel. No sycophants. With the exception of the starred 4, no one who is in the tank for one bloc or another. I do see several of those in the list below.
here's what i think are the links (yes, i think that there are 2) on the list of pundits that you like, dean.
1) they have a sense of humor.
2) they manage to lampoon BOTH sides on various occasions, and are "true to their beliefs" rather than being partison 24/7.
Ugh, John McLaughlin?
Yeah, John and Peg both nailed it.
And yeah George, John McLaughlin is a lot of fun. You just have to understand him. :-)
I dunno. I think John McLaughlin's been a parody of himself ever since his appearance on Saturday Night Live (good lord, am I really that old?). On the other hand, that was a great sketch.
"Issue number twelve! What number between 1 and 100 am I thinking of - Jack Germond!"