Dave Berry?

Charles Krauthammer

Mark Steyn, hands down.

Mark Steyn

I like Fred Barnes a lot.

While I enjoy Krauthammer and Steyn, for longterm consistency and brilliant wisdom, I have to go with Thomas Sowell, an intellectual giant of his time.

His Random Thoughts pieces will stand the test of time.

If I need to laugh, James Lileks is great.

Thomas Sowell or Walter Williams.

I really like Richard Rahn of the Discovery Institute as well, but he's not syndicated.

Thomas Sowell has been the must read for quite some time. Steyn is running a distant 2nd.

Charles Krauthammer

Krauthammer

My favorite was Mike Royko, but he's dead.

I mostly read columnists who write in the Post, as that's my hometown paper. I occasionally read the Washington Times as well. My favorites:

1. Robert J. Samuelson


2. Charles Krauthammer


3. George Will


4. Nat Hentoff

Jonah Goldberg!

1. Thomas Sowell
1. Mark Steyn

3. Krauthammer

Coming on strong and surprising given she publishes in the WaPo: Anne Applebaum

Krauthammer

Michelle Malkin

Victor Davis Hanson...hands down.

Does Ralph Peters count?

It was Michael Kelly, but he's gone now.

So,

1. Thomas Sowell
2. Mark Steyn
3. Nat Hentoff
4. George Will

Peggy Noonan - though she doesn't do it much anymore.
Then Victor Davis Hansen and James Taranto.

I'll go with VDH, but only because we're picking just one name here. We're blessed with a whole double-handfull of first-rate conservative thinkers.

Ralph Peters because not only is he a brilliant columnist but he was kind and gracious enough to write me back when I wrote to him regarding imprisoned Yemeni editor Abdulkarim Al-Khaiwani.

#2 Krauthammer

I know you said 'Just One', but I can't do it.
1. Krauthammer - Cuts thru the crap
2. Sowell - He is brilliant
3. Fred Barnes - A genuine conservative

1. Thomas Sowell for his brilliant insights, no matter WHAT he writes about.

2. Mark Steyn for his ability to write scintillating eviscerations of the left (with the quality that MoDo only dreams about).

3. Victor Davis Hansen. I never miss his latest thoughts because of the absolute moral clarity he brings to any argument, along with his keen understanding of history, especially military history.

Charles Krauthammer
Mark Steyn
Michelle Malkin
Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
Larry Kudlow
Mona Charen

Dammit... I have to keep re-entering my new URL no matter how many times I tell it to remember me.

Ann Coulter slices like a hammer!

A few favorites:

Ann Coulter
Thomas Sowell
Mark Steyn
Jay Nordlinger

Steyn,
Lileks,
Goldberg,
Michael Barone is underrated.
Can we nominate Mickey?
or McIntyre and Bevan at RealClear?
(if so, I'm throwing in Goldstein, too.
....for the bunnies, oh, yes...the bunnies.)

George Will
Fareed Zakharia

Skeeter Skelton

Steyn.
Since Bernard Levin stopped writing (yes, yes, I know he was rarely published in the US but you didn't say nationally published in the US did you? you said "national or syndicated columnist") Mark is the best. Levin was incomparable, but all things pass as he did a few weeks ago. There was a decade when I bought the London "Times" three days a week, knowing that those were the three days he was in it. Couldn't stand the paper otherwise.

Another vote for Thomas Sowell... by the length of the stretch.

ann coulter makes me laugh.

Walter Williams
Thomas Sowell

Jonah Goldberg. Especially after he went ripping today.

P. J. O'Rourke, who not only is a far more brilliant analyst than one might suspect from his humorous bent, but (unlike most pundits) actually travels to the places he writes about. I consider _Eat the Rich_ to be the best single-volume work on economics-as-it-actually-works.

But if Mike Kelly (God rest his soul) were still alive, he'd be my pick, as well. ..bruce..

Among Dave Barry, Ann Coulter, James Lileks, Mark Steyn, Emmett Tyrell, and P.J. O'Rourke I don't have a consistent favorite. If pressed for an answer, today I'd say Ann Coulter.

Jonah Goldberg

Yin: Ann Coulter - I have the hots for her, but I'm afraid that she would probably be a total pain in the ass to have a relationship with.

Yang: Garrison Keillor - not sure if he can be classified as a syndicated columnist, but he does contribute to newspapers and magazines quite a bit.

Hanson and Steyn.

George Will, Thomas Sowell, Wm F Buckley, Krauthammer, Hitchens (when he's right). I also used to like Deb Weiss (whom I found at Drudge) but she stopped writing a few years back. What a loss!

Clarence Page.

The only opinion columnist I read with anything resembling regularity is Peggy Noonan. And I don't read her column very often.

I don't like opinion columnists because they either support my stance, which is boring, or they don't, which is irritating. I don't think I've ever been swayed by a column.

Although Peggy's stuff has a quality and eloquence to it that makes for a good read.

John Vincour of IHT

postscript - I've also seen this spelled as "John Vinocur". I'm not sure which is right.

Hitch. I read Krugman for laughs, though.

Mark Steyn, # 1
Howard Kurtz #2
Andrew Sullivan #3
Robert Fulford # 4

Mark Steyn
James Lileks

Victor Davis Hansen absolutely. VDH has it for intelligent perspective and analysis.

Bill,

Thomas Sowell is the best. No one can touch him when it comes to researching the topics he writes about.

Anne Applebaum, smart and attractive.

I can't believe everyone has forgotten the best one out there It's got to be:

Pulitzer Prize winning Maureen Dowd!

I can't believe what the rest of you were thinking!

Blogger - Arthur Chrenkoff

Print Media - Peggy Noonan, who is not writing right now because she is actively involved in the campaign.

Charles Krauthammer - Clear, concise, and accurate.

Mark Steyn - expected to see him mentioned alot
Thomas Sowell - didn't expect to see him mentioned a lot but I'm glad he is.
Dennis Prager - Lots of common sense
Tony Snow - always a favorite of mine - just wish his column were more regular.

James Lileks.

He doesn't write often enough, but when he does, a favorite of mine is Larry Miller.

Jonah Goldberg.

#1: Robert Tracinski
#2: Thomas Sowell
#3: Charles Krauthammer
#4: Michelle Malkin
#5: Ann Coulter

There are so many good ones, that's it's too hard to choose just one, but from the older generation I'd like to submit Hugh Hewitt.

I'm particularly impressed with Ben Shapiro (I guess his age has a lot to do with it). Mike Adams gives a good ring-side seat for those interested in the Left's continuing assualt on higher education.

VDH & Ralph Peters.

George Will
Bill Buckley
Thomas Sowell
Walter Williams
Bill Safire

Victor Davis Hanson provides the clearest and most insightful thoughts of any writer I have ever read.

Mark Davis

If the criterion is serious edification, it's Sowell/Krauthammer/VDH.

If the criterion is rollicking good fun, it's Malkin/Coulter/Adams.

i used to think myself a leftist, but not in the last 3 years or so. centrist is where i consider myself right now, although there are other words that i might like better than that...

as far as columnists go, it`s a tie between steyn`s wit and VDH`s tutorials...

i used to think myself a leftist, but not in the last 3 years or so. centrist is where i consider myself right now, although there are other words that i might like better than that...

as far as columnists go, it`s a tie between steyn`s wit and VDH`s tutorials...

If frequency doesn't count

Bill Whittle

Steyn.

1. Krauthammer
2. Steyn
3. Hugh Hewitt

Thomas Sowell, hands down.

W.F. Buckley
M. Steyn
J. Goldberg (despite rolling-in-hot-fudge thing)
T. Sowell (despite his assumption you're a total idiot)
V.D. Hanson
C. Krauthammer

Hororable mention for writers who don't quite meet the 'syndicated' criteria:

Andrew Ferguson
P.J. O'Rourke
David Gelernter
David Frum

And let me case a negative vote for Ann Coulter for preaching to the choir and alienating everyone else.

Jonah Goldberg, bar none.

Don't immanatize the eschaton!

Whoops, forgot an old favorite: John Leo

And another negative vote for David Horowitz, for logorrhea and 60s-radical-inspired hysterical tone. Some interesting content, but too often buried in paragraphs that are a foot high.

Turns out Andrew Ferguson is syndicated through Bloomberg, so add him too. I'm still laughing at his column from many years back describing a civil disobedience event in DC that he attended just so he could see Peter, Paul & Mary get hauled off to jail. Ever since hearing "Puff the Magic Dragon" in his youth, it had been a dream of his.

1. Mark Steyn
2. Charles Krauthammer
3. Ann Coulter

George Will - erudite, factual & honest.

Thomas Sowell - Agree with the others. He is brilliant.
Ann Coulter - albeit for comic relief most times.

My 'inner centrist' likes Thomas Friedman.

My 'outer ultra-reactionary extremist neocon' likes Steyn, VDH, and Krauthammer (in that order).

My therapist just looks at the pictures.

I'm sorry - Friedman isn't syndicated, sorry. My inner centrist shouldn't start drinking so early.

Used to think Ann Coulter got way too much traction out of pretty blonde hair. But for the last 6 months, I also never read her without laughing out loud.

Victor Davis Hanson. He writes as clearly as Hemingway.

George Will - except when he gets that baseball bug up his butt.

Maureen Dowd

Another vote for Thomas Sowell or Walter Williams.

Good mix of wisdom and wit.

That makes me think of George Will and David Limbaugh.

For real spice, stir in Ann Coulter.

Krauthammer or Irwin M. Stelzer.

For clarity of thought and stating basic (to me) values and ideals, no one can touch Bill Whittle.

For a good old fashioned mixture of humor and common sense, James Lileks.

Thomas Sowell, John Leo, and William F. Buckley finish up my list.

I'd have to say Lileks, but that may be because I'm projecting his Bleat persona into his Newhouse columns. He has a light touch but is deadly.

Walter Williams

Krauthammer -- Kathleen Parker

Thomas Sowell #1
Walter Williams #2
David Limbaugh #3

Thomas Sowell, Walter Williams, and Tony Blankley. It's great to watch Tony on the McLaughlin Group. He's the only voice of reason on that show as he valiantly battles the forces of evil.

Mark Steyn
Victor Davis Hanson

VDH.

'nuff said.

Sadly Bill, I dont have one.

Ann Coulter.

Now, if she'd only lift that darned restraining order...

John Leo
But I can't forget my girls:
Ann Coulter and Michele Malkin

I thought about this one long and hard. But I took the assignment seriously.
Dan Rather.

BEFORE you try to castigate me, permit me to explain.
I have learned from bitter experience that Dan's newscasts are not only opinion, they border on fantasy. They do, however, reduce the burden of actually having to think about his views for very long.
And that is the primary purpose of an opinion. It allows you to winnow through the chaff to get to the rare grain of the truth.
Take everything Dan says and turn it completely around.
Winnow through his chaff...

Victor Davis Hanson.

Derb

Mark Steyn
Hugh Hewitt

Krauthammer cuts through the crap - he's #1.

Dennis Prager
Mark Steyn
Victor Davis Hanson
Hugh Hewitt
Jack Dunphy (NRO)

David Brooks, NYT, is first rate.

Unique perspective and insightful commentary from an independent conservative thinker.

Victor Davis Hanson
Thomas Sowell
Jay Nordlinger
Krauthammer
Bill Whittle
Michelle Malkin

Mark Steyn
James Lileks
John's Journal
Ed Anger (deceased)
Ann Coulter
Frank J.
Fred Reed
Bill Taranto
Daniel Pipes

Georege Will's da man!