after i realized that i could read drudgereport.com and predict the future of fox news, i started going through his columnists based upon my grandfather's recomendation of thomas sowell. are there any of them that are more respected/less incindiary than the coulter set? trying to get some different perspectives here.

Joe Klein for Time seems to walk the middle ripping both sides. I honestly don't know if what i would consider him and i like that.

i usually enjoy walter williams....not that i always agree with him, but he does offer a different perpective.....

Not exactly conservative, but I read PaulKrugman and Tom Friedman all the time. I also like Howard Fineman of Newsweek and Joe Klein of Time (he wrote Primary Colors, so he's kind of the 'dissilusioned Dem')

There is an interesting piece from Howard Kurtz' Media Watch in the Washington Post last week that basically says, even when they aren't getting paid, all columnists are shills for one side or the other.

If you want to be serious, Noam Chomsky rips just about everyone from Kennedy to Reagan to Clinton to Bush. He actually considers himself a conservative in the classical liberal sense.

Although controversial, Pat Buchanan is actually a very interesting conservative individual who is highly critical of democrats and modern republicans. His articles are at least worth reading from time to time.

Here is a good reference guide to find writers all over the political spectrum.
http://www.digitalronin.f2s.com/politic ... eading.php

I like David Brooks from NYT, though he sometimes he can get a bit heavy-handed for me to finish his column. He has some good ones though.

I also read WSJ op-ed page almost daily, unless I'm real busy.

Since its whole said is pay for play, http://www.OpinionJournal is the free arm that is a bit more lighthearted and sometimes has some interesting links or articles.

PJ O'Rourke
William F. Buckley
Paul Gigot
William Safire

I like reading Charles Krauthammer. He writes a lot about international relations.

I don't know enough about a lot of these international issues to form strong opinions but I like to read multiple perspectives.

I may get blasted for this, and this is not really a columnist. But Tucker Carlson's show on PBS ain't to bad.

i don't think that people really disagree that his show on pbs and his character on CNN were different personas.

Many of the conservative columnists that I read have already been mentioned. Here are a few sites I sometimes visit:

http://www.cato.org/
http://www.heritage.org/
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/

...and if you're Canadian, there is Andrew Coyne in The National Post (assuming of course that I am not the last conservative in Canada.)

Do you like Mark Steyn?

I should also mention that most US Libertarians are right-wing, so you might want to read articles by people affiliated with the United States Libertarian Party. Basically, they're the Green Party for conservatives.

O'Rourke is always entertaining, always well-spoken, always damned funny, even when I completely disagree with him.

My vote is for PJ O'Rourke. His books are great.

He is awesome. I got meet him and he signed my copy of Parliament of Whores at a speaking engagement while in college. I don't think of him as a columnist, so much though.

The problem is, Chse, in your original question. Most conservative columnists are intentionally divisive, unless, like Bob Novak they are more the conservative "insider" columnist, than the asshat-rabble-rousers. You gotta think of columinists as a newspapers' talk radio hosts. I read Jim Wooten in the AJC every week (he's an open jack ass Republican supporter) but never bother to read Jay Bookman (the local lib) because he's usually too namby-pamby even for me.

Steve -- I knew a girl who worked for Heritage, great person, but politically, UGH. Also, a girl we went to HS with is the head of Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum -- hey maybe I oughta call her about jobs in DC?

You just know you could get the wedgie out of her if you got her huffing Krylon. Though, I am surprised she isn't huffing it already, since Wolfowitz is so obviously a gray-beard, and I am sure she and he run in some of the same circles.

edit: she = Schlafley

How is Paul Krugman at all conservative?

I like his beard.

Err, sorry, what was the question?

Sorry, I should use the quote feature more.

Actually, wouldn't calling Noam Chomsky conservative be the opposite of being serious in an intelligent world?

Well, some people still think modern republicans are fiscal conservatives so who knows what "conservative" and "liberal" mean anymore.

I'm not saying Chomsky is a republican, but that he points out how the terms "liberal" and "conservative" have switched meanings over the years. Technically he's an anarchist, so he's somewhat beyond/outside the narrow political spectrum of US politics.