I guess this depends to some extent on your politics. From my centrist perspective these are the best (in no particular order):
Robert Wright: A fascinating columnist who writes about foreign affairs and globalization for Slate. He has also written two superb books on evolutionary pshycholoy (The Moral Animal) and a big-think book on macrohistory (Non-Zero). His columns on 9-11 and beyond have been superb. Here is a selection. http://www.nonzero.org/911pieces.htm
Fareed Zakaria: Writes a column for Newsweek and is also the editor of their international edition. His articles are well-written but also have the kind of intellectual depth missing in ,say Thomas Friedman.
Robert Samuelson: Arguably the best economic commentator in the States (with competition from Krugman). Newsweek. and WaPo.
David Broderthe most fair-minded and sober of political columnists. WaPo.
Michael Kinsley: Arguably the wittiest and cleverest columnist around in the US. A real pleasure to read. For some reason he has the reputation for being liberal but actually he is quite centrist for instance he strongly supports free trade.
Samuel Brittan: A British columnist writing for the FT on economic issues. Also very sober and judicious, kind of like the David Broder of the Brits in terms of style.
Nicholas Kristoff: the new columnist for the New York Times. Did some superb commentar/reportage on the terrorist groups in the Phillipines and in general a very sane commentator on foreign issues.
The Economist: No particular writer since it’s annonymous but their commentary is all-round excellent, both their “leaders” and their specific columns like Lexington and Bagehot. Hands down the best news/commentary magazine in the English-speaking world.
**Ann Coulter: ** Her unbiased views and subtle descriptions of the current political climate provide a fair view into the minds of conservatives and liberals alike.
Or, at least, there must be some parallel universe in which that’s true.
Well, I don’t know if this makes them the BEST columnists out there, but the ones I find myself in agreement with most often (but who almost never make me cringe) are Charles Krauthammer and James Lileks.
There are way too many guys out there who share my basic views, but can’t stop making asinine, smug, and/or boring arguments for them. (PLEASE, God, WHY do Marvin Olasky and William F. Buckley have to be on MY side?)
Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald. He would be one of my 5 best columnists, and is without doubt the most perceptive, level-headed, realistic African-American columnist that perhaps ever lived.
Oops…wrong button. I was going to mention Michael Moore. I don’t think he has a syndicated column, but his occasional essays, movies, etc. are a refreshing break from the ‘mainstream’ voices.
I prefer David Shribman to David Broder. Shribman writes fewer columns than Broder, and IMHO this makes his better because he doesn’t spread himself out so much and nearly all of his columns are worth reading, as opposed to Broder, who has too many fluffy and rehashed columns for my taste.
An example from her recent column on Bush and his weak attempts at addressing the accounting crisis:
"Perhaps I am too cynical, but I believe there is a separate class of people in this country called Too Rich to Go to Prison. With the peerless John Ashcroft at the helm of the Justice Department, I don’t think any of the now-infamous CEOs need to lose sleep over the prospect. It’s not exactly like Bobby Kennedy going after Jimmy Hoffa.
“On the other hand, the only A.G. we’ve got did instigate a 13-month-long undercover investigation that resulted in the arrest of 12 prostitutes in New Orleans. Amazing – they found 12 whores in New Orleans. Surely Osama bin Laden is next.”
