I used to like Mike Royko.
. . . until he went and died on me . . .
That bastard! Dead people are so mean!
Thomas Friedman of The New York Times.
Tony Kornheiser of The Washington Post and ESPN.
I’ll definitely second Leonard Pitts.
Molly Ivins provides food for thought, but she makes some glaring mistakes. For instance, she wrote that Anita Hill wasn’t making any money off her book tours. Newspapers at the time detailed how she was getting $10,000 an appearance. Ivins later retracted, saying that Hill donated everything she got to charity. None of the articles I read mentioned that…
I haven’t forgotten Cecil, but I don’t think he is one of the best columnists out there.
I vote for Dave Barry also.
Am I the only one here who likes Ellen Goodman? I also have a love/hate relationship with George Will, and William Buckley on language is fascinating.
CJ
Another vote for James Likeks
P.J O’Rourke
George Will
You’re all so, so wrong.
Russell Baker, hands down the best ever.
Howard Kurtz, Michael Wilbon, Fra
As you can see, mutant boll weevils attacked me and commandeered the keyboard. I’ve escaped, but who knows how long. At least the anal probe didn’t hurt much.
I can hear them now. Must hurry.
Howard Kurtz, Michael Wilbon, Frank Dolson, Tom Friedman, Tony Kornheiser.
Howard is the greatest, because he is IMO very evenhanded - his column is “Media Notes”, for those of you who aren’t familiar. Pretty much examines the media’s coverage of… well, everything.
Jon Carrol and James Lileks I’ll recommend. Note: Lileks has two personas. The bubbleheaded syndicated conservative columnist who makes steam come out of my ears, and the family man / pop culture critic / most excellent ranter on his lileks.com site.
Dave Barry has been coasting for awhile. His columns in the 1980s were much funnier and inventive; now he has his schtick. But he’s still trying. He’s written about children’s birthday parties twice – once about his kid from his first marriage, and another one recently about the daughter from his second – and he turned out two completely different columns with it.
I also like Steven Den Beste, who is a blogger, but writes frequently and cogently on a wide range of issues. I read him regularly, as well as Rand Simburg on space issues.
All the more reason to admire Molly. Plenty of columnists make errors. Ivins makes a habit of owning up to them.
David Broder does this too. Every year at the end of the year he runs an entire column that consists of mistakes he has made over the year. Still, Shribman’s better ;).
I like Christopher Hitchens.
I’ll add my votes for Molly Ivins, Dave Barry, James Lileks, and that Cecil guy, whoever he is. 
I’ll add Jim Hightowerto the list. He’s perhaps one of the best liberal voices to come out of Texas.
Robin
Jonah Goldberg on National Review Online.
Bill Safire.
Mark Steyn. I’m surprised no one has mentioned him yet. I think the guy is going to be a huge force in the pundit world in the future.
A local favorite for me is John L. Smith. Smith writes about nearly everything, all of it with a certain tongue-in-cheek attitude and with very little of the smugness previously mentioned.
And I have to admit that I’m a sucker for “The Life of Reilly” in the back of Sports Illustrated, as well.