>The Nation has its wealthy patrons and is itself
>usually pretty good. But it stands alone, while The
>Weekly Standard enjoys the company of National Review
>and others. There's a whole network of allied
>right-wing rags where conservative writers can throw
>bombs and explode fireworks.
I wouldn't get carried away with this - a lot of conservative writing is demented, frightening, and/or moralizing stuff. For every Chris Caldwell there's a Poddy (Elder or Younger) or a Coulter. And O'Reilly's entertaining as hell - I watch several times a week after the Stewart show - but really. The guy's a scary meathead when you strip away the humor. The New Republic has its stylistic merits, though not like when Kinsley was editing it, but it's mostly appalling. Political journalism in the U.S. is pretty crummy whatever the ideological bent.
Doug