Most popular Right Wingers

Regular readers will be familiar with the wrestling-style ratings system I've assigned for every APF Pundit. For those unfamiliar here is a quick recap: (regular readers can skip this part)

Pop - The favorability and popularity of the pundit
Heat - How despised and marginalised the pundit is
Persona or Orientation - Is the pundit a 'face' or a 'heel'? A 'face' is a hero, someone the people idolise. A heel is someone people love to hate. The pundit can shape how people respond to them, by being antagonistic to critics etc...

Because of the divisiveness in politics today its highly likely that a pundit will polarise opinion. They may be loved by their ideological peers and demonised by their opponents. This is where charm factors in.

Read more in previous posts:
See the full list of Pundit Ratings on the myspace page
A case study with Conservative talker Dean Barnett
Read up on the terminology, in our Glossary page

I bring all this up because the Right Wing News website has released their annual list of 'Favorite People on the Right' (2007). It is a list compiled though a survey of bloggers ranking the most admired conservatives. Not surprisingly pundits featured heavily, with the top three spots being occupied by APF members.

Funnily enough 2 of those in said top three are classified as "heels". This leads us to one of two conclusions. 1) The APF has been wrong in that designation or 2) Conservative bloggers are impressed not only by how these Right Wing champions represent their ideals but more importantly how effectively they infuriate the left.

Below is a snapshot of this year's list. I've highlighted the pundits in bold:

Right-Of-Center Bloggers Select Their Favorite People On The Right (2007)
Honorable Mentions: Larry Elder – 4, Mary Katherine Ham – 4, Brit Hume – 4, Bill O’Reilly – 4, Jeff Sessions – 4, Robert Spencer – 4, John Stossel – 4, Walter Williams – 4

21) Tom Tancredo – 5
21) Condi Rice – 5
21) Charles Krauthammer – 5
21) Hugh Hewitt – 5
21) John Bolton – 5
20) Sean Hannity – 6
20) Jim DeMint – 6
16) Judge Antonin Scalia – 7
16) Jonah Goldberg – 7
16) Tom Coburn – 7
16) Glenn Beck – 7
13) Glenn Reynolds -- 8
13) Duncan Hunter – 8
13) Neal Boortz – 8
10) Victor David Hanson – 9
10) Laura Ingraham – 9
10) Dick Cheney – 9
9) Rudy Giuliani – 10
8) George W. Bush – 11
6) Fred Thompson – 13
6) Thomas Sowell – 13
5) Newt Gingrich – 14
4) Mark Steyn – 17,
2) Michelle Malkin – 19
2) Ann Coulter – 19
1) Rush Limbaugh – 28

It's clear how influential pundits are in our political discourse as evidenced by this list. I see two notable omissions however, highly rated commentators Michael Savage and Sean Hannity. It might be worth investigating why conservatives felt they didn't make the cut for 2007.

Read Right Wing News' full 2007 list.
Read the list of Favorite People On The Right (2005 Edition)
Read the list of Favorite People On The Right (2006 Edition)Visit the RightWingNews (Conservative News and Views) website