NEWSWATCH by Thomas Griffith: What's Wrong with Washington Columnists

Once the world of Washington pundits included a few giants, ranging from the Olympian sage, Walter Lippmann, and James Reston, the best informed of Washington reporters, to the feared scandalmonger, Drew Pearson—and that was it. Now so many syndicated Washington columnists exist that it is hard to keep track of them, keep up with them, or tell one from another.

Only the indefatigable Joseph Kraft, though he lacks Lippmann's magisterial authority, sometimes approaches the master's command of foreign and domestic topics. In fact, in an overreported town like Washington, the best...

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