I know David Brooks is thought by by the cool people to be a bit stodgy and even priggish, but I really liked this:

I'm a pundit, more or less paid to appear smarter and better than I really am.

Would that all editorial writers and talking heads would admit that!
And besides the self-deprecation, I am drawn, as I find myself in so many cases, by the quality, (or at least, lack thereof,) of his enemies, and the foolishness of the animosity he inspires.

Attacks on the scrupulous or rigorous always try to convince that it is somehow worse to have standards that are too high than to have none whatsoever....

Don't get me wrong, I'm not likely to subscribe to the Weekly Standard - but better that than the Daily No Standards At All.