Who doesn’t love Matt Drudge?
More importantly, what journo doesn’t love getting linked by Drudge?

In today’s column in The Hill, columnist Brent Budowksy goes on a praise-filled mission of Drudge, declaring that Drudge “may be the most influential media figure today.” He says he disagrees with Time‘s Mark Halperin for suggesting that Drudge appeals to racism among some readers.

Budowsky goes on to call HuffPost‘s Arianna Huffington and MSNBC’s Ed Schultz “media beachheads,” and clumps MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow in with them too.

By “beachhead,” he means (I asked): “Keith and Rachel have built a good beachhead for more liberal television…” Budowksy says he’d “rather see MSNBC with more bite and toughness … and more willingness to challenge Obama when he’s wrong while supporting him when he’s right…I think this builds far more audience and in the end is far better for Obama and Democrats, though they are so thin skinned they do not agree.”

Read the entire column here.
Info on Budowksy: He’s a former aide to former Democratic Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and Democratic Rep. Bill Alexander, former Chief Deputy Majority Whip of the House.