Ross Douthat makes an excellent suggestion:
“I think it would be an excellent discipline for pundits deeply invested in the ideal of the "independent" politician to attempt, at least once a year, a column praising a public figure for taking an independent, maverick position with which they disagree.
Obviously this applies to the blogosphere as well as to the talking heads on TV and newspaper columnists. I don't think I'd actually agree with all that many of Senator Jim Webb's positions, for instance, but I admire his willingness to state his mind, free from the cant and humbug in which politicians customarily swaddle their pronouncements.