I don't think that word means what Steven F. Hayward thinks it means

In a Washington Post Op-ed entitled "Is Conservatism Brain Dead" he laments the declining influence of conservative intellectuals (such as himself) and writes

Consider the "tea party" phenomenon. Though authentic and laudatory, it is unfocused, lacking the connection to a concrete ideology that characterized the tax revolt of the 1970s, which was joined at the hip with insurgent supply-side economics.

"Laudatory" means praising and I didn't catch the tea partiers praising much.

I think he means "Laudable," that is worthy of praise.

Regular readers will understand how bold I must be to dare to correct someone else's English, but I would like to stress that "an intellectual" does not mean "someone who uses big words without knowing exactly what they mean."

We know they don't have a fact checker over at the Washington Post opinion pages, but I always assumed they had access to the services of at least one copy editor.