@Joel Milne

While I can understand your frustrations with the need to apply css to the output of a module, this is largely why Drupal works as well as it does. With the exception of SimpleNews, I have used each of the modules you mention and their output is exactly what one would expect when using Drupal. It tends to be clean and ready to theme. And while it is true that some themes fail to take into account the output of some modules, this is more of an issue with those themes as opposed to the modules.

In speaking with one of my colleagues who is more familiar with Wordpress than I, he has confirmed that Wordpress does tend to go further with the application of default styles. He was also quick to point out how this tends to actually make working with Wordpress more difficult as it is then necessary to either hack the plugin or build some other workaround to fix the display.