I can't depend on having a "good" editor. I have 2 work machines, 2 home machines, ssh to a VPS, ssh to a bunch of machines at work, etc. So as often as not I have to use vim to do quick edits of code. I also am generally forced to use Apple's Xcode for Obj-C applications, but use other editors for anything else. Working on my own toys vs. working at work, vs. being in school instead of a commercial entity with nice software licenses also means I can't depend on having the same text editor available, other than free ones.

I'd prefer to use a programming language that was easy to read and write in just about any text editor. The only requirement I can't easily escape is that the editor must support auto-indent. (So MS Notepad is out.)

Actually you can apply that argument for whitespace only languages, because they produce code that is more consistent. So because the code is more consistent it is also easier to read and write (as opposed to say, dealing with someone's eccentric formatting).

Vim or emacs (the one I use) is available for any modern OS out there. It is free and has outstanding syntax highlighting and works through a terminal as far as I know.

In general it seems like this is a tail wagging the dog problem -- picking a language to work with (what seems to be a broken) editor.

I agree but in reverse. You're willing to give up a trivially parseable syntax just to avoid typing a few braces?