I don't know who everyone is, but they are not correct. Even in a case where all four tires are the same size, you should allways put your best tires on the front, as they are responsible for 80% of your braking power, and also provide all the turning traction. Hydroplaning is allways the biggest issue in wet weather, and the front tires are allways the "plow" and remove alot of the water before the rear tires get there when traveling in a straight line.
In a staggered set up, I have pretty much allways gone to 2 front sets of tires for every 1 set in the rear. I have a Suzuki 1000 and on DOT tires, I usually go thru 2 back tires for every 1 front tire.
And you should use the same tire Mfgr and make until you do a all four tire replacement. So this time just replace the tires with the same ones, and next time, you'll have to replace all four, then you can switch to whatever tires it is you would like. If you do change to a different mfgr for the fronts, it won't be a big deal, so long as they are the same size and aspect ratio. But I wouldn't go with an all season if your running summer or performance tires on the back.
Thanks so much for your advice. The "everyone" that I was referring to is tire websites such as tirerack.com. They say that when getting 2 new tires, the new ones should always be put on the back to avoid oversteering which can cause fishtailing and hydroplaning. My instinct would have been to put tires with the most treadwear on the front for the same reasons you suggested. But since my tires are staggered, I'm not sure if that applies to me...