Sam Francis,columnist, 57, dies -a leading voice of traditional conservatism.

Washington Times ^ | Feb. 18 2005 | staff

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Sam Francis, columnist, 57, dies THE WASHINGTON TIMES Samuel Francis, a syndicated columnist and author, died Tuesday night at a Washington-area hospital of complications following major heart surgery. He was 57. Mr. Francis was an editorial writer for The Washington Times and served from 1987 to 1991 as the deputy editorial page editor. He remained a staff columnist through September 1995. Mr. Francis received the Distinguished Writing Award for editorial writing from the American Society of Newspaper Editors in both 1989 and 1990, and was a finalist for the Scripps Howard Foundation's National Journalism Award (Walker Stone Prize) for editorial writing for those years. Mr. Francis emerged in the 1990s as a leading voice of traditional conservatism. "He was a fine writer and a brilliant scholar, who had the courage of his convictions," said Patrick Buchanan, who had both social and professional relationships with Mr. Francis. "He had

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RIP Mr. Francis-thankyou for the support.

[rcocean]

Thanks for posting.

A gracious tribute to a true conservative.

He'll be missed.

[ambrose]

His best column ever was the one where he made fun of Amy Biehl after she was beaten to death by a mob in South Africa.

[shuckmaster]

There's a nice tribute on the VDare site.

[Malesherbes]

I've read him regularly over the years, and I'll miss him. No columnist could write better, and none was more scholarly. He sacrificed what might have been a stellar MSM career by sticking to his paleo-principles. He had, as the saying goes, the courage of his convictions.

[Tall_Texan]

Sorry. All that comes to mind is NBC's Fred Francis (former Pentagon correspondent). Still, sad to hear. 57 is such a young age.

[leadhead]

I believe he first used the labels: "Evil Party" for the Democrats and "Stupid Party" for the Republicans in the Bob Dole for President era.

Maybe he was right. I'm still waiting for the Republican Party to become conservative. But, then again, I'm still waiting for the Tooth Fairy also.

[palmer]

Don't know what happened to the other thread but it appeared that the death of such a principled conservative can attract the attention of those with no conservative principles other than its political proximity to their pet cause. Ironic that one of Francis' last columns which I excerpted in the other thread was about that problem. The Hard Right as he defined it, was based on the "Cultural Issue", that is, what kind of country do we want this to be rather than be based on politics or specific causes.

While this forum will continue to be a useful place to discuss what kind of country we want this to be, the focus on politics here along with the expediency of pushing pet causes which Francis always criticized and avoided (apart from culture) will mean the battles of the Hard Right will be won elsewhere.

[palmer]

"Evil Party" for the Democrats and "Stupid Party" for the Republicans

Lately he pointed out that Democrats have become stupid while staying evil and that the Republicans have gone from being the lesser of two evils (from a paleo perspective) to the only slightly lesser of two evils.

My own view is that power and evil go hand in hand. It's not monotonic or inevitable but it's the natural tendency of many politicians without external limits on their behavior. Fortunately there are enough Republicans with limited government principles to keep things under control, but (IMO) the recent National ID bill is not a good sign.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I think I recall his columns in a Catholic paper called, "The Wanderer". Good writer.

[hopespringseternal]

I don't suppose that one is linkable anywhere?

[Thorin]

>>>>>>Sam Francis was the man.

Agreed!