Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

William Safire, Nixon Speechwriter and Times Columnist, Is Dead at 79
New York Times ^ | 9/28/2009 | ROBERT D. McFADDEN

Posted on 09/27/2009 11:19:38 AM PDT by fours

Edited on 09/27/2009 12:39:50 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

William Safire, a speechwriter for President Richard M. Nixon and a Pulitzer Prize-winning political columnist for The New York Times who also wrote novels, books on politics and a Malaprop’s treasury of articles on language, died at a hospice in Rockville, Md. on Sunday. He was 79.

The cause was pancreatic cancer, said Martin Tolchin, a friend of the family.

There may be many sides in a genteel debate, but in the Safire world of politics and journalism it was simpler: there was his own unambiguous wit and wisdom on one hand and, on the other, the blubber of fools he called “nattering nabobs of negativism” and “hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history.”

He was a college dropout and proud of it, a public relations go-getter who set up the famous Nixon-Khrushchev “kitchen debate” in Moscow, and a White House wordsmith in the tumultuous era of war in Vietnam, Nixon’s visit to China and the gathering storm of the Watergate scandal that drove the president from office.

Then, from 1973 to 2005, Mr. Safire wrote his twice weekly “Essay” for the Op-Ed Page of The Times, a forceful conservative voice in the liberal chorus. Unlike most Washington columnists who offer judgments with Olympian detachment, Mr. Safire was a pugnacious contrarian who did much of his own reporting, called people liars in print and laced his opinions with outrageous wordplay.

Critics initially dismissed him as an apologist for the disgraced Nixon coterie. But he won the 1978 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, and for 32 years tenaciously attacked and defended foreign and domestic policies, and the foibles, of seven administrations. Along the way, he incurred enmity and admiration, and made a lot of powerful people squirm.

Excerpt


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: journalist; nixon; obituary; safire; warecorrespondent; williamsafire
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-95 next last
To: STARWISE
But a White House aide said that Bill Clinton, “if he were not president, would have delivered a more forceful response on the bridge of Mr. Safire’s nose.”

Safire had nothing to worry about either before or after Emperor Billigula left the White House because Bubba was, is and always will be a pathetic pansy who bullies only women and the weak.

For all of the invective and insults I've hurled at the Clintons, I'd love for that SOB to take a swing at me, I'd kick his ass into next week.
41 posted on 09/27/2009 1:27:09 PM PDT by mkjessup (The Shah doesn't look so bad now, eh? But NOOOO, Jimmah said the Ayatollah was a "godly man".)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

Comment #42 Removed by Moderator

To: fours

...The same here, a great loss for conservatives and third party advocates, RIP, Mr. Safire...


43 posted on 09/27/2009 1:33:40 PM PDT by gargoyle (...My thoughts are not seditious, or treasonous, they're revolutionary...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fours
From his NYT bio:

On Language, which has appeared in The New York Times Magazine since 1979. This column on grammar, usage, and etymology has led to the publication of 10 books and made him the most widely read writer on the English language.

It's always a pleasure to read the opinions of a person who is a clear thinker and has a command of the English language, whether you agree or not.

R.I.P.

44 posted on 09/27/2009 1:37:44 PM PDT by smokingfrog (No man's life, liberty or property is safe while the legislature is in session. I AM JIM THOMPSON)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fours
A friend of the English language and of the Republic. RIP.

In matters of language, Safire was the successor to John Ciardi. Who will be Safire's successor?

45 posted on 09/27/2009 1:38:16 PM PDT by omega4412
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rbg81
He always struck me as a RHINO.

William Safire was a language expert. For example, he might have explored what the "H" in RHINO represents, or why you used all caps to describe an odd-toed ungulate.

46 posted on 09/27/2009 1:42:53 PM PDT by NautiNurse (Obama: A day without TOTUS is like a day without sunshine)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: fours

RIP


47 posted on 09/27/2009 1:46:51 PM PDT by Cacique (quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ( Islamia Delenda Est ))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fours

He had a great desire to be liked by liberals; so he denounced his old friend Pat Buchanan and endorsed Bill Clinton. I never read him after that.


48 posted on 09/27/2009 2:29:02 PM PDT by Theodore R.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bustinchops

Bob Novak never denounced Pat Buchanan to win points with liberals.


49 posted on 09/27/2009 2:30:24 PM PDT by Theodore R.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 38 | View Replies]

To: Theodore R.

Amen. You lose your conservative card, in my opinion, when you vote for Slick.


50 posted on 09/27/2009 2:36:44 PM PDT by Huskrrrr
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: AdmSmith; Berosus; bigheadfred; Convert from ECUSA; dervish; Ernest_at_the_Beach; Fred Nerks; ...

RIP.


51 posted on 09/27/2009 2:40:00 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/__Since Jan 3, 2004__Profile updated Monday, January 12, 2009)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NautiNurse

Thanks. Its always good to get verbally spanked on a Sunday afternoon.


52 posted on 09/27/2009 2:47:12 PM PDT by rbg81 (DRAIN THE SWAMP!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Theodore R.
Bob Novak never denounced Pat Buchanan to win points with liberals.

Safire didn't denounce Buchanan to win points with liberals, he denounced Buchanan because Buchanan is a Jew-hating wackjob.

53 posted on 09/27/2009 2:51:03 PM PDT by Alter Kaker (Gravitation is a theory, not a fact. It should be approached with an open mind...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: fours

A great loss. RIP, Mr. Safire.


54 posted on 09/27/2009 2:58:42 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (It is the duty of the patriot to protect his country from its government -- Thomas Payne)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: IronJack
Truly, he had a love of the language, a rare and precious gift that will be sorely missed in these increasingly illiterate days.

i loved his books, "How Not to Write," and "William Safire On Language." he was much more than a wordsmith... more than a grammarian...

55 posted on 09/27/2009 3:03:54 PM PDT by latina4dubya ( self-proclaimed tequila snob)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: NautiNurse
He (she?) probably intended to use the "invisible H", but hit the wrong key and got the visible one instead...

Don't you just hate when that happens?

56 posted on 09/27/2009 3:10:58 PM PDT by Zeppo (Save the cheerleader, save the world...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: dr_who

You said it. And now America is one less, just when she needs them most. Instead we have charlatans, propagandists, and idiots.

Requiescat in pace. Go with God.


57 posted on 09/27/2009 3:17:50 PM PDT by Killborn (I'll get around to regularly posting....eventually. (This could be it!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Theodore R.

So what?

Are you one of these knee-jerks who only appreciate someone who agrees with them 100% of the time? 90% just won’t do.


58 posted on 09/27/2009 3:18:34 PM PDT by bustinchops (Teddy ("The Hiccup") Kennedy - the original water-boarder)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: x

You can say that again.


59 posted on 09/27/2009 3:19:41 PM PDT by Killborn (I'll get around to regularly posting....eventually. (This could be it!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Theodore R.
He had a great desire to be liked by liberals; so he denounced his old friend Pat Buchanan and endorsed Bill Clinton. I never read him after that.

Ah, so. That explains why Safire joined in the secular liberal jihad against that movie, Passion of the Christ.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/01/opinion/01SAFI.html?hp

The villains at whom the audience's outrage is directed are the actors playing bloodthirsty rabbis and their rabid Jewish followers. This is the essence of the medieval "passion play," preserved in pre-Hitler Germany at Oberammergau, a source of the hatred of all Jews as "Christ killers."....

The richness of Scripture is in its openness to interpretation answering humanity's current spiritual needs. That's where Gibson's medieval version of the suffering of Jesus, reveling in savagery to provoke outrage and cast blame, fails Christian and Jew today.

60 posted on 09/27/2009 3:32:00 PM PDT by Palin Republic (Palin - Bachmann 2012 : Girl Power!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-95 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson