"Charles Krauthammer, a longtime Fox News contributor, Pulitzer Prize winner, Harvard-trained psychiatrist and best-selling author who came to be known as the dean of conservative commentators, died Thursday. He was 68."
FoxNews reports.
June 21, 2018
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
57 comments:
A great loss.
I've read Krauthammer since he wrote for The New Republic back in the early 80's. He was over his writing lifetime not as a straight line a conservative as he gets made out to be now.
I'm going to keep watch & see if there's going to be a public memorial service for him. If so, I will try & go.
Boy, when he said "weeks", the poor guy didn't even get to two!
May the Memory of the Righteous be a Blessing!
Even though I often disagreed with him, he was a smart guy with a lot of integrity.
I believe he was an agnostic. I hope he was wrong.
God speed Charles.
His doctors weren't kidding. They probably killed him.
He was one of the best political commentors during my lifetime -- in fact, as I think about it, I can't identify anyone better. Of course he wasn't always "right" -- that is, he didn't always say what I already thought, and I didn't always change my opinion after I read or heard what he said -- but you never lost brain cells reading a Krauthammer column, you grew at least a few, and there aren't many about whom you can say that.
He was one of the few rational people on Fox. I enjoyed reading and watching him.
Death isn't fair
How could a "psychiatrist" journalist not have sounded the alarm bells about crazy personality-disordered Trump. Kraut probably died from guilt.
His courage was as remarkable as his intellect. Thinking makes it so. Well, if you're a great thinker.
He called Trump “a rodeo clown.”
One of the good guys.
Once upon a time, his trajectory from Dem to semi-conservative wasn't that unusual.
Though I haven't seen any research on the subject, I suspect that the progressive follies of youth are now more likely to be locked in, through the barrage of higher ed/MSM propaganda and the demands of identity politics, so that even mild conversions of the Krauthammer sort become less likely.
“a rodeo clown”
It is a telling comment on American politics that the clown subjugated all the beasts in the arena. The donkey, in particular, was no match.
He kind of looked like a turtle.
I suppose it might be a bit harsh if I wished that Trumpit "died of guilt" as a result of his comment, but I'm a bit kinder so I suppose I just hope that his shilling for the left renders him impotent.
“He called Trump “a rodeo clown.””
Too bad he wasn’t listened to and believed.
very sad to hear about this...I didn't always agree with him but I usually did.
Like most others here, I often disagreed with but always respected him.
CNN presents it thus: Charles Krauthammer, legendary conservative intellectual, dies at 68
If he'd been a leftist, would they have said 'liberal intellectual' or just intellectual? Are the two attributes, conservative and intellectual, so unusual as to be noteworthy?
I love what Charles once said to Brett Bair about how he never talked about his horrendous injury and consequent severe disability : "I don't want it to define me ".
Truly humble, profoundly intelligent, and absolutely heroic was Charles Krauthammmer.
I won't define him by his "rodeo clown" comment. I prefer to remember his steadfast arguments against the Obama administration. Charles Krauthammer was an important voice during those dark days. God's peace to him and all who loved him.
Chanie said...
Death isn't fair
When Scalia died suddenly, I turned to my husband and said "Maybe God doesn't really love America". I came to question that statement because his death probably helped usher in Trump (whom [or is it who?] I didn't vote for) and therefor we are blessed with Justice Neil Gorsuch.
I'm hoping that Krauthammer's early death will eventually prove to be God's way of shining a light of grace onto the USA.
He was a smart guy who I pretty much disagreed with. I saw him on TV for years and didn't know he was in a wheelchair until like a year ago. He was a fighter and I like that.
Kathryn51, for those who believe in God, God's light is always shining a light of grace on us all. It's up to us to see it. It's not supposed to be a zero-sum game.
The function of a rodeo clown, besides amusing the public, is to distract the dangerous animal while the thrown rider is rescued. A rodeo clown is a man of great courage and skill.
He had a real blind spot about Obama, whom he saw as some far left revolutionary-pacifist. Odd for a guy who started as a great society liberal (from Canada). Of course that didn't lose him much support on this site.
But over his career a giant.
"CNN presents it thus: Charles Krauthammer, legendary conservative intellectual, dies at 68."
He started out as an honest liberal, working for Walter Mondale.
Mondale is probably the last Democrat Party POTUS candidate that I respected and felt comfortable with. Nonetheless, I voted for Reagan, the first time I ever voted for a Republican. I like that Dr. Krauthammer made a similar political journey.
themightypuck wrote:
"I saw him on TV for years and didn't know he was in a wheelchair until like a year ago. He was a fighter and I like that."
I read his columns for almost two decades (pre-internet age for the most part) before I learned he was a quadriplegic. He truly didn't let it define him publicly.
As I wrote a few weeks ago when he announced his impending death- the kind of grit it takes to overcome that kind of injury is truly admirable. I know I couldn't do it.
A faithful wife and dog. Who could ask for a better life.
He was an expert on mania. That's what drove him to politics. They are all crazy. Plus the money was better, and he got to eat meals with the Presidents.
68 is a good age to check out. After 65 it's all downhill anyway.
“Faith is something that one has or doesn't have; one doesn't construct it. The one thing I do believe is that of all the possible views of God, atheism is the least plausible. The idea that there's no meaning or purpose or origin--that the Universe is as it always was, is to me entirely implausible for reasons of physics, apart from faith. Because if you reason back to first causes, and if you’re an atheist, you get to a logical contradiction.” - Charles Krauthammer, per Steve Kurtz (Fox News)
He was a decent and intelligent guy who unfortunately fell for the mental cancer of conservative Republicanism long before succumbing to the real thing. Nevertheless, he generally wasn't as full of crap as every other conservative which you can probably credit to his less unhinged upbringing and professional education.
“He called Trump “a rodeo clown.””
Too bad he wasn’t listened to and believed.
Conservative Americans are congenitally incapable of listening and don't believe any message that wasn't heavily funded with more marketing propaganda budgeting than it would take to fund several nations. Their minds don't really exist; they are for sale.
Mondale is probably the last Democrat Party POTUS candidate that I respected and felt comfortable with. Nonetheless, I voted for Reagan, the first time I ever voted for a Republican. I like that Dr. Krauthammer made a similar political journey.
"Journey" is one way of putting it. A journey into madness. Or maybe to Narnia or Middle Earth. Let your irrationality take you wherever it leads!
Magical thinking is powerful stuff. You can build entire identities out of it.
That black and white 1984 file photo has him propped up on his arms. That must have been a strange way to compose a shot with a quad.
While most cons dive deep into the potion of magical thinking conservatism, Krauthammer just dabbled around its edges. He swirled the drink, played with the umbrella in it, tasted a few very well described drops. He wrote well enough to distract and dance around some truly repellent ideas in an innocent way, always leaving the heavy lifting of the complete political mindlessness powering the party to his more popular peers in the punditry.
Charles K, R.I.P. A great loss.
Buwaya: my thoughts exactly on the meaning of "rodeo clown."
Sad he died. I admired his intelligence and common sense. Unlike George Will, who often behaves like a cranky little bitch, Charles always had an air of gravitas and good humor.
However, he wasn't a conservative, he was a neo-con. He started out as Mondale's speech writer and moved right because of Israel, Defense and Foreign Policy issues. He conservatism in other areas was often perfunctory. Which is why he was a defacto Hillary supporter in 2016. Like David Brooks he was a "Reasonable Conservative".
I haven't seen him in years, since I stopped watching TV chat shows - but will miss him anyway.
Loved the wit of Krauthammer. Of course he wasn't the only one wrong about Trump.
Krauthammer: "I believe atheism is the least plausible of all theologies."
The "rodeo clown" comment wasn't really wrong, as Buwaya notes. It just wasn't the whole picture. That clown has been at least as effective as the past 20 years worth of serious Republican politicians.
If I’m not mistaken, he was pro-choice.
Like me, Charles was once a Democrat. That made him more interesting to me as we started in the same place and ended up in the right place.
I think it is highly significant that the Left has no one approaching his intellectual heft. Conservatism is where the smart people are.
Charles also was one of those persons who everyone referred to by first name. Like Elvis.
Charles told Power Line’s Paul Mirengoff that he loved the blog and read it daily. Knowing that Charles read my Iowa campaign posts was s thrill.
If you are familiar with Krauthammer's work, it really points out the difference between the left and the right in today's America. Those on the right are allowed to have different opinions than other people on the right. They are allowed to be critical of Republican Presidents. There actually is a "big tent" on the right. The equivalent on the left? Not so much.
"Death isn't fair."
Sure it is. It is all-inclusive and does not discriminate; no one is overlooked or left out.
"When Scalia died suddenly, I turned to my husband and said 'Maybe God doesn't really love America.'"
If a god did exist, America would be meaningless to it in the way it is meaningful to us. If a god did exist and was concerned at all with the doings of humankind, it would be displeased at the great violence America does in the world, no less than it would be displeased by the violence done by humans in other parts of the world.
"However, he wasn't a conservative, he was a neo-con. Like David Brooks he was a
'Reasonable Conservative.'"
Neo-cons aren't "reasonable conservatives." They are the hard-right pro-war zealots such as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and others of their ilk in government and the media who fabricated a fake cause for us to illegally attack Iraq, and thence unleash the past decade and a half of cataclysm in the middle east.
Most of the others are just clown-clowns.
I've read one of his books twice, which is unusual for me with non-fiction. Amazing that he lived 40 odd years as a quad. I read they usually succumb much sooner.
Robert, you're using the corrupted definition of neo-con, and the modern idea of a loving, benevolent God.
"Witnesses said a smile curled up from the side of his mouth and Charles said one word, 'Trump.' He started laughing until he was out of breath and then he was gone...."
I put this fake quote up as a tribute to CK. He did have a wicked sense of humor, but I can't say for sure he died laughing.
I have posted this before; it is a 2004 column by Charles Krauthammer after some campaign-speech bloviating from then-VP candidate John Edwards about how the Democrats would reverse Bush Administration decisions on stem cell research. The issue itself now seems like a bit of a quaint backwater of domestic spending politics and a tiny corner of the right to life culture wars. But mostly, I always thought it to be one of the very best examples of Krauthammer's writing and thinking, and one of the finest examples of column-writing I had ever seen...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34167-2004Oct14.html
Godspeed, Charles.
like buwaya said...
If you're on an out of control bucking horse, and you're thrown; the Only thing to protect you from the hooves.... The only thing that CAN protect you from the hooves; is the Rodeo Clown. Yes, his hair is funny and Orange; Yes, he acts weird: Yes! he IS weird; but the Only thing between you and being trampled, is the Rodeo Clown
GOD Bless the Rodeo Clown
Cheyenne Frontier Days going on Right Now!! “Powder River, Let `er Buck!”
Obama put rodeo clowns in jail. It’s a dangerous profession.
Plus Krauthammer’s put down of Trump never got legs among Trump supporters.
Neo-cons aren't "reasonable conservatives." They are the hard-right pro-war zealots such as Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and others of their ilk in government and the media who fabricated a fake cause for us to illegally attack Iraq, and thence unleash the past decade and a half of cataclysm in the middle east.
I think Cookie accurately describes neo-cons. They're all about military adventurism, big defense contracts for their friends and globalism rather than MAGA. They are the reason I voted for Ron Paul.
And Trump.
He never saw a war he didn't support to put more of our soldiers in wheelchairs.
Another dangerous phony conservative.
Saw this article recently posted. I've always had a crush on him, based on his usual writings. Cat Person who I am, this killed me.
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,457373,00.html
Post a Comment