William Safire, New York Times columnist and passionate defender of the English language, died Sunday at the age of 79. For years I enjoyed his weekly "On Language" column in the Sunday Times Magazine. Indeed, the Safire column and the crossword were the only reasons I ever bought that newspaper. Almost every week, as I read his column, I would utter "Ouch!" after encountering another linguistic sin of which I was guilty. Why then did I continue to read him? I'm not really sure. A touch of masochism perhaps?In addition to his weekly language column, which he wrote for 30 years, Safire also penned over 3,000 political columns and was the author of more than a dozen books, many of them best sellers. Generally to the right politically, he was a great supporter of Israel and seemed to enjoy taking on the leaders of the liberal establishment. Indeed, he won a Pulitzer Prize for his scathing columns on the financial affairs of Bert Lance, President Carter's budget director.
I will miss his no-holds-barred prose. Rest is peace.
First Bill Buckley now Bill Safire. Two of the few remaining intelligent conservatives within the space of so short at time. The voices of reason within the conservative movement are dwindling by the day.
ReplyDeleteMy left-leaning ways notwithstanding, although I did not agree with him much of the time, when William Safire spoke, I listened.
Meanwhile the movement that the two men were so identified with - the movement they both tried to save from the kooks, criminals and fools who have hijacked it - continues to implode.
Isn't life wonderful?
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Tom Degan