obituaries
David S. Broder, 81, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Washington Post and one of the most respected writers on national politics for four decades, died Wednesday in Arlington of complications from diabetes. Mr. Broder was often called the dean of the Washington press corps — a nickname he earned in his late 30s in [...]
Longtime U.S. diplomat Richard C. Holbrooke, whose relentless prodding and deft maneuvering yielded the 1995 Dayton peace accords that ended the war in Bosnia – a success he hoped to repeat as President Obama’s chief envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan – died Monday in Washington of complications from surgery to repair a torn aorta. He [...]
ROBERT McNAMARA IS DEAD: Jesus, anybody else feel like dying in the next week or two? Because now is clearly the time to do it! Robert McNamara prosecuted America’s hopeless adventure in Vietnam on behalf of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson; he also did many other things, which nobody remembers on account of the war. [Washington [...]
‘A BLEEDING HEART CONSERVATIVE’: Former Republican VP candidate Jack Kemp died over the weekend. He was sort of a loony supply-sider, but he actually cared about the working class and racial justice and all sorts of good things. A decent guy and one of the last of the big-tent Republicans. [Obit Magazine]
SO LONG, STUDS TERKEL: The great collector of oral histories has died at the age of 96. “I’ve met hundreds, no, I’ve met thousands of interesting people, and I’ve been so caught up with them and fascinated by them and intrigued with them, it’s almost like there’s no room inside me to be interested in [...]
SAD NEWS: David Foster Wallace, a brilliant writer and from all reports a kind, generous, and decent person, killed himself on Friday. He recently published a standalone version of a 2000 essay about John McCain; the book is called McCain’s Promise: Aboard the Straight Talk Express with John McCain and a Whole Bunch of Actual [...]
OH NOES ESTELLE GETTY DIED: Yeah, no “hot DC gossip” angle on this one unless you want to make yet another dumb John McCain/old people joke. Farewell, Sophia Petrillo! [Estelle Getty's web page]
