Safire - RIP

PR man, White House speech writer, Pulitzer-prize winning columnist, wordsmith, grammarian and libertarian conservative, dead at 79.  Makes today's breed of O'Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter and Beck look small.

I'm guessing this obituary from The New York Times was reviewed and approved in advance by Safire.  Today's Wall Street Journal opinion page also honors Safire as "a competitor who had our back when we needed him."

Safire's PR genius, for GE appliances at the time, led to the Nixon Khrushchev "kitchen debate."  Safire recalls it here.  Fascinating.