Krauthammer

By Tom Quiner

Charles Krauthammer died yesterday. Do you know what is amazing? Conservatives and liberals alike share heartfelt loss at his passing.

Krauthammer was the dean of conservative pundits. How many of us conservatives tuned in each night to watch him on the “All-Star Panel” with Bret Baier? What is also amazing is how many liberals tuned in.

A common liberal reaction to a Krauthammer analysis was that they may not agree with him, but they understood the basis of his belief. They respected his thinking and the way he expressed opinions, even if they drew different conclusions.

Mr. Krauthammer did not scream or foam at the mouth. He modeled punditry the way it should be practiced: with brains, eloquence, and equanimity. In fact, he had a dry wit that delighted anyone with the pleasure of being in his company, as Bill Bennett relates in the video above.

He lived his life exactly the opposite of the way the Left said he should have lived it: by identifying as a handicapped person. Identity politics did not resonate with Charles Krauthammer.

Many people didn’t realize Krauthammer was paralyzed in a swimming accident in college. He chose to make the best of the situation and lived his life so productively that he excelled in multiple careers, from psychiatrist to political pundit to author.

For some reason, I was under the impression that he wasn’t religious. Evidently, that wasn’t the case. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, his friend, Irwin Stelzer quoted Krauthammer as saying that if atheism “is (God forbid) true, it is dangerous” since it can lead to utter desolation.

Mr. Stelzer described what it was like to attend a Jewish Seder meal at the Krauthammer home:

“To attend a Passover Seder at the Krauthammers’ was to enjoy a feast for the palate, thanks to his wife, Robbie, and for the brain. His deep knowledge of the Hebrew texts and commentaries, along with his own interpretations of the real meaning of the Haggada, were told with his special brand of humor, turning those evenings into joyous tutorials.”

Wouldn’t you have liked to have known him? But we did thanks to his writings and his television appearances. And we liked what we got to know about him. That’s why his passing has such impact on so many of us.

Charles Krauthammer will be missed.