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REMEMBERING CHARLES
WASHINGTON POST EDITORS
"Charles wrote for the right reasons. Lord knows — and presidents, from right to left, can attest — he didn’t seek invitations to White House dinners or other badges of approval from the powerful. He sought, rather, to provoke us to think, to enlarge our understanding, at times to make us laugh. Like few others, he succeeded, week after week, Friday after Friday, year after year." — Read the full article in the Washington Post
NATIONAL REVIEW EDITORS
"Conservatism has lost a giant, a man who not only defended our civilization but represented what’s best in it. He will be missed, and never replaced."— Read the full article in National Review
THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION
"Charles Krauthammer was no ordinary columnist. He wielded his pen in the service of finding truth, not furthering politics. His thoughtful critiques did more than earn him a Pulitzer Prize–they broadened understanding, promoted civility, and always upheld integrity…. Charles consistently raised the level of our political discourse [and] will long be remembered for challenging us to think more fully about the issues of the day and dig deeper to find the truth. For his many talents and his tremendous courage, we will miss him dearly." — Read the full statement
THE AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE
"Charles Krauthammer's trenchant analyses of critical international issues, including his eloquent defense of the State of Israel and the Jewish people, were hallmarks of his remarkable writings, speeches, and media appearances. He was a consistent and highly respected voice of conscience and integrity." — Read the full statement
THE WASHINGTON NATIONALS
"One of baseball’s greatest fans…. He was loved and admired by many and will be truly missed here at Nationals Park." — Read the full statement
A moment of silence was observed at Nationals Park the day Charles passed away
— see a photograph.
FRED BARNES
"I think of Charles as the exception to the practice of conservatives pulling their punches. It’s not that they change their beliefs. They soften them or don’t mention them. They fear Washington’s intolerance. Charles Krauthammer didn’t. He went where ideas and facts took him. He was brave." — Read the full article at The Weekly Standard
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LIONEL CHETWYND
"Charles was a voice of persuasion, of rational discourse, one that cleared the air of the acrid smoke slowly choking us all. While the rest of us debated to win, Charles wanted to convince…..A man of great wit, commanding enormous breadth and depth of knowledge, dedicated to presenting the truth as he sought to persuade others with reason…. He was a man of character, a man of honor, and always, above all, a true gentleman in the best sense of that word." — Read the full article in PJ Media
LEE EDWARDS
"Krauthammer was very much like a Founder. Whether they agreed with him or not, those who knew him commented on his grace, civility, and humor. He combined the character of George Washington, the prudential mind of James Madison, and the wit of Franklin. "
— Read the full article in The Daily Signal
ROBERT EHRLICH
"Charles Krauthammer was in a very real sense a dinosaur — a man who loved to debate (often ferociously) but never felt the need to raise his voice or use a foul word. His class and intellect would never indulge such a thought. He was also efficient while engaged: He sliced and diced opponents with facts eloquently and elegantly presented."
— Read the full article in the Baltimore Sun
STEVE HAYES
"It turns out Charles wasn’t stating the obvious in 2013. As he did so often over his long career, he was seeing things before the rest of us. He was making an observation simple, profound, and prescient." — Read the full article in The Weekly Standard
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"It was a far more personal offering than most of his written work and, despite a full catalogue of essays and columns that influenced the thinking of world leaders, it was one of the most memorable pieces in a long and distinguished career." — Read the full article in The Weekly Standard
NASH JENKINS
"His writing on U.S. politics inspired and sustained a generation of conservative policymaking; even those who strongly disagreed with him could not deny his influence. His legacy–particularly with regard to the Iraq War, for which he cheered–is worthy of the sort of serious consideration at which he was so preternaturally good. But I will remember Charles Krauthammer first and foremost as a man of deep compassion." — Read the full article in Time
DANIEL JOHNSON
"For more than three decades, Krauthammer has been the best American pundit of his generation."— Read the full article in Standpoint
BILL KRISTOL
"The greatest columnist of our generation—a man of extraordinary moral and physical courage, of intellectual rigor and probity, with a dry wit and a heightened sense of irony."
— Read the full article in The Weekly Standard
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"What overwhelmed me as I sat down to write was my appreciation of Charles the man. Charles was, to be sure, a major public figure who contributed a great deal to his country and his people—as much perhaps as any writer of his generation. But it is Charles the man who was unique." — Read the full article in The Weekly Standard
TIM KURKJIAN
"A brilliant man, a wonderful man, a tremendous writer, a good friend. He loved baseball so much I will miss him so much." — Read the full statement
YUVAL LEVIN
"I never stopped being intimidated by him. But he was deeply kind, even sweet in his way. I got to know him a little bit better over the years that followed, and the more I saw of him the more thoroughly impressive he was: a mensch in every sense." — Read the full article in National Review Online
RICH LOWRY
"I was one of the many young people who’ve worked as a research assistant for Charles Krauthammer over the years. He’s even more awe-inspiring close up—a profoundly humane man, courageous and kind, witty and thoughtful, principled and wise. A truly great soul."
— Read the full statement
His prose style was spare and unadorned but achieved great power through the underlying thought. His pieces were as tightly reasoned as syllogisms and, at their best, almost commanded assent…Now that he’s gone, there is an enormous hole in conservative commentary and the nation’s discourse that no one else will fill.— Read the full article in Politico.
JOHN MCCAIN
"Charles will be remembered as one of the greatest public intellects of his generation. A true renaissance man, there was no topic too complex for Charles to probe; no party or politician too powerful to challenge. It was Charles’ integrity in his prose and thoughtfulness in his commentary that attracted countless loyal readers and viewers, myself included."
— Read the full statement
MITCH MCCONNELL
"More than just a political pundit, Charles Krauthammer has been a true public intellectual of our age. Like the Harvard-educated psychiatrist that he is, Charles seems to know our country and our culture better than we know ourselves. He’s helped not only conservatives, but all Americans, reason together through our biggest questions with eloquence, brilliance, and charity."— Read the full statement
KATHLEEN PARKER
"I was a regular Krauthammer reader before I knew him. I admired him not only because I often agreed with him but also because of his inimitable style and the flow of his logic. There are very few writers — much less doctors — who can write with the artfulness that Charles brought to his column. Nor are there many debaters who could match wits with him."
— Read the full statement
JOHN PODHORETZ
"I can say I’m not sure anyone in my lifetime has ever done that better. It is a key role of the intellectual explicator, which is what Charles was nonpareil—to help you understand what you think. He was the most extraordinary person I have ever known, and I have been blessed to know many."— Read the full article at Commentary
MATTHEW ROZSA
"If liberals are sincere when they say that they wish conservatives were more independent-minded, intellectual and civil…then we need to recognize and mourn for the void that has been ripped into our public discourse by the death of Charles Krauthammer…. Because Krauthammer could alienate both sides with his opinions, he provided that invaluable service to virtually everyone who read enough of his columns to eventually disagree with him."
— Read the full article at Salon
JENNIFER RUBIN
"There was no modern political writer of comparable skill and insight, no one whom you rushed to read on Fridays to see if you had “gotten” what went on in the preceding week or to see what magnificent insight into the cosmos, baseball or chess he had in store for you. There was Charles, and then there was everyone else."— Read the full statement
JOE SCARBOROUGH
"I first became aware of Charles’ beautiful mind when I read a commencement address he delivered to McGill University, his undergraduate alma mater. His words had such an impact that I can still recall where I was when I read it, although nearly a quarter century has since elapsed."— Read the full article at NBCNews.com
DAVID SEIDEMAN
"I don’t know how to describe it to non-baseball fans. But there’s a way of communicating the pleasures of the action unfolding on the field with just a smile and a nod. I’ve only been able to do this in my life with my dearly departed father and a few close friends. And Charles."— Read the full article at Forbes
IRWIN STELZER
"Charles Krauthammer, who died Thursday at about 5 p.m. ET, announced his impending departure from this world in the straightforward, clear-eyed, elegant manner that fans had come to expect from him. The loss to America is dwarfed by the loss to his family and friends, but nevertheless it is enormous."— Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal
FAY VINCENT
"The prevalence of bloviating, uncivilized screamers makes Charles’s self-effacing reserve especially refreshing. Slyly irreverent yet respectful and civil, he has a classic education and is literate when those attributes are being devalued. He is an inspiration: We wish we knew what Charles knows."— Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal
PETER WEHNER
"In an age when political commentary is getting shallower and more vituperative, we will especially miss Charles’s style of writing — calm, carefully constructed arguments based on propositions and evidence, tinged with a cutting wit and wry humor but never malice."— Read the full article at the New York Times
GEORGE WEIGEL
"There was a lot to do. Charles did it with consummate skill for the next quarter-century. He now rests with the fathers, and I imagine Abraham is pleased to have his company, much as the rest of us miss him. Especially on Friday mornings."— Read the full article in The Catholic Difference
GEORGE WILL
"He completed medical school, did an internship and, one thing leading to another, as life has a way of doing, became not a jewel in the crown of the medical profession, which he would have been, but one of America’s foremost public intellectuals. Nothing against doctors, but the nation needed Charles more as a diagnostician of our public discontents."
— Read the full article in the Washington Post
CALLUM BORCHERS
"Krauthammer said in that long-ago interview that in the immediate aftermath of his paralysis, he thought, “The terrible thing is that people are going to judge me now by a different standard... I decided if I could make people judge me by the old standard, that would be a triumph, and that’s what I try to do.” Krauthammer did it. And he became a model for other journalists with disabilities, including this one, to attempt the same."
— Read the full article in the Washington Post
BENJAMIN IVRY
"Krauthammer never believed that his professional psychiatric experience was useful in the political world. More pertinent was the sheer range and variety of his interests, inspired early on by the example of his father…. Krauthammer’s direct experience of the Old World gave unusual depth to his historical awareness."— Read the full statement
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