Comments on: More sad news: Charles Krauthammer is dying

By: Bob From Virginia

Bob From Virginia — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 08:16:50 +0000

There are a few thinkers who appear every now and then who are effectively irreplaceable. Prof. Barry Rubin was one, Eric Hoffer of course. Their common characteristics seem to be an ability to describe succinctly the obvious. Reality is very hard to determine as Kissenger said and there always the well-funded institutions dedicated to its obstruction. Men like C.K. could cut through the popular bilge and be just enough unfeeling to be gentlemanly impolite, and therefore cutting, in their delivery.
How the lying class must have hated him.
From now on we will just have to ask ourselves what C.K. would have said and develop our answers trying to use his methods.

By: Art Deco

Art Deco — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 11:51:20 +0000

Charles Krauthammer was a changer. He wrote for The New Republic, as well as for Walter Mondale. In one of his works (Things That Matter) he said he abandoned (the modern version of) liberalism because it just plain didn’t appear to work. His best work consisted of long-form essays written at The New Republic 35 years ago. The newspaper column was not the ideal format for his thinking and he never mastered it the way George Will, Mark Steyn, or Jonah Goldberg have. If you look back, the beginnings of his departure from the left can be seen in an aversion to popular therapeutic discourse. (That alienation you could see in Christopher Lasch's work as well, though Krauthammer tended to be rather cutting about some of Lasch's oeuvre). After 1982, he took up a critique of the virtue-signaling, anti-patriotism, and impractical functional pacifism to be found in portside discussions of foreign affairs within and without the body of Democratic office holders. It wasn't until about 1995 that he took to siding with Republicans in re domestic policy, and his views were not as well articulated in this realm. He was always an antagonist of evangelical discussions.

By: Art Deco

Art Deco — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 11:40:56 +0000

Just to point out that Krauthammer could move his arms and operate a motor vehicle. One of his columns for Time was a tribute to the engineer who designed vans for the disabled like the one he drove. From watching videos of him, it does appear as if he required a device to assist his diaphragm.

By: Art Deco

Art Deco — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 11:32:12 +0000

The poor man will be really doped up by heavy opioid dosages, perhaps even requiring an opioid coma for totally intolerable pain. The same form of death comes to women with Stage 4 ovarian cancer. It is worse than being crucified. May God’s mercy be bountiful for Dr. K.

Quit talking out of your ass. The abdominal cancer patient in my circle of friends was perfectly lucid up until 2 days before he died and never in any coma at all.

By: Romey

Romey — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 09:15:12 +0000

I feel a pending sense of personal loss. Dr Krauthammer was without peer, in intellect and wit. While I agreed with the vast majority of his opinion, there were small differences, so small to be nearly meaningless. What I liked the most from this man is his integrity. His is supreme, he could always be trusted. It is hard to find someone who that could be said about.

May he find comfort in the arms of Angels…

Being Jewish, I know heaven is out, but perhaps we could meet in mine.

By: SCOTTtheBADGER

SCOTTtheBADGER — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 07:05:58 +0000

I have long admired Dr. Krauthammer. He perservered, and conqoured over so many things, I was hoping he was indestructable. May God bring him peace, he has earned it.

By: kolnai

kolnai — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 03:45:21 +0000

Cicero – I find nothing harder that imagining myself in the position of someone like Krauthammer, not just about to die, but knowing it, and knowing it will be miserable, as if stamped with an expiration date right on your forehead and then rotting away like spoiled meat.

It’s too much. Perhaps I’m weak, but I have to distract myself from such thoughts and pretend, as best I can, that it won’t happen to me (until it does).

J.J. – And as far as my above confession goes, I’d have to imagine that what you said would be the only type of comfort I’d be capable of hearing: to have the assurance of others outside of my own ego that I did not waste my life. And along with that, the faint, probably delusional hope that the mark of my presence on this earth won’t go away.

I think people like me who have trouble believing in an afterlife really don’t take the implications of our position seriously until the moment arrives. “Nothing” is just a word until the reality of “I will be nothing” grabs you by the throat. Then we feel how cold the void really is – so much so, that even the bizarre notion of ersatz immortality via a name or a deed or a work remembered is no small comfort.

I hope everything works out better than I think it does and Krauthammer is off to somewhere better. I hope we all are.

By: J.J.

J.J. — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 03:08:00 +0000

What do you say to someone who has only a few weeks to live? I can think of nothing better than to say that his life mattered and he lived it with courage. As Charles Krauthammer did. Fair winds and following seas to this wonderful man with the huge intellect and a way with words.

By: Cicero

Cicero — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 02:48:36 +0000

Poor Krauthammer is not ‘facing’ a terminal illness. He has a terminal illness and is in its latter stages. It will be increasingly painful, with bouts of small bowel obstruction. It is a miserable business. I expect he has declined desperation salvage attempts with chemo or radiation.

The poor man will be really doped up by heavy opioid dosages, perhaps even requiring an opioid coma for totally intolerable pain. The same form of death comes to women with Stage 4 ovarian cancer.
It is worse than being crucified. May God’s mercy be bountiful for Dr. K.

By: Bruce Davidson

Bruce Davidson — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 02:48:24 +0000

Dear Neo,
I was terribly saddened to hear the news today about Mr. Krauthammer. Prior to 9/11, I had little use for blogs or newspapers. Immediately after, I had an unquenchable desire for information that would help me understand more of the world around me. Charles Krauthammer was the first voice of intelligence and reason that I found with his article about “Triumphalism”. Ever since, I have followed him with great respect and admiration. He has been a giant amongst mostly Lilliputians. I shall miss his insight and his personality.
Thank You for posting this