Kristol, Russert and Snow

I have come to look forward to reading and commenting on Bill Kristol’s “much-awaited” Monday morning column in the New York Times. Usually there is plenty to comment on and to set the record straight in his writings.

As fate would have it, Kristol has written two columns within one month’s time in which he himself set the record straight–in a fitting and most commendable way.

Yesterday, in “The Character of Optimism,“ Kristol wrote about conservative Tony Snow, “But I’ll remember Tony Snow more for his character than his career. I’ll especially remember the calm courage and cheerful optimism he displayed in his last three years, in the face of his fatal illness.”

A little less than a month ago, in equally eloquent and heartfelt words, Kristol told us about the life and departure of another good friend of his, Democrat Tim Russert.

It is refreshing–and a ray of hope–that in our deeply divided nation, there are still occasions when people of very opposite political philosophies can, at least for the moment, set aside their animosities for a greater cause. If you’ll forgive the expression, Tim Russert and Tony Snow presented us with just two such occasions, and Bill Kristol rose to them.