William Safire, speechwriter, NY columnist, dies

[snopes]

William Safire, 79, conservative political columnist and word maven, has died at a hospice in Rockville, Md., reportedly of pancreatic cancer.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...092702130.html

[wanderwoman]

Darn. I didn't agree with him politically, but I loved his columns about writing.

[Natalie]

Originally Posted by wanderwoman

Darn. I didn't agree with him politically, but I loved his columns about writing.

Ha. I opened this to post basically the same thing. On Language was a great column.

[lyriccoloratura]

Same here -- I read his On Language column growing up, and wasn't even aware of his other writing. Loved the Times magazine, ignored the rest.

I wonder if he put "nattering nabobs of negativism" in McGovern's speech as a joke and was horrified that it wasn't cut. It's just such an over-the-top, silly line. How many people in the audience had ever even heard the word "nabob" before?

Lyric - nattering, but not a nabob or negative - coloratura

[Lainie]

Originally Posted by lyriccoloratura

I wonder if he put "nattering nabobs of negativism" in McGovern's speech as a joke and was horrified that it wasn't cut.

It was Agnew, not McGovern. I heard a clip of Safire talking about that line on NPR this morning, and he seemed quite pleased with it. He said the "speechwriter's code" was never to take credit for a phrase, but Agnew credited him with that one. The alternative was something about "hysterical hypochondriacs of history."

[lyriccoloratura]

D'OH!