Crusading journalist Jack Anderson dies

Reuters Via My Way News ^ | Dec 17, 3:20 PM (ET) | Reuters

[SubMareener]

Jack Anderson, the crusading journalist who tackled powerful figures like J. Edgar Hoover and won a Pulitzer prize for his reporting on the Nixon administration, died on Saturday at age 83.

Complications from a 19-year battle with Parkinson's disease were the cause of death, his son Randy Anderson said in a brief telephone interview. .... Anderson also made it onto the former Nixon administration's "enemies list." G. Gordon Liddy, the Watergate conspirator, once said that he and other White House operatives discussed at the time how to stop Anderson including through slipping him drugs though no action was taken.

[SubMareener]

The reason my Uncle Jack made the Nixon enemies list was that he disclosed the fact that we were intercepting high level Kremlin officials radio-telephone calls from their cars. This caused us to loose a lot of valuable information during the Cold War. It is somehow fitting the the old bastard bit the dust on the day President George W. Bush strikes back against the traitorist journalists in our midst.

By the way, I call him my Uncle Jack, because, when a particular government agency was going to make a particularly stupid decision, I stopped it by saying, "Wait 'til my Uncle Jack hears about this!" But I was very young then. ;-)

[Fintan]

Thanks for the explanation. That really clears everything up.

 

[vetvetdoug]

I always thought that Jack Anderson was a jerk. He certainly wasn't in line with my political beliefs.

[DeFault User]

Not only lost information, but dead dead agents in the Soviet Union. Anderson should have been tried for treason and murder.

[LdSentinal]

It is somehow fitting the the old bastard bit the dust on the day President George W. Bush strikes back against the traitorist journalists in our midst.

bump

[bill1952]

D*mn right.

Memo to the MSM:

[Misterioso]

Drew Pearson, even though a liberal, had some scruples. Anderson took over the column and sold out his country.

[freedomlover]

"Crusading"? I thought that was a bad MSM word.

[furquhart]

Drew Carson was a traitorous crypto-communist who smeared good men like Joe McCarthy.

[CT]

Once all the Clinton dirt comes out, the IRS audits on political enemies, the treason with Red China, and the hundreds of other scandals they tried to cover up (with help of the media), I wonder if people that opposed them will get any recognition on their deaths?

I know, don't hold my breath...

[skinkinthegrass]

He was Still alive?
..old journalist never die, they just fade away...

[n-tres-ted]

The last time I saw Jack Anderson on television was in 1995, when he appeared on CSPAN as a speaker at a conference on the subject of fundamental tax reform. That was not long after the Republicans won control of the House and the Ways & Means Committee. Anderson was already weakened by age and illness, but he came because he obviously felt very strongly that the IRS was an evil agency. He told about an audit by the IRS that the IRS had pursued as an open case for years and wouldn't close. Finally, his accountant told him he could get the case closed if Anderson would only pay about $600 claimed because he had deducted amounts paid to his father for caretaking a residential property he had bought in a rural area. Against his principles, he went ahead and paid the amount, but the IRS still would not dismiss the case. He said he finally got the case dismissed when he and his lawyer presented documentary proof that an IRS agent had forged documents trying to frame him on a violation of the tax code. Anderson supported tax reform replacing the income tax code with a consumption tax then, and I'm sure he would be a very proud and strong supporter of the Fair Tax (HR 25, S 25). Thanks for the post.

[billhilly]

I attended the US Jaycees National Convention in Atlanta in 1971 and one of the speakers that year was Spiro Agnew. He made his introductory remarks by saying that he had been on a week long trip and we were his last stop before returning to Washington. He said that after a trip of several days he returned to find his papers stacked up...gesturing with his hands about a foot high...on Jack Anderson's desk. It was a funny comment at the time.

[csmusaret]

Crusader Jack and Golden Fleece Proxmire in the same week.

[Dick Vomer]

jack anderson....yawn..I thought he died a long time ago...of course I've never read a complete article from him... or editorial... he was like some "name" that liberals used to really, really really make sure that the lies or subversion that they spewed was "legitimate".

[b359]

When I was at the Naval Academy back in the 80's he was invited to speak at a Forrestal Lecture (we used to call them bore-us-all lectures).

At the end of his presentation, a midshipman asked what gave him the right to present classified material in his articles. He went into a tirade about how he was blameless, pulled some documents from his jacket, claimed they were classified and went on to blame the government officials who leaked him the information. His lecture otherwise was forgettable.

On a side note, the best Forrestal guest was Ross Perot, the worst, Andy Rooney, a real yawner.

[Cannon6]

At first I thought, no big loss, but it is for yellow journalism.

[SubMareener]

See, that is the advantage of going to OCS in Newport. If we did good, they let us watch Victory At Sea episodes. Since I had gone to Motion Picture Operators "C" school, I got to show the movies. ;-)

[b359]

I was in Newport in 86 and 87 for SWO school where I learned to drive targets ;-)

I remember there was a lobster house down the street that charged you half price if you were in the Navy. (We made up with some generous tips for the wait staff)

[Gigantor]

I thought he died a long time ago...