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Farewell, Dean Posted by: Hugh Hewitt My friend and colleague Dean Barnett died today, and the world is a much poorer place for it. As anyone who listened to him on my radio show or read his work at Soxblog, here or at the Weekly Standard knows, and as everyone who had the great, great pleasure of knowing Dean will attest, Dean's combination of sparking intelligence and enormous good humor made him one fo the most memorable of friends. What too few people know, though, is what a kind, extraordinarily giving and compassionate man he was. Dean loved people and...

Finally, I understand why people say that those who pass away at a young age died “too soon.” Prior to Monday, October 27, I would tell myself that those who died young simply passed away at their particular “time.” Even when someone passed away at an exceedingly young age—like the singer and actress Aaliyah Haughton, who perished in a plane crash in August 2001 at the age of 22—I’d rationalize it by saying that it was their time to go. I cannot do that anymore. At the very least, I cannot do that now. Dean Barnett is no longer with...

Hugh Hewitt just announced that Dean Barnett has died.

It's my sad duty to report that our good friend and valued contributor Dean Barnett passed away today. He was a remarkable man--principled, witty, and to all of us, a model of grace and courage. We mourn his passing and cherish his memory. --William Kristol

Hugh Hewitt just reported on his show that Dean Barnett of The Weekly Standard, and Hewitt's substitute on his radio program, is hospitalized in serious condition with cystic fibrosis. Prayers are requested.

A couple days ago at the gym, listening to a Hugh Hewitt podcast and perhaps not paying as much attention as I should have while pedaling away, I heard Hugh mention that Barack Obama doesn't understand the role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. What was Hugh referring to? As the British would say: the penny just dropped. A few minutes ago, CNN's Situation Room played a clip of Obama saying this about his plan for Iraq: BARACK OBAMA: I'm going to call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and give them a new mission, and that is to bring...

...Let me start by paying appropriate homage to Peggy Noonan. She’s a gifted wordsmith, and when she’s got her mojo working, she’s something to behold. But Peggy also has a grating tendency to lapse into a nostalgist’s fondness for an idealized yesterday that never actually existed. Too often she dines out on an “ice cream cones were bigger then” shtick that is both inaccurate and irritating...

Idiotic. Disgusting. Stupid. Moronic. I guess you could say that Ann loves to shock us, but at this point, who’s shocked? She obviously can’t behave well enough to attend a respectable political gathering. It’s not a lack of intelligence. It’s an indifference to self-control and a preening sort of narcissism that compels her to need the spotlight, even if it’s unflattering. (For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about, here’s audio of her calling John Edwards a “faggot” at CPAC today.) --- Michelle Malkin - ***4:15pm update*** Ann Coulter just finished her riff on Al Gore, tossed...