The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: mystery-ak on June 08, 2018, 04:11:34 pm
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Fox News star Charles Krauthammer reveals he has weeks to live in heartbreaking letter
By Greg Wilson | Fox News
Charles Krauthammer, the beloved and brilliant Fox News Channel personality who gave up a pioneering career in psychiatry to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning political analyst, on Friday revealed the heartbreaking news that he is in the final stages of a losing battle with cancer.
The 68-year-old’s incisive takes on politics of the day have been missing from Fox News Channel’s “Special Report†for nearly a year as he battled an abdominal tumor and subsequent complications, but colleagues and viewers alike had held out hope that he would return to the evening show he helped establish as must-viewing. But in an eloquent, yet unblinking letter to co-workers, friends and Fox News Channel viewers, Krauthammer disclosed that he has just weeks to live.
“I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months,†the letter began. “I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I’m afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me.â€
"This is the final verdict. My fight is over.â€
- Charles Krauthammer
more
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/08/fox-news-star-charles-krauthammer-reveals-has-weeks-to-live-in-heartbreaking-letter.html (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/06/08/fox-news-star-charles-krauthammer-reveals-has-weeks-to-live-in-heartbreaking-letter.html)
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I was wondering where he'd gone to.
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I believe that the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument is a noble undertaking
Thank you, Mr. Krauthammer, and may God bless your soul.
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Very sad, yet inspirational. Enormous dignity in that statement.
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What horrible news.
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One of the very few pundits I could actually stomach. Sad news.
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God Speed Mr. Krauthammer
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Charles was a towering intellect surrounded by towering egomaniacs.
G-dspeed, sir.
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Statement of Charles Krauthammer
WASHINGTON, June 8, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months. I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I'm afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me.
In August of last year, I underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in my abdomen. That operation was thought to have been a success, but it caused a cascade of secondary complications – which I have been fighting in hospital ever since. It was a long and hard fight with many setbacks, but I was steadily, if slowly, overcoming each obstacle along the way and gradually making my way back to health.
However, recent tests have revealed that the cancer has returned. There was no sign of it as recently as a month ago, which means it is aggressive and spreading rapidly. My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live. This is the final verdict. My fight is over.
I wish to thank my doctors and caregivers, whose efforts have been magnificent. My dear friends, who have given me a lifetime of memories and whose support has sustained me through these difficult months. And all of my partners at The Washington Post, Fox News, and Crown Publishing.
Lastly, I thank my colleagues, my readers, and my viewers, who have made my career possible and given consequence to my life's work. I believe that the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument is a noble undertaking. I am grateful to have played a small role in the conversations that have helped guide this extraordinary nation's destiny.
I leave this life with no regrets. It was a wonderful life – full and complete with the great loves and great endeavors that make it worth living. I am sad to leave, but I leave with the knowledge that I lived the life that I intended.
-- Charles Krauthammer
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God bless
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Very sad, yet inspirational. Enormous dignity in that statement.
@Lando Lincoln
Indeed! Dr. Krauthamer has done well and knows better than most that none of us are getting out of here alive.
He is an amazing man.
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Geez! I didn't always agree with Charles, but he could present arguments in a fair, intelligent, non-judgmental way that I found refreshing.
God bless you, Charles.
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Sad news.
I've always enjoyed him on the round table at Fox.
Also, I've read quite a few of his editorials, back when i'd receive a newspaper.
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Very sad, yet inspirational. Enormous dignity in that statement.
One of the things I admire about him was the fact he never played the ‘poor me’ card, despite the accident early in his life.
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I am absolutely crushed.
Charles Krauthammer is the rarest of political pundits: a brilliant and erudite man who expresses himself powerfully without the faintest trace of overblown self-regard. He is the one person in public life whose opinions I always take seriously, even when I think I disagree with him. Just... damn.
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I am absolutely crushed.
Charles Krauthammer is the rarest of political pundits: a brilliant and erudite man who expresses himself powerfully without the faintest trace of overblown self-regard. He is the one person in public life whose opinions I always take seriously, even when I think I disagree with him. Just... damn.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
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I am absolutely crushed.
Charles Krauthammer is the rarest of political pundits: a brilliant and erudite man who expresses himself powerfully without the faintest trace of overblown self-regard. He is the one person in public life whose opinions I always take seriously, even when I think I disagree with him. Just... damn.
Perfectly stated.
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Charles always had something original to say. He made the panel discussions worth watching, and he has been/will be sorely missed.
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They say it comes in threes. Spade, Bourdain, Krauthammer...yet more proof that he was a liberal all along.
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They say it comes in threes. Spade, Bourdain, Krauthammer...yet more proof that he was a liberal all along.
Hey, was Red Schoendienst chopped liver?
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Once when interviewed, Rush Limbaugh was asked:
If you needed a brain transplant...or if you could switch brains with somebody else...who might that be? He may have been asked to name three people...can't recall.
He said "Charles Krauthammer" without hesitation, and then expounded on his reasons...all which have been expressed here on the thread.
I dated his personal assistant/valet/secretary back in the early 90's and had the opportunity to meet him.
God Speed, sir!
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I am absolutely crushed.
Charles Krauthammer is the rarest of political pundits: a brilliant and erudite man who expresses himself powerfully without the faintest trace of overblown self-regard. He is the one person in public life whose opinions I always take seriously, even when I think I disagree with him. Just... damn.
Spot on
The guy was a class act.
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Hey, was Red Schoendienst chopped liver?
:silly: Maybe Ozzie Smith and Vince Coleman next?
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Spot on
The guy was a class act.
@Wingnut
:amen: and agreement with his vews or not has not one damned thing to do with it!
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They say it comes in threes. Spade, Bourdain, Krauthammer...yet more proof that he was a liberal all along.
Krauthammer is not killing himself. What a crappy thing to say.
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Sad news. I have a great deal of respect for Mr. Krauthammer.
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@Wingnut
:amen: and agreement with his vews or not has not one damned thing to do with it!
Exactly. And even when I didn't agree with him (which was a lot rarer than imagined), he provoked thought. He gave me something to ponder. Always.
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Krauthammer is not killing himself. What a crappy thing to say.
Perhaps it was merely a clumsy way to say that celebrity deaths typically occur in threes. Suicide, aside.
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I am absolutely crushed.
Charles Krauthammer is the rarest of political pundits: a brilliant and erudite man who expresses himself powerfully without the faintest trace of overblown self-regard. He is the one person in public life whose opinions I always take seriously, even when I think I disagree with him. Just... damn.
Very well-stated @andy58-in-nh.
I started reading Krauthammer in the mid-1980's in The New Republic while I was in grad school. His work always stood out; I looked for him in the issue contents and, no matter the title or subject of his essay, I read it. More recently his occasional dry wit on Fox has been absolutely hilarious, and his opinions without fail concise and insightful. Wherever he spoke in order, he basically had the last word. Like you andy, I learned he was to be taken seriously, even more so when I disagreed with him.
We will not see his like again.
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Very well-stated @andy58-in-nh.
I started reading Krauthammer in the mid-1980's in The New Republic while I was in grad school. His work always stood out; I looked for him in the issue contents and, no matter the title or subject of his essay, I read it. More recently his occasional dry wit on Fox has been absolutely hilarious, and his opinions without fail concise and insightful. Wherever he spoke in order, he basically had the last word. Like you andy, I learned he was to be taken seriously, even more so when I disagreed with him.
We will not see his like again.
There are three people who's writings I tried to never miss. Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, an Charles Krauthammer. Served me well I think.
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Dr. Krauthammer (how easy it was sometimes to forget he was a full psychiatrist who finished his medical education after his paralysis in a diving accident) is one of those writers who instructs, delights, and civilises the day's or the week's events even when you disagree with him. His anthology is right there with those of Tom Wolfe, Albert Jay Nock, and William F. Buckley, Jr. on my easiest-to-reach book shelf . . .
(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51eIx6HIiXL._SX325_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
As Alan Freed loved to say signing off his nightly radio shows, this is not goodbye, Dr. Krauthammer, this is only good night. May the angels of the Lord escort our Charles to a gentle and warm welcome home.
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Perhaps it was merely a clumsy way to say that celebrity deaths typically occur in threes. Suicide, aside.
Maybe. I'll go with that.
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Note to John McCain......this is how you close the curtain in a classy and dignified way.
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I am absolutely crushed.
Charles Krauthammer is the rarest of political pundits: a brilliant and erudite man who expresses himself powerfully without the faintest trace of overblown self-regard. He is the one person in public life whose opinions I always take seriously, even when I think I disagree with him. Just... damn.
Exactly.
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Sad. What a miserable day for news
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Note to John McCain......this is how you close the curtain in a classy and dignified way.
Amen! Well said Frank!
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I just read - and was stunned by - some incredibly awful and mean-spirited comments on Facebook from self-avowed libertarians about Dr. Krauthammer's announcement. Good grief. **nononono* Is it too much to hope his last days are not painful?
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I just read - and was stunned by - some incredibly awful and mean-spirited comments on Facebook from self-avowed libertarians about Dr. Krauthammer's announcement. Good grief. **nononono* Is it too much to hope his last days are not painful?
@mountaineer
This avowed libertarian shares your hope, but comforts himself knowing that Krauthammer's essays will long outlive the belchings of his critics.
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I just read - and was stunned by - some incredibly awful and mean-spirited comments on Facebook from self-avowed libertarians about Dr. Krauthammer's announcement. Good grief. **nononono* Is it too much to hope his last days are not painful?
Given some of hateful comments here it should be no surprise that the wider public is also without a generous or thoughtful spirit.
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Given some of hateful comments here it should be no surprise that the wider public is also without a generous or thoughtful spirit.
That's horrible. Can you point to some of those comments?
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Given some of hateful comments here it should be no surprise that the wider public is also without a generous or thoughtful spirit.
I just re-read the whole thread and there wasn't one unkind word.... :shrug:
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I just re-read the whole thread and there wasn't one unkind word.... :shrug:
@mystery-ak
There were a few snarky remarks tied to the fact that Krauthammer wasn't a Trump supporter, generally by people who seem blissfully unaware that he doesn't exactly suffer fools or the more hingeless of Trump's critics. But those seem in the minority on that thread. Maybe the snarkiest was this remark:
I’m thinking, “Really?!? You’re not sure what kind of a president Obama would be?†We all knew for sure that Obama would be a terrible president! How could Mr. Genius Krauthammer not know? Any respect for his alleged amazing mind went down the drain for me.
Spoken (well, written) by one who was blissfully unaware of how often and how pungently Krauthammer attacked His Excellency Al-Hashish Field Marshmallow Dr. Barack Obama Dada's flouting of the constitutional prescription regarding executive limits.
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When I heard the news I felt sad. When I read his statement I could hardly breathe. It was so short, so simple --- yet filled with such dignity, courage and appreciation for his life.
I pray for your tranquil journey and safe home, Charles. You will be missed.
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There were a few snarky remarks tied to the fact that Krauthammer wasn't a Trump supporter, generally by people who seem blissfully unaware that he doesn't exactly suffer fools or the more hingeless of Trump's critics.
He’d never do it publicly, for ethical reasons, but I always wondered, given his psychology background, what his opinions of Obama an Trump were.
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I just read - and was stunned by - some incredibly awful and mean-spirited comments on Facebook from self-avowed libertarians about Dr. Krauthammer's announcement. Good grief. **nononono* Is it too much to hope his last days are not painful?
We live in a nasty world. I don't know when it started, but it was ramped up during 8 years of Obama. It has worsened since Trump was elected. Seems no one has class anymore.
If you can't offer any kind words, how about saying nothing?
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We live in a nasty world. I don't know when it started, but it was ramped up during 8 years of Obama. It has worsened since Trump was elected. Seems no one has class anymore.
If you can't offer any kind words, how about saying nothing?
I don’t know if it’s due to a particular individual, but the rise of social media and the anonymity has been the biggest contributor - IMHO.
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I just re-read the whole thread and there wasn't one unkind word.... :shrug:
I was not referring to comments about Krauthammer, just the overall tone of some here who pounce, insult, degrade, and attack at every chance. And you very know who they are.
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I am genuinely grieving over this news.
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I was not referring to comments about Krauthammer, just the overall tone of some here who pounce, insult, degrade, and attack at every chance. And you very know who they are.
Maybe this isn't the thread for that kind of complaint.
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I was not referring to comments about Krauthammer, just the overall tone of some here who pounce, insult, degrade, and attack at every chance. And you very know who they are.
I don’t see an unkind word on this thread. Please don’t provoke them.
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I am genuinely grieving over this news.
Me, too.
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He’d never do it publicly, for ethical reasons, but I always wondered, given his psychology background, what his opinions of Obama an Trump were.
@edpc
I give a kind of thumbnail of both here (http://www.gopbriefingroom.com/index.php/topic,319526.0.html).
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So sad. Truly a wonderful man. My prayers will be for his family through this difficult time.
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God Bless Charles Krauthammer, I enjoyed his view and have missed him during his sick time and I am saddened to hear this.
Nonetheless, I think I disagree with some of the views he has expressed but we all have a right to our opinion. I believe he has been quite the neo-con and Bush backer, said Jeb won one of the debates, maybe Jeb did and then, with the liberation of Iraq.
2003:
The Bush Doctrine
Charles Krauthammer
...And the Soviet Union died in its sleep, and with it the last great existential threat to America, the West, and the liberal idea.
https://www.weeklystandard.com/charles-krauthammer/the-bush-doctrine-1776 (https://www.weeklystandard.com/charles-krauthammer/the-bush-doctrine-1776)
Ever hear of radical Islam?
And here, just a year ago, he was speaking about the situation of an infant, Charlie Gard, caught up in the health system in the UK.
Charles Krauthammer Under Fire for Calling Efforts to Save Charlie Gard a “Cruel Hoaxâ€
National Micaiah Bilger Jul 11, 2017 | 3:57PM Washington, DC
http://www.lifenews.com/2017/07/11/charles-krauthammer-under-fire-for-calling-efforts-to-save-charlie-gard-a-cruel-hoax/ (http://www.lifenews.com/2017/07/11/charles-krauthammer-under-fire-for-calling-efforts-to-save-charlie-gard-a-cruel-hoax/)
And one can hear about Krauthammer's views, I definitely think at times, he was pro-life, called Roe v. Wade an abomination. Yes, that news website above, Life News seems to say he wasn't. Maybe his views were not uniform.
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@TomSea
The Weekly Standard article regarding the Bush Doctrine was written in June, 2001 -- obviously, before the tragic events of 9/11. I'd say the vast majority of people, including most of us, were unaware of the threat of radical Islam back then.
I have read that it's not easy to label Dr. Krauthammer as to his political views and I believe it to be true. Seems to me he could be conservative or libertarian or maybe even a tad liberal on each individual issue. One could not just say, oh he's a conservative, or oh, he's pro-life exclusively and consistently, and that's that. He looks at each matter carefully, intelligently and calmly, without rancor, and then renders an opinion. I like that about him.
Agree or disagree with him, I could always admire and respect Dr. Krauthammer and his views. I couldn't say that about most of the rest of the talking heads out there.