Christopher Hitchens R.I.P.

Militant pundit, slashing polemicist, essayist and author. Christopher Hitchens died yesterday from cancer at the age of 62. The England-born writer, who modelled his work after Tom Paine and George Orwell, managed to infuriate everyone from both the Left to the Right. His iconoclastic views were always couched in superb language. He was known to be democratic in the people he tolerated and argued with.

His last battle was an honest and open attempt to deal with the implications of his having a cancer that would prove to be terminal. He frankly filmed interviews of himself talking about the cancer treatment and his struggles to deal with the end of his life. This last battle triggered a wave of concerns about whether he would convert on his deathbed from his atheism. He assured all his friends that if they heard of such a thing then it was a very diseased brain speaking and to ignore it. Only a day before he died, the Daily Caller printed such a story about his embrace of Christ. No such thing happened.

Christopher Hitchens won the affection of the Left with his book about the trial of Henry Kissinger for war Crimes and his blast at Mother Theresa, whom he treated with his best acid tongue. He won acceptance among the Neoconservatives with his embrace of the Iraq War, which he insisted until the end was the right position.

Hitchens was prolific until the end, writing lengthy articles for Vanity Fair and printing his huge book of his last essays. Political Washington had a special affection for him as witnessed by today's eulogies on the House floor. The reason I suspect is that he was not identified with any one of the numerous subcultures in town and that he could be relied upon to make the outrageous statement or be offended by words and deeds deemed a violation of common decency. Privately, people treasured his gentility and consideration. This was especially true for younger political essayists, who needed advice and counsel.

It's hard to judge a writers's success or impact. But Christopher Hitchens can rest knowing that the New York Times literally stopped the presses so they could insert his obitrary on A1. That's not bad for an immigrant.