Bill Safire Dies

The New York Times reports that William Safire died today at a hospice in Maryland. Safire was the best and most accessible writer on language - especially political language - out there, and I have long been a fan of his Sunday "On Language" columns. While I didn't always agree with his punditry - in politics or in language - he was always a pleasure to read or to watch on the Sunday news shows or other outlets. The Times calls him today "a Pickwickian quibbler who gleefully pounced on gaffes, inexactitudes, neologisms, misnomers, solecisms and perversely peccant puns."