Wonkette

• OH NOES ESTELLE GETTY DIED: Yeah, no “hot DC gossip” angle on this one unless you want to make yet another dumb John McCain/old people joke. Farewell, Sophia Petrillo! [Estelle Getty's web page]

You’d never know it by reading National Review today, but that conservative magazine used to be an important, interesting and intellectual journal. That’s because William F. Buckley Jr., who died early this morning at the ripe old age of 82, was a hell of a writer (but a crappy novelist). He also had famous eyebrows, as the New York Times notes in its obituary. MORE »

“With her passing, Ethel’s final wish was ultimately granted when she did not have to see Hillary Clinton become president.” [Lowell Sun]

Evil Nazi war criminal Kurt Waldheim is finally dead at 88. The Nazi not only survived the “Jewish war” but thrived for another sixty years as a diplomat and politician, eventually becoming the head of the United Nations and president of Austria. MORE »

Henry Allen, we know you’re a Pulitzer-winning critic, a respected old newspaper veteran, all that jazz. But please — the death of Ken Lay does not call for a rewrite of Hunter S. Thompson’s Nixon obit. Ken Lay was a garden-variety crook, not the near-mythic villain of a generation. You are a Washington Post staff writer, not an iconoclastic, self-destructive legend. Here are some phrases that should not appear in the Washington Post: MORE »

* Lloyd Bentsen hasn’t even been dead long enough to turn over in his grave, and already he has a rap obituary. [Dealing in Subterfuges] MORE »

• What’s up with Condi’s new ‘do? Could her hairstyle offer clues to her future plans? [Baltimore Sun]
• John McCain tries to out-pander Hillary. [Queerty]
• Today brought news of the passing of two Reagan and Nixon Administration alums: Caspar Weinberger and Lyn Nofziger. [Hotline On Call]

Former New York Times reporter/editor David Rosenbaum passed away last night after being robbed while taking an early evening walk through his

Like many, Wonkette mourned the passing of former Senator Eugene McCarthy on Saturday. As many obits noted, he stayed fiery and feisty long after the point at which most politicians are content to let age soften people’s opinions about them. The Post calls today’s article about McCarthy an “appreciation,” but the closing lines make it seem more like a “dutiful acknowledgment”:

However you want to define Gene McCarthy’s career, he was different. He usually had something to say. And it often was worth hearing.

Good thing Gene was a Catholic, because such praise would certainly otherwise damn him. MORE »

Okay, sure, you can admire Rosa Parks for sparking an idealistic, peaceful movement for racial equality if you want to. Mostly, we like her because she was pissed. Anger is an important part of successful activism and it’s rare that it’s so legitimately righteous. Activists these days tend to make statements by voluntarily putting themselves in positions that lack dignity — giant puppet costumes; Michael Moore films; Crawford, Texas — here’s the woman who made history by keeping hers. MORE »