William Safire Dies, But His Words Goes On

Last night, Pulitzer Prize winner and conservative columnist William Safire died. I admit that I've never been a huge Safire fan. I found much of his writing bombastic and overly intellectualized, his views too conservative for my taste. At the same time, it’s hard not to admire someone of such strong opinions and who has cleaved so tightly to the literary life. He was also a strong supporter of Israel.

In his honor, I’m posting one of his great advice columns from 2005 titled (and reprinted in today's NYTimes), “How to Read a Column.” While he was writing of print, after a re-reading, Safire's words of caution seems as applicable to the wild world of the Internet as to the printed page.