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Wesley Pruden

Wesley Pruden

wpruden@washingtontimes.com

Wesley Pruden would have wanted to spend his final hours at his keyboard, deftly deflating the pompous, entitled and arrogant of the political establishment, and he came awfully close. The venerable Washington Times editor, columnist and journalism institution was found dead July 17, 2019, at his home, after putting in a full day at the newsroom on New York Avenue in Northeast D.C., where he had worked since 1982, four months after the newspaper's founding. He was 83.
His remarkable career began 67 years ago as a teenage copy boy in Arkansas, making him among the few old-school newsmen whose sharp political acumen, elegant writing style, and keen sense of the absurd allowed him to remain as relevant in the digital age as he was in the days when the rumpled shirts of reporters were splattered with ink.
To read his obituary, please CLICK HERE

Articles by Wesley Pruden

PRUDEN: A little spice for the party

The knock on the Republicans this week in Minnesota is that this is the white-bread party, with no spice, no glitter and no glitz. White bread or not, the Democrats, in the press booths or watching it from a safe distance, can't make toast of it.

September 1, 2008

PRUDEN: Torch passed to the radicals

Not with a bang but a whimper, the Clinton era ended. An angry and frustrated Bill Clinton could only watch as Hillary's pitifully shrunken delegate numbers were posted on the counting board.

August 28, 2008

PRUDEN: Clintons’ Kennedy model

The lady says all the right things. Bubba is saying some of the right things. They're a hundred percent, maybe more, for Barack Obama.

August 27, 2008

PRUDEN: Brass knuckles and party unity

There's a good reason why Mr. Dooley always takes a pair of brass knuckles to a Democratic unity meeting. A glass jaw represents opportunity.

August 26, 2008

PRUDEN: Tales from the Chicago crypt

Bashing, slashing and knocking is what makes politics the favorite sport of Americans, even in an Olympics year. Viewing with alarm is more satisfying than pointing with pride, and we expect successful pols to cultivate the gentle delicacy of linebackers.

August 22, 2008

PRUDEN: Going for brass in Beijing 2008

All that glitters is not gold, as China continues to teach the world this week in Beijing. Sometimes the shiny stuff is neither gold nor silver, or even bronze. Only brass.

August 19, 2008

PRUDEN: A legacy lurks in the shadows

History disabuses every president of the notion that he has a legacy to leave. What he leaves is a record, sometimes written in fire and blood, and history assigns the legacy.

August 15, 2008

PRUDEN: Burning a path through Georgia

His critics ought to give George W. a little credit. He famously looked into Vladimir Putin's eyes and saw a soul. That's more than anybody else has ever found there.

August 12, 2008

PRUDEN: Now a campaign like all others

Nothing is as fierce as guerrilla warfare, where anything goes. Video warfare, with its manipulated images and half-truths posing as facts, is fiercest of all. The Geneva Convention does not apply.

August 5, 2008

PRUDEN: The messiah who can’t break away

Barack Obama leads in the polls, but every pollster understands the butterflies in the bellies of sober Democrats. With everything going for him, why hasn't Barack Obama put a little daylight between himself and John McCain? Querulous minds want to know.

July 29, 2008

PRUDEN: When snake oil was in season

Barack Obama finally played the Palace, or at least the Tiergarten, and he left a lot of promises in his wake. He'll get Christians, Muslims and Jews to hit the sawdust trail together, to repent their sins and suspicions and remake the world.

July 25, 2008

PRUDEN: A new airlift to feed the frenzy

The early precincts are in, and it looks like a landslide. Unfortunately for Barack Obama, these are only the early precincts. America votes later.

July 22, 2008

PRUDEN: Something else to worry about

Blaming George W. for everything from the dog's mange to an itch in places impolite to scratch is summer fun for a lot of people. So is listening to Barack Obama's gaffes, blunders and splutters. But repetition can make anything boring.

July 11, 2008