TV host John McLaughlin, RIP

[JSngry]

We'll never know for sure now that they're dead.

[Rooster_Ties]

I thought McLaughlin killed McLaughlin years ago.

http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/mclaughlin-halloween-cold-open/2869203

[JSngry]

So what are you saying here, that one of them faked both of the other one's death?

There was a time when I would have scoffed at such a notion, but, as you and all the others here imply, these are not that times.

[Rooster_Ties]

A lot of the on-line tributes to McLaughin mention that his was the grandfather of the whole Crossfire "in your face" style of political debate on television.  But while often (always?) spirited, I always felt that the participants on the McLaughlin group were really debating things at a slightly different level than Crossfire ever got to (as I recall).

Crossfire always seemed to be WAY more adversarial (and argumentative), among people who would likely never face each other again.  Whereas the cast of characters on the McLaughlin group had a pretty core group of about 5-6 people, who knew they would mostly be facing each other again the week (or quite soon), and on a regular basis.  So while the arguments were real, they were also a little more lighthearted.

I don't want to overstate the significance of the show, but I thought it did elevate the discussion a bit, and highlighted (at least for me, in my younger days) some of the more classic arguments on both sides of many issues -- and early on helped me form some of the basis for my own political opinions (back in the 90's).

Also, I have a fondness for PRINT-journalism types (as a sort of archetype), and most of McLaughlin's revolving cast of pundits -- practically all of them, in fact -- were print-columnists (and not TV-types).  It was good to see them talking in real-time about issues, and NOT just spouting memorized (well-performed) sound-bites, like so many of the talking-heads on the cable-TV news shows are like today (though I too have said shows on TV in our household more often than not, especially in the run-up to elections).

I for one will miss McLaughlin's charm (if you can call it that), and somewhat acerbic whit.  RIP.