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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

**FILE** Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

PRUDEN: Dead mules and the Big Sleep

Ours may be remembered as the era of the Big Sleep. Barack Obama and the Democrats lie comatose at the switch as the federal government continues to swell up like a dead mule in the heat of late July. Air-traffic controllers doze off with airliners circling airports, frantically trying to get landing instructions.

April 19, 2011
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton

PRUDEN: Tough decisions for the ditherer-in-chief

Another tough decision is coming up for Barack Obama. This one ought to be easy, even for the ditherer-in-chief. But before he decides to do the right thing, he'll need all the bicarbonate of soda in the White House pantry.

April 12, 2011
What? Me worry?

PRUDEN: Tripping the clumsy Obama three-step

Barack Obama wants everybody to grow up and sit down to devise a sensible Democratic budget. If only. He remembers pumping gas and suggests anybody who doesn't like paying $4 a gallon for gasoline turn in the old guzzler and buy something new.

April 8, 2011
Gen. David H. Petraeus

PRUDEN: When nuthood was in flower

Who could blame Pastor Terry Jones for thinking he's the most famous man in the world? In his 15 minutes of fame, he's right up there this week with Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Prince William, Osama bin Laden and Charlie Sheen.

April 5, 2011
Stonewall Jackson

PRUDEN: The kinetic warriors playing at war

The revolutionaries in Libya are hitting their target, the empty sky, but Barack Obama, who wants to be a secret enabler, keeps firing blanks with his teleprompter. With no particular plan and nobody in particular in charge, it's an unusual way to run a railroad, a war or even a "kinetic military action."

April 1, 2011
Robert Gates

PRUDEN: The answer man speaks Arabic

A growing number of congressmen say they want answers to questions about what the U.S. government is up to in Libya, but they're looking to the wrong people for answers.

March 29, 2011
**FILE** Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (Associated Press)

PRUDEN: A timid commander with no battle cry

There's nothing like someone saying "boo!" in the night to scatter a coalition of the unhappy, the unmanageable and the unwilling. Nobody has to be afraid of the Americans now. This is the change Barack Obama promised and delivered.

March 25, 2011
Gadhafi

PRUDEN: On-the-job training for Obama

President Obama still holds to a naive faith in the empty promises of the toy nations of the Third World. He's learning what almost any of us could have told him about embracing an ally from the Arab League.

March 21, 2011
Teddy Roosevelt

PRUDEN: Saving the games from the thugs

If Barack Obama wants to show the love to his favorite sport, he should emulate Teddy Roosevelt, who saved college football a century ago by encouraging the roughnecks to brawl somewhere else. Big-time college sports have become a joke.

March 17, 2011
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (AP Photo)

PRUDEN: A snowdrift is no place to hide

Just when the Republicans thought it was safe to run from the social issues that drive Election Day enthusiasm in their front-line troops, here come the glum and cheerless ghosts of gaiety past.

March 7, 2011

PRUDEN: When Jane Russell came to lunch

Jane Russell, who died this week at 89, was one of the last grown-ups in Hollywood, from a time when celebrating love of country was not a felony and a conservative Republican was not an endangered California species.

March 3, 2011
Robert Gates

PRUDEN: Fear and loathing of the fruitcake

Once upon a time a nutty despot who threatened to kill Americans could expect to see a warship in his harbor the next morning (or soon thereafter). But that's so 20th century.

February 28, 2011

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Unbroken’

There's no limit to the pain, the indignities and the humiliation a man can take and, in William Faulkner's famous formulation, "not only endure, but prevail." He could have been talking about a man called Louis Zamperini.

February 25, 2011

PRUDEN: There’s trouble brewing back home in Indiana

Richard Lugar was President Nixon's favorite mayor when he was back home in Indiana, and now he's President Obama's favorite senator. And why not? He represents a mostly red state but his heart bleeds true blue.

February 24, 2011

PRUDEN: No time for Pollyana and more euphoria

The outline of what's happening in the Middle East may not be as dim as the dimmest among us thought. The news is good only if reality gives the dimbulbs a shot of something stronger than more euphoria.

February 21, 2011

PRUDEN: A little ignorance to cure insomnia

Where did Barack Obama get these guys? Presidents good and bad have learned not to expect too much from the intelligence agencies, the distributors of expensive clappertrap over the years, but this week the two top spooks revealed just how much they don't know — and, given the president's own romantic view of Islam, maybe they don't want to know.

February 17, 2011
King Farouk

PRUDEN: ‘Regime change’ gets a fresh, happy face

Good Muslims don't imbibe champagne, of course (at least in front of one another), but now's the time to pick up the empty bottles from a mighty elixir the thousands left in the wake of the revolution. The cheers, fireworks and dancing are over, too.

February 14, 2011