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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: Walking the talk back to Arabia

Barack Obama is off to see the Arab world, taking carefully polished apologies and regrets and an assortment of grovels, but probably all unavailing. The Muslims want deeds, not words.

June 2, 2009

PRUDEN: A little mockery from Axis of Evil

Two of the peace-loving republics formerly known as the Axis of Evil threw a frightful scare into anyone paying attention Monday, with North Korea exploding a nuclear bomb as powerful as the one that destroyed Hiroshima and Iran telling Barack Obama to get lost (and take his teleprompter with him).

May 26, 2009

PRUDEN: Frilly Valentine not for friends

Benjamin Netanyahu is back in town, and he could make Barack Obama's life easier if he would just go away. The president is trying to concentrate on the frilly Valentine he's taking to the Muslims next month in Cairo, the latest stop on his global blush, bow low and apologize tour.

May 19, 2009

PRUDEN: Lady’s got ants in her pants

Nobody's having more fun watching Nancy Pelosi squirm than the ants in her pants. The dowager queen of Capitol Hill was shocked - shocked! - by what's been going on at Guantanamo, and reveled in telling everyone so.

May 15, 2009

PRUDEN: Even a messiah loses his training wheels

Disconnecting the training wheels is a scary prospect for every apprentice biker, even with Daddy standing close by. We can sympathize with Barack Obama's fright as his moment approaches.

May 12, 2009

PRUDEN: Borking machine gets early tuneup

The president hasn't nominated anyone to the Supreme Court yet but Democrats on the fringe are tuning up the Borking machine. The target is not the nominee, but the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

May 8, 2009

PRUDEN: More to panic about: Biden’s hoof-in-mouth

The president wants everybody to wash his (and her) hands to avoid catching the disease formerly known as swine flu, but the ablution that probably tempts Barack Obama is washing his hands of Joe Biden.

May 1, 2009

PRUDEN: A pandemic of panic — are we dead yet?

We were all supposed to be in the graveyard by now, done in by AIDS, SARS, bird flu, poisoned peanut butter, Hong Kong flu, killer tomatoes, global warming and strangulation by kudzu. But here we are, proof that there really is life after death.

April 28, 2009

PRUDEN: Steady descent into third world

Opening a can of worms always tempts a mischief-maker, but it's risky business. That can of worms might turn out to be a can of snakes, like Barack Obama's latest gift to the nation.

April 24, 2009

PRUDEN: The insults were only for America

The president's critics ought to lighten up. We should give him credit for not knowing any better. (He was "finished" and "polished" at Harvard, after all.) Barack Obama is an accident of history, a street hustler from the South Side of Chicago with the gift of gab who landed on the world stage like a whale beached at the whim of a storm, the wrong man at the right time.

April 21, 2009

PRUDEN: Hail the tea bag, weapon of terror

These are not your granny's tea parties. One tea party even panicked Secret Service bodyguards when a foolish tea-sipper threw a harmless tea bag over the White House fence.

April 17, 2009

PRUDEN: No work here for Mr. Nice Guy

Barack Obama doesn't have much time to bask in the success of the Navy's rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama. The pirates vow to inflict brutal vengeance, all to put the fear of Allah into the civilized seafaring nations of the West.

April 14, 2009

PRUDEN: Tickling with cheap flattery

Barack Obama may not be the Big Thinker his fans think he is, but his big-time groveling is impressive. We've never seen a presidential performance quite like his Groveling, Toadying and Apple-Polishing Tour of the Olde Countries. If this is Monday, this must be a mosque.

April 7, 2009

PRUDEN: Obama discovers complicated world

Barack Obama's late education continues. He discovered in London that the world, like life, is "complicated." France and Germany threatened to gang up on "le Anglo-Saxons." The last president who marveled at how suddenly the world gets "complicated" after the election was Jimmy Carter.

April 3, 2009

PRUDEN: Fleeing the dilemma for dilemmas abroad

Barack Obama has not been president for three months yet, and already he's exercising the presidential prerogative of packing up his teleprompter, his charisma and the first lady, and getting out of Dodge. When the going gets tough, the tough are eager to be gone.

March 31, 2009

PRUDEN: Taking the show on the road

The president is aware not only that "it's the economy, Stupid," but he understands that Stupid can't think about two bad things at once. Worrying about where groceries come from is only human, and it helps close the sale abroad when Stupid is foolishly spending all his outrage on the AIG bonuses.

March 24, 2009

PRUDEN: The faith healer’s tent in tatters

Watching faith healers is fun, if you can overlook the pain and desperation in the eyes of the supplicants, and cheerfully endure the mosquitoes, gnats and other night bugs flying in tight formation through gaps in the tent flaps. You have to ignore reality and just enjoy the show.

March 20, 2009