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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 salute to FEMA in Nashville

George W. Bush taught Barack Obama one big thing, and the new president learned the lesson well. When a storm strikes it's important to send help, not grudging hindrance.

May 18, 2010

PRUDEN: The First Amendment under ‘progressive’ siege

Once upon a time we could count on lawyers and law school professors to defend the First Amendment, the most important 46 words in the Constitution. Those 46 words make everything else possible. Shut up the people and the government can shut down every other freedom.

May 14, 2010

PRUDEN: Oil spreads across the Atlantic

Buyer's remorse has become a chronic disease of the democracies. Candidates who look good in winter turn out not to taste so good in summer. We can expect to see a new outbreak in Britain sometime after this weekend.

May 7, 2010

PRUDEN: Britain’s taste of hopey-changey

Britain gave us Twiggy (remember her?) and the Beatles, and this week it's payback time. We're returning the favor with the slap and dash of an American presidential election.

May 4, 2010

PRUDEN: Calling in the clowns to reform Wall Street

Henry Kissinger once observed that it was too bad that Iran and Iraq couldn't both lose their war with each other. It's tempting to apply that to the principals in the faceoff between the U.S. Senate and Goldman Sachs.

April 30, 2010

PRUDEN: Fear, loathing on money trail

Money is a lot like blood. Blood spilled in the jungle is easy to track. Money spilled in the pursuit of avarice and greed can be easy to follow, too, sometimes even to Pennsylvania Avenue.

April 23, 2010

PRUDEN: Constitution, anyone?

The House of Representatives takes up legislation this week to grant voting rights to the residents of the District of Columbia, and among all the contentious voices there's none to speak up for the Constitution.

April 20, 2010

PRUDEN: Chance for 41 votes and a spine

Alexander Hamilton thought "the judiciary will always be the least dangerous institution to the Constitution" because it has neither "the sword nor the purse." He never imagined that judges could, or would want to, steal from Congress the power and authority to write the nation's laws.

April 13, 2010

PRUDEN: No nukes not good news

America will survive the Obama administration, though it might test the limits of the patience of the divine providence that has protected our republic so far.

April 9, 2010

PRUDEN: Some presidents talk too much

What this country needs, in addition to the elusive nickel cigar, is a president with less presence and more absence. Not just from Barack Obama, but from whoever follows him as well. Celebrities, even presidents, can be too much among us. They, like us, suffer for it.

April 6, 2010

PRUDEN: Easter in Jewish Jerusalem

Celebrating Easter and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the most important holy day for Christians of all denominations, can be deadly in the Middle East. Reciting a Scripture or humming a hymn could cost your head in Saudi Arabia, and you could risk other highly valued body parts in the similarly benighted ninth-century neighborhoods abounding in the lands of caliphs, imams and ayatollahs.

April 2, 2010

PRUDEN: Can Israel survive friends like these?

This is the moment a certain number of a certain breed of Democrats have been waiting for. The latest outburst of bad feeling between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu can be the cover they seek for finally putting the Jews in their place.

March 26, 2010

PRUDEN: Now comes November

Now the real fun begins. President Obama and his Democratic legion, frightened with good cause, want the health care "reform" debate to be over and done with. "It's time to move on." Lots of luck with that.

March 23, 2010

PRUDEN: Into the twilight zone

Nancy Pelosi has scheduled a vote for Sunday, maybe to vote by not voting. The president has canceled his trip to Asia and the atmosphere in Washington grows surreal and surrealer. The speaker yearns to be a suicide bomber, blowing up her party's November prospects, or at least the leader of the Democratic squadron of kamikaze pilots.

March 19, 2010

PRUDEN: The suicide mission for the Democrats

This is the week of decision, the ultimate showdown over Barack Obama's government takeover of health care and a big piece of the American economy. It's only the latest of a series of ultimate showdowns, but eventually one of them will live up to the hype. This could be the one?

March 16, 2010

PRUDEN: ‘Tis better to kill the health care corpse now

Almost nobody is happy with what Sarah Palin dismisses as President Obama's "hopey-changy stuff," but the worst outbreak of hopey-changy just won't stay dead. The president's health care "reform," regarded as road kill only a month ago, is headed for a close vote in the House that he might still win.

March 12, 2010