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Helen Thomas, Lynne Stewart, a vat of anchovies and me ... indeed!
-Glenn Reynolds

Remembering Tom Lantos

It's been a long time since I posted anything here but a news item just appeared on CNN that jolted me into action.  Tom Lantos, a very good man has passed away at the age of 80.  Tom Lantos, as some of you might know, was a Democratic congressman from San Mateo, California for over a quarter century.  He was also so much more.  Long before Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or even my parents were even glints in their parents' eyes, Lantos, a Hungarian Jew, was helping to fight the Nazis as a teenager in the Hungarian resistance.  Those days shaped the man who would come to America and make it a better, more moral nation through decades of service.

the thing about Tom Lantos is that even if you didn't agree with him about a particular issue (and I often did not), you knew that his views were genuinely held and well thought out.  He was not a demagogue or idealogue.  He did not espouse views simply because they were popular or convenient at a particular moment (his pro-Iraq War stance while a congressman in the San Francisco Bay Area were decidedly against the tide).  He was a man who was decent and moral and loved this nation and the best, most moral ideals that it stands for with a passion that never dimmed with time or age. 

Tom Lantos was a mensch.  The world, and this nation in particular, is fortunate that, from the rubble and ashes of the nightmare that was World War II and the Holocaust, this diamond could be saved.  We should be so fortunate that Tom Lantos' wonderful example may serve to form more men and women like him.

Posted by: Jheka at February 11, 2008 10:30 | link | comments |
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