the hoff by david hasselhoff. this is why ten years ago when i was at a bookstore and saw a memoir by a political journalist i had to have called fat man in a middle seat by jack germond. i knew who he was. i grew up watching him and watching the chris farley version of him on is the nl, and teamed up with jules whit to right about presidential campaigns. these were part of my self-education in american politics. while the title first attracted me to fat man in a middle seat i also wanted to read the book. it didn t disappoint. germond who passed away this week at age 85 was a throwback character. a political writer who loved horse races, political and real ones. he imbibed reporting before twitter when reporters could get closer to politicians than they could dream of today, proximity that could produce invaluable
campaigns when jack germond. correction. on the bus, some wouldn t be old enough to drink white wine, beer or whisky. as a matter of fact, i really decided i wanted to be a reporter after i got to be on a campaign bus when i was in college. and i looked around and i saw all these characters throwing out great one-liners after another. i thought, this is for me, that kind of thing. it s a real special world. it s a world of camaraderie, at least it was when i was doing it, and you re hermetically sealed with a group of people so you have to get along with them, sort of like a baseball clubhouse, like that. it was very much a man s world. i will point that out. some of the most aggressive reporting was done, in timothy krause s book, by the female reporters there who didn t have any skin in the game. whom there were very few. they were the tough ones. boys on the bus are now, in
and every second he sat there silently while everyone else was arguing all i cared about was what does jack think? it was as if jack knew what the smartest actors know, the power of silence, the longer the silence, the more we wonder what you re thinking. jack was actually my model when i eventually took a seat on the mclaughlin group for a few years. i was always the last one to speak after john mclaughlin announced issue one. and i almost always said less than anyone else on the show. join would always complain to me about that when i arrived to do the show. he would say the word content in the transcript showed i said less than anyone else. and the show said i want to hear more from o donnell. that is exactly what i wanted the audience to say. i don t think he got it. jack germond was not consciously following that rule, but that is
more from o donnell. that is exactly what i wanted the audience to say. i don t think he got it. jack germond was not consciously following that rule, but that is what he did, he always left the audience wanting more. his wife sent the e-mail with the memo, jack is gone. he went peacefully and quickly after just completing this novel, a tale he had pondered, while writing a memoir. he lived a marvelous, full, and well-loved life. i know he was a great reporter and i know he was a hearty eater. and yes, he enjoyed extending an evening. he had a bold journalistic ethic. and that matters. he was fortunate to spend his life working at a job he would have done for free during some
reporters, jack germond died last night. he covered politics over 50 years. he wrote a column for the baltimore sun. i knew him very well. he was a great gambler. loved to bet the ponies, been at the track with him, he won a lot. jack, we re going to miss you, took no gruff from anybody, had a great sense of humor, i loved you. sleep well, pal. he wrote the boys on the bus. i love the mclaughlin group when he was on, he would sit there like he didn t care. bad phrase. drinking the koolaid, what people say. ban that? yes. it is a cop out! like somebody disagrees with you, you re for stop and frisk, oh, kimberly, drink the koolaid. i made the koolaid. by the way, i like koolaid. orange, that was a good one. koolaid was never used in people s temple by the way, it