May 16, 2007 12:53 AM

No Debate: Fox News Did the Right Thing

I've had two close friends die recently. Another friend is now deciding whether to undergo one more round of chemo that, the doctors say, might buy him an additional 3 months -- at, of course, a terrible cost.

I mention this because I'm too steeped in death just now to write in any depth about Jerry Falwell. Anyone who reads this blog already knows how I felt about the Moral Majority -- which, someone once quipped, was neither -- and its effect on American politics. Or about a TV evangelist who would worry that a cartoon character might be gay.

I'm only glad that Fox News wisely decided not to have the Republican presidential candidates comment on Falwell during their debate in South Carolina. All 10 would have stumbled over each other in praising him -- and we would have been left to guess what percentage of that praise was self-serving political calculation. Falwell, in death, deserved better than that. We all deserve better than that.

I'm particularly glad that John McCain wasn't asked about him. McCain, of course, once lableled Falwell as among the "agents of intolerance." And that was before Falwell's infamous rant against gays and feminists following 9-11. But late last year, in what looked like nothing more than a bid to win over dubious social conservatives, McCain made a very public reconciliation with Falwell. It was a particularly embarrassing moment for the straight talker.

At the debate Tuesday night -- thanks to Fox's decision -- if any candidate embarrassed himself, it was entirely on his own time.

Posted by Mike Littwin at 12:53 AM | Comments (1)