Art Buchwald passed away

(click here for the Romanian version)

Every time you think television has hit its lowest ebb, a new program comes along to make you wonder where you thought the ebb was.

My friends were just arguing today about TV policies, and I am sure he would have been fine among us.

If you attack the establishment long enough and hard enough, they will make you a member of it.

He remained untamed.

After many years spent as a correspondent in Paris, he returned to the US capital. He was now supposed to follow closely the events on the Capitol Hill - only his natural environment would have been Paris, so his next title was I chose the Capital Punishment.

Just when you think there's nothing to write about, Nixon says, "I am not a crook." Jimmy Carter says, "I have lusted after women in my heart." President Reagan says, "I have just taken a urinalysis test, and I am not on dope.

They admired him while fearing him, presidents after presidents, senators after senators - and we have always waited for his op-eds in the New York Herald Tribune - here in Romania they were reproduced by Lumea - there is a book by Felicia Antip, Lumea din ziare, that describes the struggle of a few Romanian journalists to keep the public informed.

Then the New York Herald Tribune went out of business, and something unique happened: two other major journals, New York Times and Washington Post, made possible a European edition, the International Herald Tribune, so the op-eds of Art Buchwald went on.

You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it.

Art Buchwald passed away.