Right-wing commentator Mark Steyn used to write newspaper obituaries. He was asked on air to give an obit for Mandela, and he said:
Well, he was a man of enormous grace and dignity. He spent three decades in jail for his political beliefs, and it would have been very easy, particularly once he’d become the champion of a global moment. There were hit pop songs called Free Nelson Mandela, there was a huge all-star rock gala at Wembley Stadium. He was, he became a poster child for the anti-Apartheid cause. And it would have been easy for him once he’d come out of jail to have been a bitter and a partisan and divisive figure. And he wasn’t. He was enormously generous in spirit given what the South African Apartheid state had done to him for the most productive decades of his life. And whatever the problems of South Africa currently, that period when he and F.W. De Klerk, his predecessor, the last Apartheid leader of South Africa, when they basically agreed to a genuine reconciliation, such as one rarely sees in Africa, I think that is his towering achievement.
For an impromptu, one-paragraph effort, that's better than anything I would've come up with.
Now, for the flip side... I read this on FR because your post about the Cruz supporters got me curious about what the Freepers thought. The responses to the post with Steyn's comment were mostly back on the "Communist" and "terrorist" themes. Then there was this truly off-the-wall comment:
Am sure he was a great man in worldly terms for sure, but did he accept or reject Christ, did he stand up for the unborn child? Was he for gay marriage etc, these are the questions I have
I think I have more respect for the people calling Mandela a Communist. They're wrong, but at least they're addressing his actual career, instead of totally missing the point.
ETA link to
the FR thread, for those who think they can take it.
= new reply since forum marked as read
......... I also want to believe it's not about President Obamas race when it comes to the right.
