Remembering Charles Krauthammer — Media Maven

By far one of the most popular fixtures among the televised punditocracy, Krauthammer died Thursday night at age 68 after a long battle with cancer.

Even before he became a television star on "Inside Washington" and later Fox News, Krauthammer's own life was something that could only be called, well, incredible: from earning a medical degree from Harvard after experiencing a severe spinal injury on a diving board, to his odyssey from died-in-the-wool liberal (he once wrote speeches for Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale) to a fighting conservative.

For my part, the memories of Charles Krauthammer are of an unfailingly perfect gentleman at a time when the vocalizing of political analysis grew increasingly ungentlemanly.

"It's a pleasure to be with you tonight," he told an overflow crowd at the storied Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. "Then again, it's a pleasure to be anywhere without [Washington Post columnist and fellow talking head] Juan Williams around to interrupt me."

That was about as far as Krauthammer went in attacking a liberal antagonist — a bit of needling, and always in good fun.

Krauthammer and I were at the Broadmoor in 2011 as speakers for the Leadership Program of the Rockies, an annual training conference for political activists.

Following his remarks at the conference's banquet, the participants adjourned for ice cream and coffee in an adjoining room. To the surprise of several, there was Krauthammer in the middle of the room — sitting in his wheelchair, signing autographs and posing for pictures with admirers.

To admirers who urged him to run for president, Krauthammer offered his iconic expression of disgust with modern campaigns and his passion for policy: "If nominated, I will not run. But if elected, I will, in fact, serve."

"Speakers don't always stay for dessert — they're tired, have an early flight, you know," one of the conference organizers told me the next day, recalling how National Security Adviser-to-be John Bolton had been the banquet speaker a year before and went promptly to his room after his speech. "But that Krauthammer! He was there for the entire reception until everyone who wanted to get time with him."

That same year, Swiss Public Radio's Washington correspondent Peter Voegeli came to me with a request: his editors in Geneva wanted to hear the words of an American commentator on Obama's policy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"But they want someone like Charles Krauthammer," he explained. "People will listen to him. He won't rant and rave. He's the voice of reason in America."

Warning that it was a longshot because Krauthammer had many requests and a Swiss audience was not usually a priority with him, I then called the pundit's office.

After patiently listening to my request and my vouching for Voegeli as a respected colleague, Krauthammer's assistant said he couldn't promise anything but would see what his boss could do.

Two weeks later, a group of reporters including Voegeli and I met for lunch. When I spotted my Swiss colleague, I didn't have to ask any questions. He was beaming.

"He came though!" Voegeli exclaimed. "We met at his house and he just talked into my recorder and was as balanced as you can be discussing foreign policy. And my editors loved it!"

This was Charles Krauthammer off camera and out of print. He was gracious when no one was watching, and a gentleman. I was blessed to know him, and I am a better person as a result. I will miss him immeasurably.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.