This is a personal note about a longtime friend to whom I owe so much.

FLOYD NORRIS

Notions on high and low finance.

Tony Blankley was remembered in his obituary for having been Newt Gingrich’s press secretary and for his later writing at The Washington Times. I will remember him as one of the smartest, funniest and most intellectually honest people I have ever known.

He was my best friend in elementary school, and we stayed in touch ever since. Over the years we had countless discussions and arguments on politics and national affairs. I think I won a few of them and sometimes persuaded him to modify his views. Far more often, I lost. Win, lose or draw, I usually ended up feeling as if I had learned something.

There are too many people, on left and right, who seem to think that ideology trumps facts. Tony certainly believed in an ideology, but his was frequently enlightened and enhanced by new evidence.

American public life will be a little poorer with him gone.

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