DANIEL MOYNIHAN IS DEAD:

Former Sen. Moynihan dies - New York Democrat known for intellect (CNN, 3/26/2003)

Former Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat from New York who enjoyed a reputation as an intellectual giant among his peers, died Wednesday after battling an infection stemming from a ruptured appendix. He was 76.

Moynihan came from a generation that is already fading from memory, so foreign is it from modern sensibilities. It was a generation that spoke often of "roots," and seemed to think it was the greatest of catastrophes to be uprooted. Moynihan was always Irish Catholic, but being a Democrat seemed as much -- perhaps more -- a part of his identity as Irishness and Catholicism. To Moynihan, it was almost unthinkable that a working-class boy would not be a lifelong Democrat.

Moynihan did influential work in sociology and public policy, and his research prepared the way for welfare reform. But as so often happens, the more powerful Moynihan became, the less he led. In the 1980s, Moynihan's ideas on welfare reform found a receptive audience in the Reagan administration and the Republican side of Congress, and Moynihan often mused in the press whether he should follow his conscience and vote with Republicans, or stick with his fellow liberals out of party loyalty. Party loyalty always won.

I suspect that Peggy Noonan will have a fine obituary online at OpinionJournal.com tomorrow, and I look forward to reading it. May God bind up all Senator Moynihan's wounds; may he rest in peace.

Posted by Paul Jaminet at March 26, 2003 8:33 PM