host: The newshour lost a friend
today.
Longtime Washington post
columnist Michael Garson
regularly filled in on our
Friday political analyst segment
died this morning at 58 years
old.
We take a minute now to look at
his lifelong career in public
service.
>> The analysis of shields and
Garson.
Host: He brought his deep faith
and enduring belief in the
American experiment to many
debates and discussions at the
newshour table carrying with him
decades of work as a
presidential speechwriter,
policymaker and columnist.
>> Politics is undermining and
invading the credibility of
religion itself.
Host: Born in belmar, New Jersey
in 1964, he was raised and
studied in the evangelical
Christian faith with a degree in
-- with a degree from Wheaton
college.
In 1990 nine he joined the
George W. Bush presidential
campaign and in 2001 became the
chief speechwriter shaping and
selling president bush's
policies at home and abroad.
>> Our grief has turned to
anger.
Reporter: After the 9/11
attacks, he penned speeches to
heal and unite the nation
watching this -- writing this
for September 14 --
>> This world he created is of
moral design, grief, tragedy and
hatred are only for a time.
Goodness, remembrance, and love
have no end.
And the lord of life holds all
who die and all who mourn.
Host: At times his speeches
promoted the debunked claims
that led to the Iraqi war that
ultimately cost thousands of
American and Iraqi lives.
Reflecting on their partnership
president bush said his
brilliant mind was enhanced by
his big heart.
He called him a key catalyst
behind the administration's
international AIDS prevention
program -- program which is
credited with saving 20 million
lives.
Bush remembered his urging -- if
we don't do this it will be a
source of national shame.
He left the white house in 2006
and joined Washington post as a
columnist writing with passion
about politics, religion and the
role of government.
>> I have seen what a president
looks like and it doesn't look
like this.
Host: He saw the rise of Donald
Trump as antithetical to his own
Christian and conservative
values and became a vocal critic
of his own party.
>> We are dealing with a man who
has not qualified for the
presidency.
Not qualified Morley because he
picks on minority groups.
Host: He urged evangelicals to
reject Donald Trump including in
in a puritans on the newshour
weeks before the 2016 election
alongside the late mark shields.
>> I think evangelicals have a
particular problem right now.
They are the people who argued
that character counts during the
Bill Clinton years.
And now, character apparently
does not count at all.
I think there is a deep tension
here.
Host: In September in his final
appearance on our program he
again condemned his party's
beaching -- speaking on its
approach to immigration.
>> These are people that claim
to be Christian in their
political engagement and one of
the most basic principles of our
religious ethics is welcoming
the stranger.
How can this possibly be
consistent with what we are
seeing in Republican ideology
right now.
Host: He spoke openly and
candidly about his own struggle
with depression and the
prevailing power of his faith
that assisting to him.
>> I have no doubt that I will
eventually repeat the cycle of
depression.
But now I have some
self-knowledge that cannot be
taken away.
I know that in my right mind I
choose hope.
Host: He reflected on the moment
with Judy woodruff.
>> Even at the bottom of your
depression you get hints and
glimmers of hope and it is
usually someone coming to you
and showing you that they care
about you deeply and they love
you deeply.
And remembering that,
remembering that you are as
valuable as everyone else can be
part of a recovery and I think a
lot of people have that
experience.
Host: A steadfast believer in
the power of rhetoric and
presidential leadership, Michael
Garson died due to completions
with cancer and is survived by
his wife and sons Michael and
Nicholas.
He was 58 years old.
We are joined now by two of his
longtime friends and colleagues
who are also familiar faces to
"Newshour" viewers.
My thanks to both of you for
being with us today on this
difficult day.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
David, I would love to start
with you.
Michael wrote about politics and
faith and about his dogs but his
writing was a gift.
It moved you and stayed with
you.
What do you think made him such
a powerful messenger?
>> He had the moral conscious we
all want you perfectly and
bodied put into practice the
best of Christian social
teaching.
I knew him 30 years ago and his
profound moral sense was with
him then.
He wrote the beautiful speeches
that George Bush wrote after
9/11.
I toured with him in Namibia,
South Africa and moods and beak
and we went to AIDS hospitals.
He sat with those suffering from
HIV and he became an
instrumental force in pushing
the American program that saved
millions of lives across Africa
by creating HIV drug programs.
I have always sat -- I have
always thought it must be a
tremendous reward to Michael to
say that he contributed to a
program that see millions of
lives.
Host: Ruth, you and Michael are
on different ends of the
political spectrum but you had
this wonderful friendship which
is a rare thing days.
What sustained that friendship?
>> I hope it is not rare and I'm
not sure these days that we are
at the ends of the political
spectrum and that may explain
some of it but we disagreed
profoundly and fundamentally
about all sorts of questions --
how government should act and
when government could act.
We could disagree on tax policy
and foreign policy but there
were two ways in which we agreed
to.
The first was about the ends.
And this picks up what David was
talking about in terms of Mike's
work on the hiv-aids program.
We agreed the ends we were
striving for was to lift up the
downtrodden and help those that
are more unfortunate and to
provide the quality and to
ensure dignity for all human
beings.
We just disagreed about the
means to get there.
The other fundamental way in
which we agreed was that the way
to get there was to take the
high road and to not belittle
others, to not demean others or
cast doubt on others.
You could disagree with other
people's views without
undermining and attacking their
motives and their honesty and
decency.
And so, that made it very easy
to be Michael's friend and
colleague and editor.
How could you not respect
somebody who had such
fundamental, enduring,
manifested moral values and also
I have to say someone who wrote
like an angel.
Host: David, as you mentioned
you have known him for decades
and you traveled with him and
visited with him these last
several weeks as well.
Is there a particular moment or
story that stays with you?
>> Three years or so ago when
we had dinner on capitol hill
and I learned that basically the
book of job had fallen to
Michael.
He had long suffered from heart
problems but he suffered from
Parkinson's and he was diagnosed
with cancer and was depressed.
So many bad things that can
happen to a person happened to
Michael all at once and I was so
proud that newshour had him on
with Parkinson's.
And he handled that with such
incredible grace and fortitude
and wrote some of his best stuff
in great pain the last few
years.
He saw his way through it
without self-pity surrendering
himself to his faith.
And a friend and I went to see
him not long ago.
He knew the end was coming and
he was looking back on his life
with gratitude at the moments
when people perform kindnesses
to him.
And he was serenely and
gratefully looking back on life.
And I think his faith -- he said
some of the most powerful
moments for him was when someone
would read something he wrote
and decide they would give that
Jesus guy another chance and he
said that was probably among the
most fulfilling thing that could
happen to him.
Host: Ruth, what about you?
>> The things -- what stays with
me is the fortitude -- I think
David used that word, the way in
which he continued to work
through all of the trials that
David talked about and through
incredible pain he would talk to
his editor and let her know if
his mind was clear enough to
write, if his pain was endurable
enough and yet he kept writing
week after week, month after
month through trials that no one
should have to go through.
He had been talking to just a
few days before he died about
his desire to write one last
column and it was about dealing
with chronic pain.
And it would have been imagine a
way in which to encourage people
going through the same kinds of
things he went through and give
them a way to work through it
and give them a way to manage it
much as he wrote the powerful
things and gave the powerful
sermon about dealing with
depression.
What a brave, brave and helpful
thing to do.
Because many of us get a little
self-indulgent in our column
writing and write about personal
things but when Michael wrote
about personal things he did it
in a way that was not intended
to indulge himself but to really
help his fellow human beings.
For me one of the most memorable
is a beautiful column that he
wrote and it is up on the
Washington post website now
about the tragedy of having a
child go off to college.
There is no human being on the
planet or parent who read that
column and did not recognize
just what a magnificent column
it was and how deeply human ape
person the author was of that
column.
Host: That column was
republished by the Washington
post and a line stuck with me --
ultimately, parenting is a
lesson in humility.
The best thing about your life
is a short stage in someone
else's story and it is enough.
Here is to a life well lived and
the beautiful legacy of words he
leaves behind.
Dylan brooks and Ruth, thank you
for being with us to remember
Michael Garson.
>> Thank you for doing this.
Host: It is clear I go Garson
was not one to shy away from
difficult subjects.
As we mentioned, a few years ago
he mention his own struggles
with depression while delivering
a guest sermon at the national
cathedral.
Can watch his full memorable