Judy: We want to devote the rest
of the program to the memory of
our dear friend and longtime
newshour colleague, mark
shields, who passed away this
weekend at the age of 85.
>> Finally tonight, Friday night
conversation and analysis with
and from mark shields.
Judy: And to the analysis of
shields and brooks, mark shields
and David brooks.
>> For 33 years mark shields
brought decades of political
expertise, unapologetic liberal
views, and quick Irish wit to
our airwaves, providing critical
context and perspective to some
of the most historic moments in
American politics.
Impeachment --
>> They said Bill Clinton lied,
they don't want him to leave.
Judy: War.
>> Has to be the last resort.
Judy: White house firsts.
And of the 20 election.
>> Donald Trump is a sore loser.
Judy: A native of Weymouth,
Massachusetts and red sox die
hard, mark graduated from notre
dame in 1959.
And for the next two years
served in the Marine Corps.
He cut his teeth in politics on
capitol hill and on the campaign
trail.
Working for his political hero
Robert Kennedy in 1968, Mo
Udall.
He channeled all those lessons
into a column.
>> As seen by the 1988 team.
Judy: And, weekly during a
presidential election.
His wife, and shields -- Ann
shields.
>> Whenever there was big news,
they called mark.
It became a Friday night regular
venue.
Judy: To our cofounder robin
Mcneil, mark embodied the goal
of the program.
>> We set out to say, talking
heads are a valuable way humans
communicate.
Why not get the best talking
heads we can?
Mark fit in perfectly into that.
>> It is the first time tonight.
Judy: He challenged his
conservative counterparts.
>> My favorite moments in
television have been with mark
shields.
Judy: David was his first
sparring partner, sharing the
desk with him for years.
>> He knows more about politics
than I do, but had a humility
about him that made him a great
partner.
Television can be highly
competitive.
Often you may be paired with
someone you can't trust.
You never know when you will get
a knife in the back.
I always knew I could totally
trust him.
Judy: There were heated moments.
>> Mark and I went at it last
week because we passionately
disagree.
Judy: Like the war in Iraq.
>> Christian, pro-israeli,
military occupying force in an
Arab nation?
>> There are about 12 questions.
Judy: Still, he always kept it
fun.
You spent three hours talking.
What took place here?
>> First of all, this week will
be a yawn.
Judy: So we can all go home.
And, stayed civil, whether with
us at "The newshour," or at CNN,
where he debated the late Robert
Novak alongside a good friend,
my husband, Al hunt.
>> He is interested in a lot of
different things.
But those things he is really
interested in, politics, family,
faith, sports, he gets deeply
engaged.
He is not a passive observer.
Sports matter, Judy.
Judy: That love of sports
inspired a shields and brooks
spinoff.
>> Very casual, no notes.
They both sat down and rift.
>> The sport of politics and the
politics of sport.
>> He could have dropped of
velvet hammer on anything, not
just politics.
>> I like American sports.
Basketball.
Judy: Through the decades he
guided us through elections and
presidencies with an enduring
optimism about public service.
>> I don't know nation as big
and brawling and diverse as
ours, how to resolve our
differences except with
commitment, passion, courage, of
those willing to practice the
political process and achieve
compromise.
Judy: He was beloved in the
newsroom for his genuine and
cheerful spirit, big heart, and
one lighters.
>> He caved like a suitcase.
Judy: Mark will be missed by our
entire newshour formula, --
family, his wife, children,
grandchildren.
Also, I know, by all of you.
Mark shields was 85 years old.
Here with more remembrances of
mark R two people who knew him
well, his daughter, Amy, and
David brooks of the New York
Times, who was mark's sparring
partner on Friday nights for
nearly 20 years.
Thank you.
I was lucky to know your family.
Amy: My whole life.
Judy: Your dad, we knew the
private mark shields.
Amy: He is very similar, that is
the most interesting thing.
Who he was on television and who
he was walking around the office
was the same person.
He was a warm, loving,
hilarious, charming person.
He always made us laugh.
He loved games, sports.
He made up games.
My kids joked he would made up
-- makeup games.
He might turn themselves -- turn
them toward himself.
Judy: It is clear he loved
politics, politicians.
Where do you think that came
from?
Amy: His parents.
They really believed in politics
as a way to solve problems.
They believed in public service.
I never met my grandfather, but
he was on the school board, work
at a paper company.
I think he grew up knowing that
was very important and became a
love of his early on.
Judy: He did not get
discouraged.
Surely in the last few years it
was different, but watching the
ups and downs, he maintained
optimism.
Amy: That is what is amazing.
People my age are this
allusions, unfortunately, --
people my age are disillusioned,
unfortunately.
People have become so partisan
and separate.
Everything you have done on the
show is real conversation and
debate and it was not ugly and
partisan or like, I can't like
you because you are Republican.
Judy: David brooks, you're
joining us tonight from Ireland.
We are grateful for that.
Tell us what you are thinking.
David: There was a lot of
Ireland in mark.
The warmth, the lack of
pretension, always rooting for
the underdog.
I am struck by the outpouring of
warmth people have since he
died.
The reaction has been
overwhelming to me and a lot of
people.
People responded well to him.
They loved and got the sense of
his own personal warmth and
generosity.
The thing that strikes me is how
much he formed those of us who
worked around him.
We had not seen footage of
Katrina.
We happened to be on the air and
see footage for the first time.
Mark reacted with astonishment
that this is America.
Through that lesson and 20 years
of lessons, he taught me not
just to think with my head and
be a pundit, but to let your
heart be bare, and react with
your heart, the moral emotions
you feel.
That was how he improved us all
and lifted us all.
Judy: When he retired from "The
newshour" at the end of 20/20,
you said he represented the best
of American liberalism.
What did you mean by that?
David: He grew up at a time when
liberalism was expanding
opportunity successfully.
The fair housing act, the civil
rights act, he revered Bobby
Kennedy, thought he would have
been the best president of his
lifetime.
More confidence in what
government can do.
Mark never lost that confidence.
I have heard notes that mark was
part of a generation we will not
see the likes of again.
When I spoke to him, he rejected
that.
He said he was incredibly
optimistic for America.
There was a lot of talent and
moral passion.
People who want to do good for
the country.
He admired politicians who were
willing to lose, be humiliated.
He loved Mo Udall, Sargent
shriver.
So many who were big and
ambitious for what policies
could do to improve the lives of
the poor and unfortunate.
Judy: What was it like to debate
him and have different views on
Friday nights?
David: We started out with very
different views.
By 2022 -- 2002, cliff and me
debating him on the Iraq war,
what a punk I was.
[Laughter]
He was prepared every time.
He had those Lou pages and was
taking notes.
Here is us at our most sober.
He came to play every single
time and had the depth of
background knowledge of American
history, political history.
Frankly, one thing I liked, it
was not a debate, it was a
discussion.
We were not trying to prove our
party's point.
We were just trying to figure
out the world.
When Donald Trump came along, we
scarcely disagreed.
Judy: Where would he dig into
that well defined optimism
today?
What do you think he would be
saying to us about trying to see
the light out of this dark
period?
David: He loved the country.
God gave him a golden heart and
he never got cross with me.
I remember my kids' bar
mitzvah.
Afterward he sat on the floor,
sitting crosslegged on the
floor.
He believed in an unpretentious
America.
Had a little scorn for anyone
with a hint of snobbery, but
believed in regular Americans
and all of us.
That faith has never gone away
and will never, in the market we
know living somewhere.
Judy: How does that sound?
Amy: The word unpretentious came
up.
My dad left on scribbled papers
things he would like for his
funeral.
He mentioned he would like to
invite everyone back afterwards
and make sure we had
unpretentious nibbles.
[Laughter]
Judy: Including, I am told, pigs
in a blanket.
Amy: It is very true.
Judy: What do you want his
legacy to be for your children,
his grandchildren, jack and
Francis, and for their
generation?
Amy: Don't give up on politics
or politicians.
Believe that government can help
people and help people that are
less fortunate than we are.
That is the most important thing
to my dad that many people have
said.
Judy: David, it is tempting to
be so sad right now.
Can you give us a little light
as we close out these days
thinking about mark?
David: I have sadness, but what
a great life.
He was active in politics in a
golden age of politics, was a
commentator during the
reagan-clinton through trump,
consequential times in America.
Marvelous wife and family.
Left a wide legacy.
Was well loved.
What a great and tremendous life
mark shields led.
Judy: Countless friends will
miss him so much.
David brooks joining us from
Ireland.
And, Amy shields Doyle, the
daughter.
Thank you so much.
We all have so many wonderful
memories of mark.
There was nobody like him.