Not a white-lights guy

The Washington Post has re-printed this column by Michael Kelly about Christmas lights. It illustrates, as well as any of his issues-oriented pieces, why he will be so sorely missed. Note the characteristic “sting in the tail” at the end of the piece.
Kelly was a colored-lights, not a white-lights, kind of guy. If he had been a white-lights guy, he probably would not have written all of those nasty, true things about Al Gore, and he probably would not have been sacked as editor of the New Republic, and I probably would not have cancelled my subscription and turned to the Weekly Standard. Not that this mattered much. Kelly landed on his feet, and I’m sure I would have too. Still, I’m glad that Kelly called them the way he saw them, not the way Martin Peretz wanted him to call them, and that he saw them so clearly, in all of their bright colors.