The William Safire reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

William Safire

William L. Safire (born December 17, 1929) writes syndicated op-ed pieces, generally with a conservative viewpoint. Since 1979, he has written "On Language," a weekly column in the New York Times Magazine covering grammar, etymology, new or unusual usages, and other language-related topics.

Safire was one of the leading critics of the Bill Clinton administration. Especially Hillary Clinton was often the target of his ire. He caused a mild tempest when he called her a "congenital liar"; Hillary responding that she didn't feel offended for herself, but for her mother's sake.

He is also a consistent and avowed partisan in the defence of the state of Israel.

In 1978, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished commentary.

Before he became a journalist, Safire was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew; he wrote Agnew's phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism." Earlier still, he was a public relations executive.

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