William Safire, who once upon a time was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon, is dead of pancreatic cancer at the age of 79.The speechwriting gig put Safire on the map but he probably wouldn't have needed it. He was a brilliant writer and analyst of politics whose legendary columns were both literate and known for their strong conservative point of view.Safire had a syndicated column with the New York Times for more than 25 years - the only conservative in a sea of liberal pundits - but made himself a must read by dint of his independence and a style of writing that used clever alliteration (he coined "nattering nabobs of negativism"), and a clipped phraseology that sounded at times like a machine gun being used against his latest target.Robert McFadden in today's Times has a breezy, casual obit - surprising in its colloquial and familiar tone:The columns, many collected in books, made him an unofficial arbiter of usage and one of the most widely read writers on language. It...(Read Full Post)