(I still don’t have the words that would do Steve justice, but I think the Adam Aleman at the Flash Report was very gracious for his thoughts on respecting — yet disagreeing — with Gilliard. – promoted by blogswarm)

blogswarm and I were just talking about Steve Gilliard, and the truth is, you really couldn’t say enough about him. He was just a guy that really, really cared. Whether that was at dKos, or at the NewsBlog, the guy really just got “it.” 

In case you missed it, Steve passed away yesterday. Unfortunately, we seem to remember the tragedies that shock us most. And they hurt the most. You just forget politics for a while and try to deal with the here and now. Like Maria Leavey, Steve left us too soon. And like Maria, if the length of life were proportional to the courage of  convictions, he would have lived to be 200.  Rest in Peace.

I really don’t know what to say about this. Steve Gilliard is one of the most amazing people I know. There might have been somebody who was more correct about Iraq before the invasion, but I don’t remember reading it. In a merit-based punditry system, Gilliard would have huge book deals and be on the Sunday shows every week. Instead, he is yet another victim of broken America and our crap-ass health care system. Yet I’m sure he’s fighting, he’s just that kind of guy. And I will never forget the pride with which he referred to me as “his employee” when I was consulting for BlogPAC. I haven’t tried to talk to God in a long time, but I’ll be saying a little prayer tonight and I know he’s in the thoughts of thousands of great people across our broken country.