Speaking of Safire, his column would have appeared in today's paper, he was honored by the Israeli embassy, according to JTA.

The Israeli Embassy honored William Safire, the newly retired New York Times columnist.

Among the luminaries attending the dinner Wednesday night were Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary; Douglas Feith, an undersecretary of defense; neoconservative icon Richard Perle; Clinton administration defense secretary, William Cohen; and media stars Wolf Blitzer, George Stephanopoulos and Bob Schieffer. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sent Safire his best wishes. Safire, who published his last column this week, was often privy to exclusive interviews with Sharon.

At the dinner, he said it was because he befriended Sharon when he was out of power and “no one in Washington wanted to buy him breakfast.”

The State of Israel lost a great friend in the press, who knows who'll pick up the slack...or at least part of it.