The Internet is reporting TV panel moderator John McLaughlin is dead at 89. He had hosted The McLaughlin Group for PBS since 1982. Various alumni of his panel have gone on to prominent commentary roles on cable TV news and elsewhere: Gloria Borger, Pat Buchanan, Clarence Page, Mort Zuckerman, and others.
While never my favorite pundit panel, I certainly watched his slightly bombastic approach many times over the years. John's show was perhaps the first upon which the "wait to be called upon" rule was regularly violated. Multiple people loudly talking at once wasn't uncommon on TMG, at a time when it rarely happened on other shows. I always had mixed feelings about the resulting racket.
I'll end this remembrance of John with his typical sign-off: Bye-bye.
