Bob CollinsJames J. Kilpatrick has died. He was one of the South’s most prominent newspaper editors, although many Baby Boomers might better remember him as one half of the point/counterpoint team on 60 Minutes (with liberal commentator Shana Alexander).
In many ways, the two (along with Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley Jr.) ushered in the era of theatrical political debate on TV.
Even more people might remember Kilpatrick by the classic line — “Jane, you ignorant slut” — spawned by a spoof of Kilpatrick’s segment on Saturday Night Live.
Many years after 60 Minutes ditched the segment, it tried to revive it with Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. It didn’t work. Bob Dole was no James J. Kilpatrick.
