Longtime Fox News Host Bob Beckel Dead at 73
Former Fox News host Bob Beckel has died at age 73, the network reported Monday. Beckel served two stints with Fox News after a career as a Democratic Party strategist. In 2000, he joined the network to provide…
Former Fox News host Bob Beckel has died at age 73, the network reported Monday.
Beckel served two stints with Fox News after a career as a Democratic Party strategist.
In 2000, he joined the network to provide commentary on Politics, and he returned to Fox News in 2011 as one of the founding hosts of “The Five.”
Beckel worked for CNN in a brief stint in 2015 before returning to “The Five” to offer a liberal counterpoint to the rest of the show’s hosts. Beckel and Fox News parted ways in 2017.
No cause of Death was announced.
Conservative columnist Cal Thomas posted a farewell to Beckel on his Facebook page.
“My friend and spiritual brother, Bob Beckel, has passed into the presence of the Lord he loved. We did so many things together and I hope we modeled what two people of different political persuasions can be like when they love one another,” Thomas wrote.
“For ten years we wrote the ‘Common Ground’ column for USA Today and a book by that title. The name of his ironically titled autobiography is ‘I Should Be Dead.’ It is a highly readable book about a difficult life that was dramatically changed in the last 15 years. I will see you soon Bob. You are loved,” he said.
Beckel’s former colleagues at Fox News also offered tributes to the man and his work.
Sean Hannity called Beckel his “dear friend” and added, “he and I got along great” despite vast political differences.
The Fox News host said Beckel “had a key to my house” and that Hannity’s children referred to Beckel as “Uncle Bob.”
“He was always full of joy, happiness, light, sunshine. He loved God and Jesus and we miss him already. God bless you, God speed, Bob Beckel,” Hannity said.
Beckel was an “old-time liberal who you could fight with … but we always had a laugh afterward,” Fox News host Laura Ingraham said.
In a 2008 interview about the book “Common Ground,” Beckel said issuing a call for unity meant taking flak from both sides.
“There’s a vested interest in keeping the status quo where it is,” he said then, according to Newsweek. “But the idea has taken hold among voters. The timing is right. We’re starting to get calls and e-mails and letters saying, ‘Hey, maybe you guys aren’t nuts.’
“Institutionally, there’s still a huge barrier to accepting this idea, because it takes away many people’s reason for living and their paychecks. An industry has grown up around polarization.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.