Ghosts.

Tony Blankley died this past week. He was 62.

If you’re a fan of screaming, in-your-face political panel shows, you might have seen Blankley on the PBS show, The McLaughlin Report. He was the slightly pudgy guy with the English accent who battled with Pat Buchanan over who would represent the most far-right position on issues.

A few years ago I discovered that he had graduated a year ahead of me from my high school. Although I didn’t remember him, we knew some of the same people.

According to the obituaries, Blankley was born in England, had acted in some Hollywood movies as a kid, including a Lassie movie. My high school was in West Hollywood and it was not unusual for my classmates to be movie actors. We supplied most of the extras for Bye Bye Birdie.

Blankley went on to be a Conservative (capital “P”) public relations guy. He worked for Newt Gingrich when Newt was Speaker of the House and he was an editor of the right-wing Washington Times.

By all accounts, he was a personable, good-natured guy.

I wouldn’t know.

Arnold Steinberg in the right-wing Weekly Standard:

We called him “Blankley” even at John Burroughs Junior High School. That’s right, Tony and I go way back to JB, followed by Fairfax High School, then among the most famous public high schools in the United States. Its many prominent graduates included music legends Herb Albert and Phil Spector, actors Timothy Hutton, David Jansen, Carol Lombard, Demi Moore, Ricardo Montalban, and Mickey Rooney; legendary television producers Lerry Gelbart and Quinn Martin, entrepreneurs such as Broadcom’s Henry Samueli, and many elected officials, notably Jack Kemp. And the very classy and precocious Blankley.

At Fairfax, we had formed the school’s first forensics league chapter and did very well in debate competition. We had the equivalent of advanced placement economics and read Milton Friedman. And together we organized a local teenage Republican chapter in the congressional district represented by Jimmy Roosevelt, FDR’s son. Before graduating, we were active in Youth for Goldwater and walked precincts together in an area 75% Democrat, where doors were slammed in our face.

I do remember Arnold Steinberg. Steinberg was a skinny red-head who was a pal of Blankley. He was a total nerdy jerk. Every high school has one. Ours was Arnie Steinberg.

As the Sixties hit its stride, Arnie Steinberg had taken it upon himself to be the protector of the Fifties. While my friends and I were sitting in at the LA Board of Education offices to protest school segregation, Arnie was trying unsuccessfully to organize a chapter of Young Americans for Freedom. While we were organizing car pools to some early anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, Arnie was trying unsuccessfully to organize a chapter of Youth for Goldwater.

I am on a list serve with some old high school friends. When Blankley died, a discussion erupted over whether it was enough that Blankly was a nice guy. Everyone agreed that Steinberg was a jerk. Did their politics matter?

Blankley and Steinberg are both just ghosts to me. I didn’t know one and I never think about the other except that his name came up on the list serve discussion.

I hold no grudges towards either one.

What I remember is a stupid war. I remember the 50,000 Americans and countless Vietnamese who died in it.

I understand that Steinberg, an ardent supporter of the war, never fought in it. Never volunteered.

Forty years later some things don’t change. There are still war hawks who prefer others to die for their beliefs.