Kate Walsh O'Beirne (September 23, 1949 – April 23, 2017) was the President of National Review Institute. She was the

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editor of ''

National Review ''National Review'' is an American conservative editorial magazine, focusing on news and commentary pieces on political, social, and cultural affairs. The magazine was founded by the author William F. Buckley Jr. in 1955. Its editor-in-chief i ...

''. Her column, "Bread and Circuses," covered

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politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

, and

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domestic policy Domestic policy is a type of public policy overseeing administrative decisions that are directly related to all issues and activity within a state's borders. It differs from foreign policy, which refers to the ways a government advances its intere ...

. O'Beirne was a regular contributor on

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's Saturday night political round-table program, ''

Capital Gang ''Capital Gang'' was an American weekly political talk show on CNN which aired on Saturday evenings at 7 p.m. ET. The show debuted in the fall of 1988 and ran until CNN cancelled it in 2005. The original panel was Pat Buchanan, Robert Novak, Al ...

'', along with

Al Hunt Albert Reinold Hunt Jr. (born December 4, 1942) is an American journalist, formerly a columnist for Bloomberg View (from which he retired at the end of 2018), the editorial arm of Bloomberg News (which is a subsidiary of Bloomberg L.P.). Hunt h ...

Mark Shields Mark Stephen Shields (May 25, 1937 – June 18, 2022) was an American political columnist, advisor, and commentator. He worked in leadership positions for many Democratic candidates' electoral campaigns. Shields provided weekly political anal ...

Robert Novak Robert David Sanders Novak (February 26, 1931 – August 18, 2009) was an American syndicated columnist, journalist, television personality, author, and conservative political commentator. After working for two newspapers before serving in the ...

, and

Margaret Carlson Margaret Carlson is an American journalist, political pundit, and an opinion columnist for Bloomberg News. She is known for being the first female columnist for ''Time'' magazine. She was a regular panelist for CNN's '' Capital Gang'' from 1992 ...

. O'Beirne and Novak typically argued the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

viewpoint, while Hunt, Shields, and Carlson provided the

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

viewpoint. She also served as a substitute host on CNN's '' Crossfire'', as well as a commentator for the '' NewsHour with Jim Lehrer''. She was lastly a political analyst for MSNBC's '' Hardball''.

Early life

On September 23, 1949, O'Beirne was born Kate Monica Walsh in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

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New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. She grew up in Manhasset, New York. She was raised in a traditional Irish Catholic family. After graduating from St. Mary's High School in 1967, she attended

Good Counsel College St Augustine's and Our Lady of Good Counsel College (''Coláiste na Dea Comhairle''), New Ross, known as "Good Counsel College" by its students and residents of the local area, is an all-boys secondary school in County Wexford, Ireland, which ...

, a Catholic women's school in

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, majoring in English and

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Early career

While at Good Counsel College, O'Beirne took a leave of absence to work on the successful 1970

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campaign of

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member James Buckley. She returned to his office as an aide after graduation. In 1976, she graduated from

St. John's University School of Law St. John's University School of Law is a Roman Catholic law school in Jamaica, Queens, New York, United States, affiliated with St. John's University. The School of Law was founded in 1925, and confers Juris Doctor degrees and degrees for Maste ...

, and in the same year married James O'Beirne, an infantry officer in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

(now

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

liaison to

the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...

). For the next ten years, she traveled with him and raised their two sons.

Career

In 1986, the family moved to

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, and she served as deputy assistant secretary for legislation at the

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

until 1988. She moved on to become deputy director of domestic-policy studies at

The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...

, where she supervised studies in the area of health care, welfare, education, and housing. At the Heritage Foundation, O'Beirne was the vice president of government relations. She was responsible for keeping Washington policymakers abreast of Heritage proposals and research findings in all areas of the Foundation's study, while serving as a contributing editor for ''National Review''. In 1992,

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

named her to the Presidential Commission on Women in the Armed Forces. In 1995, she began work as part-time contributing editor for National Review, but was soon appointed Washington editor. Her work on the

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

led to her invitation to join ''Capital Gang'', and from there her other work in

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

. She received an honorary degree from

St. John's University St John's University may refer to: *St. John's University (New York City) **St. John's University School of Law **St. John's University (Italy) - Overseas Campus *College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University, St. Joseph, Minnesota and Col ...

in 1997. O'Beirne was the President of National Review Institute, a nonprofit public policy organization.

Personal

O'Beirne was married to Army Lt. Col. James O'Beirne. O'Beirne had two sons, Philip O'Beirne and John O'Beirne. In 2016, O'Beirne was diagnosed with lung cancer. On April 23, 2017, she died at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C.

Writings

* ''Women Who Make the World Worse: and How Their Radical Feminist Assault Is Ruining Our Schools, Families, Military, and Sports'',

Sentinel HC Sentinel is a dedicated conservative imprint within publisher Penguin Group (USA) and was established in 2003. It publishes a wide variety of right-of-center books on subjects like politics, history, public policy, culture, religion and internat ...

, 2005.

References

External links

Kate O'Beirne's
''National Review'' profile.
Column archive
''National Review'' * Profile: "Living By Words Alone," ''St. John's Alumni Magazine,'' Fall/Winter 2002, Vol. 5, ''No. 1,'' pp. 4–8
Full issue of this publication available (.pdf) via this link
* *
Obituary
Murphy Falls Church Funeral Home, Falls Church, Virginia {{DEFAULTSORT:Obeirne, Kate 1949 births 2017 deaths American columnists American newspaper editors American political commentators American television personalities American women television personalities The Heritage Foundation American people of Irish descent People from Manhasset, New York National Review people American women columnists Women newspaper editors 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American writers Female critics of feminism 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American journalists Journalists from New York (state)