Remembering Jack Kemp

From Richard Brookshire at National Review:
Was there ever a man of such high spirits as Jack Kemp? Reagan was sunny; Kemp was a perpetual solar flare. He had an athlete's energy and an optimist's expectation that all would come out well. He also felt the respect for learning that only those who come to it late and under their own steam have. Ideas, he believed, really could save the world. Some of his ideas were half-baked—he put far too much credit in his friend Jude Wanniski—and his timing was bad. He offered himself in 1988 as Reagan's heir, but he was crushed between George H.W. Bush, who as Veep was the heir of record, and Pat Robertson, the GOP's Jesse Jackson, the cleric who wanted the White House because of who he was, not because of anything he had done. In Right Time, Right Place I tell the story of how John O'Sullivan and I went to DC to urge Jack to challenge President Bush for the nomination in 1992, but he had just been kicked in the head three years earlier, and had no desire to risk another drubbing. Bob Dole's picking Kemp as his runningmate in 1996 shocked everyone; his career had seemed over. He had a bad debate with Al Gore (Wanniski gave him terrible advice beforehand, which he followed). He was a great friend of National Review, and there was nothing more exhilirating than Jack at full speed: a combination of riding a great horse, and a roller coaster. RIP.
And, from John J. Miller at National Review:
In the summer of 1996, when Bob Dole was running for president, conservatives were bracing themselves for the Election Day drubbing that soon came. At the time, I was a fellow at the Heritage Foundation, finishing a year-long job. When Dole made his surprise pick of Kemp as his running mate—as I recall, Kemp was on fewer pundit short lists than Sarah Palin was last summer—he delivered a jolt to a jaded movement. The Heritage interns roamed the halls with bright eyes and smiles, sharing the news as if they were hocking papers on city streets. One of the think tank's wise men, who had seen Kemp up close, cautioned against placing too much faith in the man. It turned out he was right to share this warning. But Kemp had a rare ability to energize idealistic young conservatives of an intellectual bent. In 1996, he was like a long bomb to the end zone—a flash of hope and excitement, usually followed by disappointment, but also often by applause for an attempt well made. Nobody has matched him since.
And from Jay Nordlinger at National Review:
I’d like to tell one of my favorite Jack Kemp stories. He’s in Congress, on the floor making remarks about taxation or something. His wife and a young daughter are in the gallery. Some man behind them harrumphs, “What does he know about economics? He was a football player.” The daughter turns around and says, indignantly, “My daddy wasn’t a football player: He was a quarterback.”