Kate O’Beirne, a former Reagan administration official, editor of National Review and a part of CNN’s Capital Gang, will be laid to rest today following funeral services at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington, VA.
O’Beirne, 67, died last Sunday of cancer.
Sam Feist, CNN’s Washington Bureau Chief, was a longtime producer on Capital Gang where O’Beirne was a panelist for 10 years, from 1995 to 2005. The weekly political show featured Robert Novak, Al Hunt, Mark Shields and Margaret Carlson.
“Their debates were often verbal knife fights that were as heated as they were illuminating,” Feist writes on CNN.com. “Although the other members of the ‘Gang’ were some of Kate’s closest friends, their arguments on and off the air were intense and could get personal. But that was Kate O’Beirne. What made her so effective was the strength of her convictions and her ability to craft a brilliant argument. She believed that a more conservative America was a better America for everyone. And it was impossible to persuade her otherwise.”
O’Beirne also appeared frequently on Meet the Press with Tim Russert.