Steve Gilliard is dead. We never met. I have met a lot of other bloggers, but Steve decided not to go to Yearly Kos last year, because he liked to gamble too much, and YKos was in Las Vegas. But we did e-mail occasionally, mostly arguing about Iraq (Steve being of the opinion that Sadr was going to take it all) and I read his blog every day. Ever since I discovered his blog, when I read his eulogy for Hunter Thompson, I had included it in every list of my favorite blogs.

"Sometimes in error, never in doubt" described Steve's positions well, but didn't nearly do justice to his writing, which was ferociously honest, direct and no holds barred. It was also stylistically superior. Steve was a good writer, who knew what he was doing, and who wrote without fear. There are ways you can write that hedge your bets and keep you safe - that have escape clauses, conditionals and cavilling caveats. Steve would have none of that, and it made him a better writer, because it made him much clearer and informative.

Steve was also fiercely loyal and very helpful to other bloggers. He sent many of them money, since his blog made more than many of the smaller ones. He was generous both with links to bloggers he liked and with his knowledge of history and the military, which was encyclopedic.

It would be wrong of me to say I knew Steve - I didn't, really. But somehow I still feel like I've just lost a friend.

I don't know if there's something after life. But if there is, I hope that it is a place of joy for Steve. For his friends and family I can only offer my deepest and most sincere condolences. He will be missed by very, very many.