REMEMBRANCE: ART BUCHWALD

Sunday, Jan. 21, 2007 | 7:19 a.m.

In October 1972, at the height of the Watergate scandal, humor columnist Art Buchwald told a Las Vegas audience of about 1,100 conventioneers that his political policy has always been to be "against whoever is in power."

"As a humor columnist I needed (President) Lyndon Johnson far more than he needed me," Buchwald said at the Sahara Hotel. "Now I must live with the Nixon administration; it is getting easier by the minute � President Nixon we know is a barrel of mirth. I worship the quicksand he walks on."

Buchwald, who died Wednesday in Washington, at age 81, had ties to Nevada dating back nearly 60 years. He was a longtime Sun editorial page and op-ed page fixture until the early 1990s.

Buchwald's home-based newspaper was the Washington Post, which focuses on political satire and commentary. He earned the Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary in 1982.

Early on, however, Buchwald considered a career in gaming. In 1947 he worked in the public relations department for Tahoe Village at Lake Tahoe. He opted to return to college and pursue a career in journalism that would include a lengthy stint in Paris.

Buchwald maintained that he long gleaned fodder for his columns from the front-page headlines of the day. That way, he said, he would never run out of things to write about.

In 1983, the native of Mount Vernon, N.Y., again brought his glib wit to Las Vegas to pitch his book "While Reagan Slept." He took the opportunity to defend the Sun's criticisms of the FBI's investigation methods - including the use of wiretaps beyond the scope of what seemed necessary for probes - of local political figures.

Buchwald said of the Sun's efforts to prevent the law enforcement agency from trampling on the civil rights of elected officials and others: "I think that's very good." But then he added: "I have to say it because they run my column."

Buchwald was a longtime friend of late Sun Publisher Hank Greenspun.

In 1964, Greenspun wrote that Buchwald "has a remarkable gift of weaving criticism, humor and words into delightful thought."

That came in the wake of Buchwald exposing the Society for Indecency to Naked Animals as a hoax. It turned out that the organization had been formed not to raise awareness for animal rights, but rather to show how gullible the American people had become.

Buchwald was in top form by the early 1970s, telling a Las Vegas audience: "The trouble with this (presidential) campaign is that Nixon looks like the kind of man you shouldn't buy a used car from and (George) McGovern looks like the one who bought it."