Tony Blankley

Who was Tony Blankley?

Anthony David "Tony" Blankley was an English-American political analyst who gained fame as the press secretary for Newt Gingrich, the first Republican Speaker of the House in forty years, and as a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group. He later became an Executive Vice President with Edelman public relations in Washington, D.C. He was a Visiting Senior Fellow in National-Security Communications at the Heritage Foundation, a weekly contributor to the nationally syndicated public radio program Left, Right & Center, the author of The West's Last Chance: Will We Win the Clash of Civilizations? and American Grit: What It Will Take to Survive and Win in the 21st Century.

He was a regular commentator for radio shows including The Diane Rehm Show, Left, Right & Center and The Steve Gill Show with a segment titled Fill In the Blanks. Earlier in his career, he was an editorial page editor for The Washington Times, a contributing editor and monthly columnist for George Magazine, and a regular panelist on The McLaughlin Group.

Blankley's political opinions were generally considered to fall within traditional conservatism, although he was labeled as a neo-conservative by some critics.