With Gratitude

My boss for almost 6 years, Roger Simon, is stepping down as CEO of PJ Media to get back to his first love; writing screenplays and novels.

Good for him. It takes courage to challenge oneself, to stretch our boundaries, to force ourselves out of a comfort zone and take a leap of faith, trusting in our abilities to be successful.

But courage and Roger Simon are no strangers. I should know. As an out-of-the-closet RINO, there have been times over the last several years that my apostasy and heretical notions of conservatism have elicited calls for my head from some of our more excitable PJM readers. Roger was unflappable when these dust-ups with readers occurred, something for which I will always be appreciative and grateful.

And we sometimes forget the courage Roger showed by almost overnight, abandoning long held beliefs in the face of the savagery unleashed against America on 9/11. In his entertaining and thought-provoking memoir, Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine: The Perils of Coming Out Conservative in Tinseltown , Roger writes of the cost he was forced to pay in lost friends and lost opportunities for his own apostasy.

What about the courage it took to start a website based on the concept of blog aggregation? PJ Media has evolved over the years, but the one constant has been a striving for excellence in writing and clarity of thinking in discussing the issues facing America. PJM’s stable of columnists as well as our regular contributors make us required reading for conservatives every day.

For all that you’ve done, for all that you will do in the future — many thanks, Roger.