All you people who really dislike American, go do something else. Skip this post.

My whole life, Bob Hope has stood at the top of whatever that mountain is called entertainment. Clean. Classy. Excellent. Hard-working. Funny. A master of five mediums. The friend of Presidents. The quintessential American entertainer, and a man who loved the military. When someone asked him the secret of a happy marriage, he said “Be home just three weeks a year.” If you couldn’t find Bob Hope, you knew where he was. Bob Hope was something of the very soul of America.

Irreplaceable is what Johnny Carson said today. That is an understatement. Today, the entertainment establishment that benefits from America freedom is also the entertainment establishment that loathes America, and especially the armed forces. Hope simply was a reflection of the basic goodness of America. The goodness of laughter in families, pool halls, after a day working in the fields, and yes, of soldiers knocking back a few beers far from home. Hope cared enough to go, and to represent America as he went. And when he stood before our troops, it was a visit from home, an ambassador from a country that loved its troops and from a man who loved them.

Entertainers like Hope and his generation are never going to replaced, because today Eminem is entertainment. Leno and Letterman are pale shadows of Bob Hope. There are still entertainers who go and give to our troops. They will never go unappreciated. But as cliched as it is to say, last night truly was the end of an era, and if you grew up along with the television era, you know what I mean. The celebrities of today pass instantly- thankfully- and there are few who are worthy to stand anywhere near the shadow of a man like Hope. Something truly great in America is over. Godspeed, Bob. I pray you were on the right road, and the laughter came from the author of all that goodness you spread around.