He’s gone now. Tom Lantos, a San Mateo County congressman for 28 years, died Feb. 11 in Bethesda Naval Hospital due to complications from cancer. He was 80-years-old. Over the better part of three long and momentous decades, Lantos became what amounted to a Peninsula political legend, revered by many, despised by some. As the county changed, he became unbeatable in an election. Republicans quickly realized that trying to oust the native of Hungary was tantamount to throwing good money after bad. It just wasn’t worth it. They tossed in the towel. Lantos was a sure thing. But his critics were adamant: His devotion to Israel and corresponding enthusiasm for the use of American military power in the Middle East and elsewhere made him anathema to those on the bitter and angry left. But Lantos was unmoved. He never wavered. Even when cracks appeared in his tough foreign policy posture (a pre-Gulf War I allegation of Iraqi atrocities in a Kuwait hospital proved to be particularly inaccurate and wildly provocative), it didn’t matter after the dust had cleared. Lantos, a lifetime foe of worldwide radical Islamic terror, fascism and communisim in all of their many forms, persevered. It was rather ironic. He represented what has become an anti-war, almost pacifist 12th congresstional district and there he was advocating the use of the U.S. military, whether it was in the Balkans, Afghanistan or Iraq. The frustrated and addled left couldn’t abide him. They marched. They protested. They wrote letters. They whined. They sulked. Forget about it. They could not find a candidate to stand up to him. Not even close. Was Lantos perfect? No. Was he a patriot? Yes. We will not see his like any time soon.