William F. Buckley Jr Dies at 82

[AndrewHill]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080227/ap_on_re_us/obit_buckley Edited February 27, 2008 by Holy Ghost

[Tim McG]

He was to conservative shout jocks what the Who was to punk rock.

It is always sad when somebody passes, but I can't say as I'll miss him.

Sorry.

Edited February 28, 2008 by GoodSpeak

[Alexander]

Ah, ah...would you..."say" is not the word I'm looking for...rather, would you "opine" that...ah, ah...William F. Buckley's voyage to the...ah, ah..."undiscovered country," if I may be so bold as to make a Shakespearian allusion at this...ah, ah...point in time...would you say that Mr. Buckley's passing might be a...ah, ah...a metaphor for the death of the conservative movement for which he...ah, ah...spoke? Or would that be de classe to note at this juncture?

[Randy Twizzle]

Ah, ah...would you..."say" is not the word I'm looking for...rather, would you "opine" that...ah, ah......

I guess there were a lot of bad WFB immitations during his lifetime, no reason for that to stop now that he's dead.

[RDK]

Ah, ah...would you..."say" is not the word I'm looking for...rather, would you "opine" that...ah, ah...William F. Buckley's voyage to the...ah, ah..."undiscovered country," if I may be so bold as to make a Shakespearian allusion at this...ah, ah...point in time...would you say that Mr. Buckley's passing might be a...ah, ah...a metaphor for the death of the conservative movement for which he...ah, ah...spoke? Or would that be de classe to note at this juncture?

Foghorn Leghorn? I don't get it.

[Big Al]

Ah, ah...would you..."say" is not the word I'm looking for...rather, would you "opine" that...ah, ah...William F. Buckley's voyage to the...ah, ah..."undiscovered country," if I may be so bold as to make a Shakespearian allusion at this...ah, ah...point in time...would you say that Mr. Buckley's passing might be a...ah, ah...a metaphor for the death of the conservative movement for which he...ah, ah...spoke? Or would that be de classe to note at this juncture?

I think even Buckley himself would've laughed at this! RIP

[Alexander]

Ah, ah...would you..."say" is not the word I'm looking for...rather, would you "opine" that...ah, ah......

I guess there were a lot of bad WFB immitations during his lifetime, no reason for that to stop now that he's dead.

I would go so far as to say that he earned every one of those bad imitations...

[Tom Storer]

Buckley's politics were everything that I despised, but a good friend of mine is a close relative of his. Through the anecdotes and memories she has shared about him over the years I came to feel quite affectionately about him by proxy. I know from this small window into his family life that he was a very generous, warm and (obviously) very witty man who inspired love and loyalty in those close to him. He was a reactionary and an authoritarian whose views on society and politics were, in my opinion, pretty much entirely wrong. But to hell with that, he's dead. May he rest in peace.

[Randy Twizzle]

Ah, ah...would you..."say" is not the word I'm looking for...rather, would you "opine" that...ah, ah......

I guess there were a lot of bad WFB immitations during his lifetime, no reason for that to stop now that he's dead.

I would go so far as to say that he earned every one of those bad imitations...

Not in my book he didn't. But he was too intelligent and witty to take them personally.

[AllenLowe]

he endorsed Allard Lowenstein in 1969, opposed the death penalty and also advocated legalization of marijuana - he also praised the butcher Pinochet and was friends with the fucker who organized the bay of pigs and was probably involved in the JFK assassination (E HOward Hunt) -

he also played a mean harpsichord -

[Dan Gould]

he ... was friends with the fucker who organized the bay of pigs and was probably involved in the JFK assassination (E HOward Hunt) -

No intelligent person can believe that anyone other than Lee Harvey Oswald was involved in the JFK assassination.

[jazzypaul]

and he also said in early editions of the National Review that blacks shouldn't be given the right to vote.

Which is heinous enough if you're from Mississippi. But at least there, it was part of the culture. If you're a segregationist from Connecticut, you're just an asshole.

And now he's a dead asshole.

[Brownian Motion]

Mr. Buckley departs the scene, the political movement he championed now almost universally recognized as an umbrella group of grafters, war profiteers, social misfits, science deniers, religious wackos, chicken hawks, liars, thieves, child molesters, and the mentally disordered. Nice legacy, Bill.

[porcy62]

When I read the thread's title I felt sad because I thought William F. Buckley Jr were the father of Tim Buckley and grandfather of Jeff Buckley. I thought 'such a merciless destiny for a man bury two generations of his heirs', then I read the link.

I didn't know him, from what I read I couldn't say I'll miss him.

Edited February 27, 2008 by porcy62

[Randy Twizzle]

Mr. Buckley departs the scene, the political movement he championed now almost universally recognized as an umbrella group of grafters, war profiteers, social misfits, science deniers, religious wackos, chicken hawks, liars, thieves, child molesters, and the mentally disordered. Nice legacy, Bill.

The above post is a good example of what is being referred to in bold in the following post from another board

Put aside the partisanship for a few posts.

Buckley's death - and Mailer's not long ago and soon, inevitably, Vidal's - marks the end of a brief age in which we actually had public intellectuals in the United States. They engaged and fought one another in running firefights in newspapers and magazines and on television. They argued about ideas, not just ideologies. They debated important issues as if they mattered. They didn't condescend to their audience by dumbing themselves down, or by tarting themselves up. They spoke as they wrote, and brought to bear every rhetorical weapon they possessed. They were witty and erudite, sharp as serpent's teeth, and understood what made for great incendiary theater, if not always great real world policy. They spoke in sentences, not soundbites.

Take a quick YouTube tour of Mailer, Vidal and Buckley and you'll see how degraded and small the debate in this country has become. Read them.

As much as I opposed the fundamental premise of Mr. Buckley's politics, I am saddened by his death, and will miss very much his voice in our national chorus.

[Dan Gould]

Mr. Buckley departs the scene, the political movement he championed now almost universally recognized as an umbrella group of grafters, war profiteers, social misfits, science deniers, religious wackos, chicken hawks, liars, thieves, child molesters, and the mentally disordered. Nice legacy, Bill.

I thought it might be interesting if this thread went in this forum but then again I should have expected this kind of vile filth.

Will one of the mods place this thread where it belongs so that all the other liberal haters can shit on the memory of a great man without my having to read it? Thank you in advance.

[Brownian Motion]

Mr. Buckley departs the scene, the political movement he championed now almost universally recognized as an umbrella group of grafters, war profiteers, social misfits, science deniers, religious wackos, chicken hawks, liars, thieves, child molesters, and the mentally disordered. Nice legacy, Bill.

The above post is a good example of what is being referred to in bold in the following post from another board

Put aside the partisanship for a few posts.

Buckley's death - and Mailer's not long ago and soon, inevitably, Vidal's - marks the end of a brief age in which we actually had public intellectuals in the United States. They engaged and fought one another in running firefights in newspapers and magazines and on television. They argued about ideas, not just ideologies. They debated important issues as if they mattered. They didn't condescend to their audience by dumbing themselves down, or by tarting themselves up. They spoke as they wrote, and brought to bear every rhetorical weapon they possessed. They were witty and erudite, sharp as serpent's teeth, and understood what made for great incendiary theater, if not always great real world policy. They spoke in sentences, not soundbites.

Take a quick YouTube tour of Mailer, Vidal and Buckley and you'll see how degraded and small the debate in this country has become. Read them.

As much as I opposed the fundamental premise of Mr. Buckley's politics, I am saddened by his death, and will miss very much his voice in our national chorus.

Ah yes, things were so much more elevated back in the good old days:

As commentators for ABC News at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, where the police went on a headbanging rampage against hippies and Yippies amid clouds of tear-gas, Vidal and his conservative rival William F. Buckley Jr blew their own fuses and made television history. When Vidal called Buckley a ‘crypto-Nazi’ (he meant to say ‘crypto-fascist’ but words for once failed him), Buckley responded: ‘Now, listen, you queer! Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in your goddam face and you’ll stay plastered.’ Yipes; the technicians in the control booth nearly popped their headphones. As Kaplan records, Buckley’s angry use of the word ‘queer’ was so jolting and unprecedented that ABC cancelled the time-delayed West Coast feed of the telecast and used static to obscure the offending word on its archival tape. Like spit on the sidewalk, this spat would have evaporated had Buckley not decided to revive the incident in the pages of Esquire, semi-absolving himself of fag-bashing before offering Vidal an apology as warm and sincere as a dead-fish handshake. Unmoved, Vidal composed a withering rebuttal, exposing some allegedly anti-semitic hijinks by the Buckley clan, and Buckley whistled for his lawyers. Years of litigation followed as the case turned into a tar baby to which everyone was stuck.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v22/n03/wolc01_.html

[Randy Twizzle]

Mr. Buckley departs the scene, the political movement he championed now almost universally recognized as an umbrella group of grafters, war profiteers, social misfits, science deniers, religious wackos, chicken hawks, liars, thieves, child molesters, and the mentally disordered. Nice legacy, Bill.

The above post is a good example of what is being referred to in bold in the following post from another board

Put aside the partisanship for a few posts.

Buckley's death - and Mailer's not long ago and soon, inevitably, Vidal's - marks the end of a brief age in which we actually had public intellectuals in the United States. They engaged and fought one another in running firefights in newspapers and magazines and on television. They argued about ideas, not just ideologies. They debated important issues as if they mattered. They didn't condescend to their audience by dumbing themselves down, or by tarting themselves up. They spoke as they wrote, and brought to bear every rhetorical weapon they possessed. They were witty and erudite, sharp as serpent's teeth, and understood what made for great incendiary theater, if not always great real world policy. They spoke in sentences, not soundbites.

Take a quick YouTube tour of Mailer, Vidal and Buckley and you'll see how degraded and small the debate in this country has become. Read them.

As much as I opposed the fundamental premise of Mr. Buckley's politics, I am saddened by his death, and will miss very much his voice in our national chorus.

Ah yes, things were so much more elevated back in the good old days:

As commentators for ABC News at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, where the police went on a headbanging rampage against hippies and Yippies amid clouds of tear-gas, Vidal and his conservative rival William F. Buckley Jr blew their own fuses and made television history. When Vidal called Buckley a ‘crypto-Nazi’ (he meant to say ‘crypto-fascist’ but words for once failed him), Buckley responded: ‘Now, listen, you queer! Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in your goddam face and you’ll stay plastered.’ Yipes; the technicians in the control booth nearly popped their headphones. As Kaplan records, Buckley’s angry use of the word ‘queer’ was so jolting and unprecedented that ABC cancelled the time-delayed West Coast feed of the telecast and used static to obscure the offending word on its archival tape. Like spit on the sidewalk, this spat would have evaporated had Buckley not decided to revive the incident in the pages of Esquire, semi-absolving himself of fag-bashing before offering Vidal an apology as warm and sincere as a dead-fish handshake. Unmoved, Vidal composed a withering rebuttal, exposing some allegedly anti-semitic hijinks by the Buckley clan, and Buckley whistled for his lawyers. Years of litigation followed as the case turned into a tar baby to which everyone was stuck.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v22/n03/wolc01_.html

So what's your problem with that. It seems to be the kind of debate you might enjoy, especially the crypto-nazi quote.

[porcy62]

Mr. Buckley departs the scene, the political movement he championed now almost universally recognized as an umbrella group of grafters, war profiteers, social misfits, science deniers, religious wackos, chicken hawks, liars, thieves, child molesters, and the mentally disordered. Nice legacy, Bill.

I thought it might be interesting if this thread went in this forum but then again I should have expected this kind of vile filth.

Will one of the mods place this thread where it belongs so that all the other liberal haters can shit on the memory of a great man without my having to read it? Thank you in advance.

I premise I didn't know Mr. Buckley, but, frankly Dan, what would you expect from posting an obituary of a champ of politic conservatives? (not your fault you didn't start the thread) He might has been a good father and a smart and witty intellectual like N. Mailer and G. Vidal, like someone pointed out, (though in my shelves I have some, few actually, Mailer's and Vidal's books, no Mr. Buckley's works in italian, but that doesn't really matter), but the 'vile filth' is unavoidable in a case like this.

[Guest Bill Barton]

R.I.P.

Nuff sed...

[jazzypaul]

Mr. Buckley departs the scene, the political movement he championed now almost universally recognized as an umbrella group of grafters, war profiteers, social misfits, science deniers, religious wackos, chicken hawks, liars, thieves, child molesters, and the mentally disordered. Nice legacy, Bill.

I thought it might be interesting if this thread went in this forum but then again I should have expected this kind of vile filth.

Will one of the mods place this thread where it belongs so that all the other liberal haters can shit on the memory of a great man without my having to read it? Thank you in advance.

Should everything that offends you be moved to some "doesn't offend Dan Gould" folder? There was no vile filth, just one guy's assessment of what a public figure was all about. Doesn't mean that I'd put it in those terms, but there was nothing vile or filthy about it.

[Randy Twizzle]

Mr. Buckley departs the scene, the political movement he championed now almost universally recognized as an umbrella group of grafters, war profiteers, social misfits, science deniers, religious wackos, chicken hawks, liars, thieves, child molesters, and the mentally disordered. Nice legacy, Bill.

I thought it might be interesting if this thread went in this forum but then again I should have expected this kind of vile filth.

Will one of the mods place this thread where it belongs so that all the other liberal haters can shit on the memory of a great man without my having to read it? Thank you in advance.

Should everything that offends you be moved to some "doesn't offend Dan Gould" folder? There was no vile filth, just one guy's assessment of what a public figure was all about. Doesn't mean that I'd put it in those terms, but there was nothing vile or filthy about it.

Of course not. He was talking about republicans. How could that possibly offend anyone?

[JSngry]

I understand that he moderated some of his earlier, more odious views as he "got out in the world", so to speak. Nevertheless, he was still/frequently all kinds of wrong, but he made you think (often hard and well) before coming to that conclusion.

That, I respect, and given that there will always be fundamental differences of opinion as to the role and nature of the different modes of societal organization, kinda dig.

And let me say that the 1968 Buckley/Vidal convention debates on ABC were nothing short of electrifying in real time. I've not seen the likes since.

And not only did he support the legalization of marijuana, he openly admitted to using it, although on his own yacht, outside of US territorial limits in order to avoid breaking the law. Although one wonders how he got the stuff in the first place...

Wrong or not, that kind of shit is something which I cannot find it in me to not smile at.

[Dan Gould]

Mr. Buckley departs the scene, the political movement he championed now almost universally recognized as an umbrella group of grafters, war profiteers, social misfits, science deniers, religious wackos, chicken hawks, liars, thieves, child molesters, and the mentally disordered. Nice legacy, Bill.

I thought it might be interesting if this thread went in this forum but then again I should have expected this kind of vile filth.

Will one of the mods place this thread where it belongs so that all the other liberal haters can shit on the memory of a great man without my having to read it? Thank you in advance.

Should everything that offends you be moved to some "doesn't offend Dan Gould" folder? There was no vile filth, just one guy's assessment of what a public figure was all about. Doesn't mean that I'd put it in those terms, but there was nothing vile or filthy about it.

No, no vile filth at all. I would appreciate it however if BM gets back to me and lets me know if I am a child molester, mentally disordered (or perhaps both).

And for whatever its worth Paul, Buckley subsequently declared that he was wrong for supporting segregation and wrong for opposing the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts and ultimately supported a national holiday for MLK. There is a far more rational and even-handed discussion of Buckley's life here at the New York Times not that you would have any reason whatsoever to read it.

[jazzypaul]

Mr. Buckley departs the scene, the political movement he championed now almost universally recognized as an umbrella group of grafters, war profiteers, social misfits, science deniers, religious wackos, chicken hawks, liars, thieves, child molesters, and the mentally disordered. Nice legacy, Bill.

I thought it might be interesting if this thread went in this forum but then again I should have expected this kind of vile filth.

Will one of the mods place this thread where it belongs so that all the other liberal haters can shit on the memory of a great man without my having to read it? Thank you in advance.

Should everything that offends you be moved to some "doesn't offend Dan Gould" folder? There was no vile filth, just one guy's assessment of what a public figure was all about. Doesn't mean that I'd put it in those terms, but there was nothing vile or filthy about it.

Of course not. He was talking about republicans. How could that possibly offend anyone?

I'm not saying that republicans are an "unprotected" group (in the PC sense). However, vile isn't "that guy was a mean old man!" Vile is "That guy sure did like his cleveland steamers!"

Big difference.