He was my hero.
The father of the modern conservative movement and a man who taught several generations the meaning of the word class.
Unlike many, I was not a big fan of his writing style, he could be pedantic. It was his hard work in the years before I was born, it was his clear thinking, and it was his bravery in standing up to the Bircher yahoos. Those are what made him indispensable.
Later in life he took a more libertarian turn even as I did. Although he wrote off the extreme Rand cult of personality which was a good thing to do.
What I am in awe of, even to this day, is his sheer intellect, combined with a positive work ethic, a great personal faith, and impeccable manners. |
| |
Written By:
kyleN
URL:
http://impudent.blognation.us/blog
|
I met him once, briefly, at a hotel in Denver. He was a consummate gentleman, even to a young twerp like me.
And I still remember how he absolutely destroyed John Kenneth Galbraith (in a mannerly fashion, of course) during a debate in the later Reagan years. |
| |
Written By:
Billy Hollis
URL:
http://qando.net
|
I have missed William F. Buckley. He was singularly unafraid of putting his ideas to the hardest tests against the most competent of ideological opponents, and he did it honestly, using valid argumentation and logic without the tricks that todays so-called conservatives use regularly.
Hannity and Limbaugh are not fit to wash his shorts.
He was a conservative intellectual, something that has become an oxymoron among so many of those that followed him.
Bill Buckley never shouted anyone down in his life, because he never had to.
If the conservative movement were as honest as Bill Buckley, I’d probably still be a part of it. He was never the pack animal that many conservatives have become.
He broke with conservatives in all the right places, and I think it was he stayed true, and the rest that failed. |
| |
Written By:
Captin Sarcastic
URL:
http://
|
My father passed along how he’d been watching TV the night Gore Vidal called Buckley a "little Nazi"...
Buckley: ’Look, you little queer, if you call me a Nazi one more time, I’ll punch you in your god damn mouth"
Someone get to work making a DVD of Buckley’s best recorded moments. I’ll buy three. |
| |
Written By:
Scott Jacobs
URL:
http://
|