William F. Buckley Jr., 1925-2008

I for one am sorry to see him go. Yes, he had some appalling ideas (segregation, good; Beatles, bad), but by and large, he was an honest conservative.

Compare him to Limpbaugh, Weiner-Savage, Doughy Pantload and the rest and you can see how far conservatives have fallen.

RIP Bill

William "Frank" Buckley ( since middle names seem so important to the right ) will be missed by some.

As a thorough liberal, I still have to say I'm saddened to hear of Buckley's passing. I'll miss his wit and wisdom -- though he was a consummate conservative, he was "one of the good ones," a field that's dwindling dangerously.

Bless him.

Buckley was an articulate and rather disingenuous man, one who truly was a bit off his rocker.

Anyone who watched Buckley on television, flicking his tongue almost like a rattlesnake and rapidly blinking his eyes, couldn't doubt he was a bit unbalanced and simply enjoyed conflict and argument for their own sake.

He was a vital part of what critic Robert Hughes has called "America's culture of complaint."

The culture of complaint is one in which the combat is enjoyed for its own sake with little meaningful discussion happening and little desire to achieve understanding or change.

It is a verbal form of Rome’s gladiator battles, and just about as intellectually meaningful.

Buckley’s television show also frequently put up debaters who were supposed to represent two sides of an issue but, to the observant watcher, clearly did not. That is to say, Buckley often loaded the dice.

Further note on the infamous Buckley-Gore Vidal exchange many years ago on American television, tapes of which the American network likely will never release or has destroyed out of fear of lawsuits.

Vidal did call Buckley a "crypto-nazi," a personal attack which at least had the merit of being about politics (as well as being true).

Buckley called Vidal "faggot" on national television, a personal remark having nothing to do with politics and revealing very clearly the kind of prejudice that motivated Buckley.

He had no class, except an assumed fake-quasi-British accent which he managed to permanently acquire from a short stay in Britain.

The man was a fraud, a second-rate intellect, and not especially ethical.

I never agreed with anything he said, but I understood why he thought what he thought and respected him.

I appreciate the positive thoughts written by a few of you. It shows a lot of class.
Once again... John Chuckman's thoughts are rather irrelevant.

Leave it to that awful canadian to take what should be a blog post for warm rememberances of Mr. Buckley and try to make it political. Have some tact, foreigner. This isn't the place for you to truly show who it is that has "no class."

As a member of the "Loony Left", I also will miss Mr. Buckley. His method of discourse was always civil. I am sure he was not happy about what happened to his magazine once the right wing zealots like Jonah Goldberg took over.

Will we ever see in this country again a time like when Ronald Reagan was President and Tip O'Neill was Speaker of the House?? These two would fight each other tooth and nail during the day, but they were not above sitting down and sharing a drink afterward.

RIP, Mr. Buckley.

Jeff, no one cares what you think anyway. You are a republic party moron. Chuckman will be smarter than you every day of the week and I'd rather hear his rants than yours.

Hear, hear, BobinATL.

This man's instincts told him blacks and whites should be segregated. It took about a decade and then he changed his mind. That's how I'll remember this first class bigot who changed how he felt about Civil Rights only because he realized it would make him more money.

Weinerdog, if you truly don't care (like everyone else) then why are you responding? Buckley would've said something like that. I already miss him.

The thing that bothers most liberals about Bill Buckley is that he couldn't be brought to the level of name calling. The Man from Canada certainly sounds like sour grapes and the Weinerdog person actually descended into a "my dad can beat up your day" comment. Unfortunate, but not wholly unexpected. We'll miss your civil discourse, Mr. Buckley.

He will be missed for making political commentary entertaining.His mannerism kept you wanting to hear what more he had to say.No other TV news personality comes close to the passion, wit and the way with words of Mr. Buckley.

Let's see, he was cool but didn't 'like' the Beatles;

Even then he was a clueless old man.

RIP Bill. If you are upstairs, by all means avoid John and George.

I once wrote WFB about some subject or another, and was pleasantly surprised to receive a response from him on his personal letterhead, clearly written, and signed by him. Unfortunately, he had mistaken my first name, addressing me as "Dear Genny", instead of "Jerry" (my handwriting is that of a doctor). I wrote him back, jesting that he had mis-spelled my name, saying "it is Jerry, like Jerome, the saint". He wrote back, saying, "Sorry, it looked to be Genny, like Genevive, whose prayers saved Paris from Atilla". Who else could come up with that?!
I will always treasure those letters from one of the 20th century's greatest intellectuals, and writers. Farewell, and thanks for the memories.

Buckley was once asked why Teddy Kennedy feared to make an appearance on Firing Line. He responded, "why does hamburger fear the grinder?". Easily twice the intellect Vidal, or Mailer, ever thought of being, and twice as classy and witty, to boot.

I'm confident that history will judge nearly every position that William F Buckley espoused in his nearly 60-year career to have been wrong, but he expressed those errors with such vigor and style! Just as Billy Crystal used to joke that it's "better to look good than to feel good," Buckley understood that in the world of political journalism--the most important and least exciting variety of political theater--it's more important to sound right than to be right. Not only can one admit to have enjoyed his presence without having ever agreed with him, but one should credit him for speaking out against anti-Semitism within the conservative movement at a moment in history when that particular vice had long out-stayed its welcome. It was all an act, of course, but what a class act nonetheless!

Good luck and god speed Mr. Buckley. You were a real conservative, an intellectual, unlike those ruining the country these past seven years. You may now begin spinning in your grave as the republitard smear machine begins to try to destroy the candidacy of anyone it despises, which is everyone.

Chuckman,

J. Carson used to do a hilarious gut busting funny impression of Buckley, including all the weird facial contortions. Not everyone, by a long shot, thought he was to be taken seriously.

"WILLIAM BUCKLEY SPEAKS"

IT'S A SAD DAY IN JOURNALISM. IT'S A SAD DAY IN AMERICAN JOURNALISHM.

BUT IT'S A GREAT DAY FOR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS!

MAY GO BE WITH YOU IN EVERYTHING YOU SAY, WRITE OR ORDAIN!

LONG LIVE AMERICAN JOURNALIST AND THEIR ABILITY TO BE; OR NOT TO BE.!

EVEN IF HE DIDN'T LIKE CAPS!

I am appalled that anyone would use this space to make ugly remarks about a dead man who lived an honorable life. No, I don't agree with Mr. Buckley's onetime support for segregation, and I probably would have differed with him on some other things. But to write the kind of screed that Chuckman posted on her disgusts me.

The thing that bothers most liberals about Bill Buckley is that he couldn't be brought to the level of name calling.

Posted by: Poppiworl | February 27, 2008 6:10 PM

Oh really! Off the top of my head his exchange with Gore Vidal proves your statement to be false which makes you a liar.

Poor Dana! Look at her picture! Following Mephisto's instructions seems to be aging her at a fast rate. Poor thing, by Jan 09 she may look like her portrait in the attic.