Thursday, February 28, 2008
William F. Buckley: 1925-2008
A lot has already been written about William F. Buckley and his very sad death. But I especially liked these notes by Rick Perlstein, a liberal who once interviewed Buckley for a book and later became Buckley's friend; James Wolcott, who appreciated Buckley's style and substance (read last few sentences to get an idea how much WFB's style and substance will be missed); and our very own Peter Porcupine, who praises Buckley while acknowledging his 'mass of odd contradictions.' They all show the mostly good, sometimes bad and occasional ugliness of Buckley. Via the Huffington Post, there's also this recent memorable exchange between Buckley and Norman Podhoretz, showing Buckley's inherent honesty when confronted by facts:
Whenever I feel embarrassed by my own reluctant support of the war, I'll try to remember that much better men like Buckley made the same mistake and maintained their honor by admitting it. ... Conservatives will miss Buckley more than they realize. ...
A lot has already been written about William F. Buckley and his very sad death. But I especially liked these notes by Rick Perlstein, a liberal who once interviewed Buckley for a book and later became Buckley's friend; James Wolcott, who appreciated Buckley's style and substance (read last few sentences to get an idea how much WFB's style and substance will be missed); and our very own Peter Porcupine, who praises Buckley while acknowledging his 'mass of odd contradictions.' They all show the mostly good, sometimes bad and occasional ugliness of Buckley. Via the Huffington Post, there's also this recent memorable exchange between Buckley and Norman Podhoretz, showing Buckley's inherent honesty when confronted by facts:
'Aren't you embarrassed by the absence of these weapons?' Buckley snaps at Podhoretz. He has just explained that he supported the war reluctantly, because Dick Cheney convinced him that Saddam Hussein had WMD primed to be fired. 'No,' Podhoretz replies. ...
Whenever I feel embarrassed by my own reluctant support of the war, I'll try to remember that much better men like Buckley made the same mistake and maintained their honor by admitting it. ... Conservatives will miss Buckley more than they realize. ...
