Death of a Giant
February 28th, 2008 at 11:08 am by David FarrarWilliam F Buckley Jr died today. He was a giant in the US Conservative movement, and respected by most people from all sides for his talents.
He founded National Review, and it is from their blog that I want to quote:
His accomplishments were almost incalculable. As George Will once said, “before there was Ronald Reagan there was Barry Goldwater, before there was Goldwater there was National Review, and before there was National Review there was William F. Buckley.” As conservatives — and as Americans — we are all standing on his shoulders.
If you want more tributes on Buckey, keep checking the blog linked above.
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February 28th, 2008 at 11:39 am
Fom non-National Review sources, some slighty less ‘charming conservative’ stuff:
”
The National Review defended the Vietnam War, opposed civil rights legislation and once declared that “the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail.”
”
Vote:Buckley also had little use for the music of the counterculture, once calling the Beatles “so unbelievably horrible, so appallingly unmusical, so dogmatically insensitive to the magic of the art, that they qualify as crowned heads of antimusic.”
February 28th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I asuming you’re trying to help speed up the cooling of his body by pissing on him this close to his death?
Vote:February 28th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
I would suggest that those of you who would like a “snapshot of WFB” then read his book Atlantic High which is reviewed by ebooks.com ” Ostensibly the tale of his 1980 voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic High is William F. Buckley’s extended meditation on the pleasures of sailing and good company. Not surprisingly, as much thought seems to have gone into stocking the wine cellar as to charting out the route. Kon-Tiki, this is not, but nor is it meant to be. Instead, it is an essay on appreciation, and a chance for Buckley to share his spirited point of view and exercise his unique sense of humor”
The book will be an anathema to pkiwi and the rest of the gormless left, which is probably why I throughly enjoyed reading it.
Vote:February 28th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
For such a “giant” he sure does get his but kicked in this debate with chomsky…
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16240.htm
Vote:February 28th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
come off it murray..?
are we meant to draw a veil over vile beliefs/preachings..?
these are all things he advocated..
(does the truth hurt..?..muzza..
are you saying you distance yourself from those standard/vile rightwing beliefs..?
(both historic..and current..?..)
or is them being ‘voiced’ out loud..making you uncomfortable..?
(as it should..as it should..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
Vote:February 28th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
and murray..how is repeating his ‘teachings’..’pissing on him’..?
pray tell..!
phil(whoar.co.nz)
Vote:February 28th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
here is a left-wingers eulogy..
“..I’m hard on conservatives. I get harder on them just about every day. I call them “con men.”
I do so without apology.
And I cannot deny that William F. Buckley said and did many things over the course of his career that were disgusting as well. I’ve written about some of them.
But this is not the time to go into all that. My friend just passed away at the age of 82.
He was a good and decent man. He knew exactly what my politics were about–he knew I was an implacable ideological adversary–yet he offered his friendship to me nonetheless.
He did the honor of respecting his ideological adversaries, without covering up the adversarial nature of the relationship in false bonhommie.
A remarkable quality, all too rare in an era of the false fetishization of “post-partisanship” and Broderism and go-along-to-get-along.
He was friends with those he fought.
He fought with friends.
These are the highest civic ideals to which an American patriot can aspire..”
(aww..!!..eh..?..)
phil(whoar.co.nz)
Vote:February 28th, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Phuq off phool.
Try to hold yourself down to just one dreanged hate filled left wing pantswetting spew at a time will you.
Not that anyone reads beyong your name then clicking on the thumbs down before looking for something in ENGLISH.
You’re a bloody skid mark in the underpants of humanity.
Vote:February 28th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
(heh-heh..!..)
take yr blood-pressure-meds..!..eh..?
(and still with the (over)-use of the scatalogical..?..eh..?..)
did you ever ask your therapist about that one..?
“and you sir..are naught but a dried crusty bit..on ‘a bloody skidmark on the underpants of humanity..!…”
eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
Vote:February 28th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
voltaire & murray, you jump to conclusion about my politics, just because I quote some less than flattering facts amongst the gushing eulogies and hero worship. Just becasue he was one of the Right doesn’t make him always right, and being wrong doesn’t always make you not alright.
Now here is a guy who should get a really good eulogy along the lines of a Darwin award….
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4411639a6479.html
Vote:February 28th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Buckley struck me as a good example of the wealthy, educated and highly privileged American with an enquiring if conservative frame of mind. But he knew where he was coming from and was prepared to question his own views in public. The list of people he interviewed probably reads like a ‘who’s who’ of the Western world in the second half of the twentieth century.
I didn’t always like his manner – a bit pompous for me – but he was well-read, courteous and genuinely interested in his interviewees.
How did we get from Buckey to Kim Hill?
Vote:February 28th, 2008 at 4:35 pm
No, I make no asumption about your politics, I didn’t mention your politics. I have no idea what your politics are and I don’t give the slightest toss about them.
Anyone with the slightest reading comprehension skills can manage to work out I was refering to your timing.
Here’s another clue for you egoboy, voltaire didn’t mention your politics either. He didn’t refer to you directly at all. GTF over youself.
I despised David Lange as a fat fraud but I didn’t use his death as the time to publish my reasons for knowing him to be a liar. Its failry common knowledge that I think the world would be better if every green party member were recycled, however when Rod Donald died I paid tribute to his commitment to his beliefs.
Its called basic human respect. Some people – and by people I mean people with elementry social skills enough not to pick eachothers noses and eat it – consider a post relating to someones passing and their lives work to be a less than apropriate place for shit flingers to have their party.
Get a dictionary if the words respect, human & basic confuse you.
Now piss off and evolve into a more socially responsibile commentor.
Jesus David what are you hosting here? When I have my heart attack just do me a favor and don’t mention it thanks.
Vote:February 28th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
pkiwi:
Um, so Buckley didn’t think much of the Beatles — what a prick. (Though he was surprisingly fond of ‘The Sopranos’ and wrote a sympathetic novel with Elvis Presley as the central character.) I turfed my PA Radio piece this morning and wrote a eulogy to WFB – because God knows political discourse could do with a little more of his wit, fierce debating skills, and passionate adherence to principle over party and sheer good manners. And pkiwi, I’ve read plenty of tributes from ‘non-National Review sources’ (Arts and Letters Daily has a long list), and what struck me was how many people who vehemently disagreed with his opinions on pretty much everything were genuinely fond of the man, and his late wife.
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