Conservative Icon William F. Buckley Dies

The ideas that he gave voice to are precisely what the people here are responding to. You are missing the point that ideas presented are ideas open to criticism. If an idea is found to be unappealing or repugnant, be sure that it won't go unaddressed.

My point is that Buckley would not want it to be any other way. The guy is dead, his ideas were not widely agreed to, but his unholding the concepts of democracy, community, civility, and friendship are his legacy. Not his ideas.

How can we know about Buckley's upholding of the concepts of democracy, community, civility and friendship if not by his ideas about them? Many of his ideas are diametrically opposed to the concepts of democracy (he championed military intervention and occupation), community, civility (he was an apologist for the subjugation of the Amerindians) and friendship (are the two above really that friendly?). How else did he uphold these concepts?

By the way he lived his life, day in and day out. I don't know a lot about his ideas, never read a book of his for instance, but my sense for him on TV and his columns was that he tended to be a contrarian, that he would take the unpopular and often unsavory position at times because it was more important that we have a full debate then it was that he personally be seen in a positive light. This is a bit dicey for me personally because I want people to only stick to what they really believe, but he was following the standard rules for debate and I respect that. But talk to people who knew him personally and they will tell you that whatever the product of his intellect he always treated them as an individual and always very well. His friends spanned the ideological spectrum. Human decency trumped ideology with him, democratic process trumped agenda. How rare is that today!!!

Here is some good insight into Buckley.


Tales From the Firing Line

By MICHAEL KINSLEY
Published: March 2, 2008
WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY Jr. famously claimed that he could ?- and did ?- write a column in 20 minutes. I saw him do it once. It was after one of his "Firing Line" debates, which were usually broadcast live in front of an audience at some university. For many years, I played the moderator so that Bill could lead one side.

On this occasion, our debate turned out to be taking place simultaneously with the vice presidential debate of the 1988 election. Someone taped the other debate so that we could watch it when ours was through. Bill had arrived with a high fever just a few minutes before the program started, looking terrible, but he performed for two hours.

Then he showed up in the room where everybody else, drained, was watching the vice presidential debate listlessly. He poured himself a large glass of wine, took a half a sandwich, opened up his computer (Bill was an early adopter) and began typing. O.K., it wasn't 20 minutes. Maybe it was even an hour. But he stood up as the tape ended and announced that he'd written his column "about that debate."

On another occasion, I flew from New York to Washington with him. He carried a book and his computer, and announced as we boarded that he had to write a review for The Times. By the time the 50-minute flight had landed, he had written the review. I didn't ask whether he had read the book before getting on the plane. When the review came out a couple of weeks later, it was depressingly good.

In this age of blogging, producing a newspaper column or book review in under an hour may not seem all that impressive. But it certainly impressed me, and still does. I think what was most impressive was the complicated snobbery of it. The posture of the sensitive, agonizing writer was not for him. His posture was that of the carefree aristocrat, achieving effortlessly what ordinary people have to agonize over.

Shortly after I went to work for Microsoft to start Slate magazine, Mr. Buckley was in Seattle for some reason and wanted to see the Microsoft campus. There isn't much to see ?- it's a typical corporate office park ?- but I took him to lunch in the cafeteria. He seemed a bit befuddled by the mechanics: you take this tray and you gather food on it .... Already anticipating an anecdote about William F. Buckley dealing with ordinary life, I asked him, "When was the last time you ate in a cafeteria, Bill?" He said, "Last week, in Gstaad." So he won that round.

After lunch, we went to the parking garage in order to drive to another building. Before we got into the car, Bill asked where the men's room was. I said there would be one at our destination, only a few minutes away. Without a word, he put down his omnipresent pile of papers, walked over to a pillar, and relieved himself. Then he returned to the car, winked, and said, "It's sterile, you know."

I was speechless, which is just how he liked it.

Michael Kinsley is a columnist for Time magazine.

Interesting column, and interesting Pirandello quote, Advocate.

One of the top ten moments in TV history!

"Call me a neo-nazi one more time you fag and I'll pop you on the nose!"

Buckley lost that one to Vidal by letting him get under his skin, but it was great TV.

You just restrict your exposure to conservatives too closely

At least you don't disappoint with grace about the dead

Very well said.

When I was a foolish liberal I admired his independent intellect. Now that I am a foolish conservative, I admire it just the same.

You have it wrong. After Buckley called him a faggot, Vidal referred to him as a crypto-Nazi. Both references were true.

I thought the crypto nazi part was first, but I had trouble hearing the dialogue in the video - and I watched it only shortly and forget already.