NYT: William F. Buckley has died at the age of 82. MSNBC reporting. nt

[babylonsister]

[PCIntern]

1. God and Dick at Yale...

Snotty bastard...I remember him for the early 60's.

om edit: I don't grieve - I recall his diatribes aginst anti Vietnam War protestors...all the while he was out sailing on his frigging yacht...his stupid bro was in congress during the Nixon Impeachment.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

11. Hey, I'm no Buckley fan, but. . . .

don't you think we should at least wait until he assumes room temperature before we start trashing the guy (and there's a lot to trash for sure). R.I.P.

[PCIntern]

36. No....

sorry.

[Happyhippychick]

2. That's sad. And symbolic.

[Hutzpa]

28. Ok! this f**kin does it

we have actually been invaded, we've turned the corner, mourning the death of a RWer here, damn

never thought I'll see the day.


:puke: :puke: :puke:

[Happyhippychick]

33. Mourning? I sad it was sad. And symbolic. Which it is - the conservative movement is dead.

But I'm certainly not mourning the death of that! :)

[CatWoman]

3. wasn't he called "the father of the conservative moment"?

[Swamp Rat]

4. That moment has apparently passed.

[CatWoman]

5. LOLOLOLOL!!!!!

I meant "movement", not "moment" :)

but still :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[originalpckelly]

7. Russert looks like an owl:

[eShirl]

14. OMG

that art! :rofl:

[Virginia Dare]

16. My RW friend named his dog after him..

:rofl:

[El Pinko]

6. R.I.P.

I didn't exactly like him, and I hated his political philosophy, but his wit was his saving grace.

[alfredo]

8. The GOP has lost a voice of moderation.

:sarcasm: but not that far off the mark seeing how radical the GOP has become.

[kwassa]

9. Buckley was a complete gentleman compared to the current crop

of conservative tv and radio pundits.

Never thought I'd be nostalgic about Bill Buckley.

[LTR]

10. At least he had a little charm

And actually seemed intelligent, though rather dull.

His nephew, the vile loudmouth Brent Bozell, could have learned a thing or two.

[Virginia Dare]

15. It's sad when you are nostalgic for that kind of supercilious gentility..

as opposed to the hateful trash that is spewed these days.

[Seeking Serenity]

20. It hearkens back to a time when conservatives and liberals

could disagree without being disagreeable.

I lay the blame for our present state of political discourse squarely at the feet of CNN's "Crossfire," and its progeny of political name-calling-and-shouting-match shows.

[Blue_Tires]

26. +1

who thought i'd ever mourn Buckley?

if he was just starting his career today, FoxNews would probably call him "moderate-left"

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

19. I feel the same as you, and the irony is, that I used to think he

was an ultra-Conservative before the current gang co-opted the Conservative movement.

[JackBeck]

21. Not so fast.

Don't forget about his infamous fight with Gore Vidal.

[eShirl]

22. ah yes

http://www.pitt.edu/~kloman/debates.html

[blondeatlast]

24. "He was way better than Jonah Goldberg." If nothing more, I can at least say that much.

I could actaully tolerate hearing him unlike the wanna-bes of his ilk today.

[Jack Rabbit]

12. I used to watch Firing Line

Mr. Buckley would annoy me with his views, but he still was a conservative, not a right wing moron like today's fascists who call themselves conservatives. Firing Line was his show, with his bend. Every time I watched it I felt I learned something. No one can say that about FoxNews and keep a straight face.

Let's face it, Buckley was a brilliant intellect. Mad Magazine once described a liberal as a person "who secretly wishes William F. Buckley were a liberal (and) secretly wishes David Susskind weren't." He had our grudging respect.

Rest in peace, Mr. Buckley.

[El Pinko]

17. He was a witty man, but also well-known to be fairly racist...

...other than that, he wasn't all that bad for an old right-wing, toffee-nosed effete.

[TahitiNut]

30. So did I. I rejected the viewpoint but was entranced by the 'logic'.

Buckley employed weapons ranging from sophistry to satire and sarcasm to propagate his viewpoint. I found myself fascinated by the tactics he employed and regarded 'Firing Line' as required viewing in order to exercise my critical thinking skills. Clearly, Buckley prevailed when his opposition employed fallacious reasoning. Few were as adept at employing such propagandistic tools as ol' Bill. In such instances, he'd puncture the oppostion and then resort to a false dichotomy in claiming 'success.' Fascinating. Far more intelligent than the feces-flingers of today ... but based on the same immoral precepts.

[eShirl]

13. I respected his opposition to the insane and counterproductive Drug War

[lpbk2713]

18. Goodbye Mister FBuckley

[Buzz Clik]

23. Well, shit. I liked him a lot in my conservative phase.

Vaya con dios, Bill.

[GoneOffShore]

25. I'm sorry for his family

R.I.P.

Here's a good quote from the NYT:

Mr. Buckley’s vocabulary, sparkling with phrases from distant eras and described in newspaper and magazine profiles as sesquipedalian (characterized by the use of long words) became the stuff of legend. Less kind commentators called him “pleonastic” (use of more words than necessary).

And, inescapably, there was that aurora of pure mischief. In 1985, David Remnick, writing in The Washington Post, said, “He has the eyes of a child who has just displayed a horrid use for the microwave oven and the family cat.”

[BlooInBloo]

27. Addition by subtraction.

[TahitiNut]

32. The sign of the subtrahend doesn't contradict the operation.

:silly:

[babylonsister]

29. Link: William F. Buckley Jr. Is Dead at 82

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/business/media/27cnd-buckley.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

William F. Buckley Jr. Is Dead at 82
Sam Falk/The New York Times (1965)

William F. Buckley Jr. in his office at the National Review in 1965.

By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: February 27, 2008

William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn.

Mr Buckley, 82, suffered from diabetes and emphysema, his son Christopher said, although the exact cause of death was not immediately known. He was found at his desk in the study of his home, his son said. “He might have been working on a column,” Mr. Buckley said.

Mr. Buckley’s winningly capricious personality, replete with ten-dollar words and a darting tongue writers loved to compare with an anteater’s, hosted one of television’s longest-running programs, “Firing Line,” and founded and shepherded the influential conservative magazine, National Review.

He also found time to write more than 45 books, ranging from sailing odysseys to spy novels to celebrations of his own dashing daily life, and edit five more.

The more than 4.5 million words of his 5,600 biweekly newspaper columns, “On the Right,” would fill 45 more medium-sized books.

more...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/business/media/27cnd-buckley.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[Raskolnik]

31. He was certainly preferrable to the current crop of "conservatives"

[kcwayne]

34. A Tale of Two Cities

The idle wealthy are better off for his efforts.

The other 97% are not.

What else can be said?

[cseper]

35. William F. Buckley has died

and he was born wealthy, he lived wealthy and he died wealthy.

'nuff said!

[bighughdiehl]

41. Exactly

Born wealthy, and advocating feudalism in twentieth-century drag. Fuck him, despite his sensible stance on drugs.

[sepulveda]

37. war on drugs

from the beginning, buckley was strongly against the war on drugs, something neither party's mainstream candidates will even TOUCH.

that is one thing that i will give him props for.

when rightwingers AND leftwingers finally come together on the war on drugs, then maybe we can make progress.

[eShirl]

39. agreed 100%

[jackster]

38. granted, Buckley had a lot to rail against,

but after reading him and hating him for years, I've grown a little more mellow about him. He was intelligent, witty, and well loved by many of the liberals he knew and/or battled in print. True he stood for most everything I stand against (however he did have some libertarian leanings with which I could agree and he did become to believe the Iraqi War was wrong), still I will miss him.

I too say RIP William Buckley.

[ordinaryaveragegirl]

40. The modern-day wingnuts make him seem almost genteel...

He was practically a voice of reason, compared to today's warmongering Repugs.

The Conservative Movement is over. It's our moment to step up, and bring back our country. :patriot: