[gusopol3]

I’m out of the loop. What’s he done?

[word_warrior_bob]

Nice story. Christopher Buckley better stock up on hash on election day, he’s gong to need it.

Does he own National Review now? Can he fire himself?

[Fiji Hill]

one thing has always puzzled me about WFB: Why did he affect an English accent his entire life? I’m sure this was not his natural way of speaking, since I’ve never heard a native Nutmegger talk that way.

[ChocChipCookie]

Per Rush Limbaugh: The biggest problem of rich people is their kids. Maybe that’s why he has never had kids.

[oblomov]

Thank you for sharing your reminiscences. Although I am 15-20 years younger that you, Buckley was an important figure to me as well. At one point I read everything I could get my hands on regarding the conservative perspective on the 1965-1975 period (which I regard as a cultural and political watershed). I read many volumes of Buckley's collected essays and old copies of NR from the period. The Unmaking of a Mayor is a masterpiece of political satire.

Buckley fils is typical third-generation trust fund trash. One of his stated reasons for supporting 0bama is that he is a Harvard Man, and another is his horror at Palin's gaucherie. So his support is simply a matter of class judgment. His smarm will earn him plaudits among the social circle in which he considers himself a member. But his position of privilege is built on his grandfather's oil money, and oil is dirty.

[Daffynition]

Excellent post. I cut my eye teeth with conservatism and WFB and hung on his every word listening to Firing Line, especially when Gore Vidal was a guest. [I must admit I had to jot down some of the words he used to look up later.]

Mr. Buckley at a press conference in 1965. His greatest achievement was making conservatism - not just electoral Republicanism, but conservatism as a system of ideas - respectable in liberal post-World War II America. He mobilized the young enthusiasts who helped nominate Barry Goldwater in 1964, and saw his dreams fulfilled when Reagan and the Bushes captured the Oval Office.

[ladyjane]

Since his father died Christopher is probably not getting invited to the fancy parties by people trying to get close to his dad. By supporting Obama he will now become the darling of the liberal set and get back on the A-list.

[Lancey Howard]

Christopher Buckley is just another hot-tub conservative, like David Brock. And the “Sorry, Dad” column was nauseating - - that simple narcissist Christopher Buckley couldn’t care less what his father would have thought of his betrayal.

[Clemenza]

Ah, so you are familiar with the huge block of “USDA Cheese.” A friend of mine who was raised in the Red Hook projects (but now a senior manager at a market research firm) told me how she refused to eat cheese for years.

[Clemenza]

I remember those details as distinctly as if they happened yesterday. And I remember William Buckley just as distinctly, because the man was a true human being, a blessed soul, a man who made sense. He was a free man, not a slave to cant, to bombast, to peer pressure, to junk thinking, to bigotry or to government.

When I met WFB as an 18 year old, he was kind, gracious, and a bit intoxicated. My kind of guy.

[Yaelle]

Very nice story. I’m glad Buckley had that influence over you.

There are a lot of uber-rich kids like him. I believe you completely because I went to school with some of them.

The little girl with the messiest hair and most unkempt school uniform was the child of two huge Hollywood machers, both involved with other partners/spiouses, and she was all but completely neglected. She arrived in a taxi or a limo alone each day.

A bunch of the girls were always whispering about their weekend activities. It sounded at first like fun shopping trips to Saks and Neiman Marcus. Only after I was allowed in their listening circle did I find out the truth. These 12-year-olds of immense wealth and privilege were not shopping. They were shopLIFTING. They already had Daddy’s unlimited credit cards in their little Gucci purses; that would have been too easy. They were trying to rip off the department stores and boutiques for jollies. And the cool thing was that when the stores called their homes, the girls had their maids pretend to be the parents and never got more than slaps on the wrist. Ha ha ha, how very funny.