Posted on 11/30/2023 9:54:45 AM PST by Miami Rebel
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson agreed wholeheartedly with the assertion that National Review founding editor William F. Buckley Jr. was “one of the great villains of the 20th century” during a Wednesday interview with Dave Smith, a comedian and libertarian YouTube host.
Smith launched the initial attack on Buckley, declaring “I’ll tell you this: Whatever this atrophy in like the intelligence of the American people, it’s, I think it’s accelerating. I mean it’s-. Look, and again, just like you said I’ll disclaimer as well: I’m talking about people who I don’t necessarily like. Like I view Bill Buckley as like one of the great villains of the 20th century. I think he ruined-”
At that point, Carlson interrupted to shout “I couldn’t agree more!” and pound his fist on a table with a laugh.
“But, but, but he was a clearly very — also CIA by the way — but he was also a very intelligent guy and witty, and not speaking down to his audience, and like a popular show, his Firing Line show would be Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley arguing with each other,” said Smith.
In addition to founding and overseeing National Review, Buckley was a prolific, widely-read columnist who also hosted the long-running interview show Firing Line. He is regarded as one of the founding fathers of the modern conservative movement, and helped shape its ideological parameters as well as propel it to political success within the Republican Party.
He also worked for the CIA for two years after graduating from Yale.
Both Carlson’s brother and firstborn son bear the first name Buckley. It is not clear whether his brother was named after the famed conservative commentator and activist, although the Carlson’s father, Dick Carlson was a right-of-center journalist who was appointed the director of the United States Information Agency under President Ronald Reagan and U.S. ambassador to Seychelles under President George H.W. Bush.
All in good fun I suspect.
Agreeing to debate Vidal was questionable...
You may actually ‘win’ debating leftists like Vidal, Chomsky, or (when living) Russell, but you better pack a lunch and most likely , those guys were smart enough to gin up a BS claim to a win or break win and get over with it.
Something that was always baffling to me is how anyone with a +150 IQ becomes an atheist or a marxist/socialist. Such fantasies should only appeal to the feeble minded...
But did WFB Jr believe in UFO’s? Maybe Tucker knows Buckley was hiding some UFO info? /s
Vidal "broke" Buckley.
“. With Barry Goldwater, and later Ronald Reagan, Buckley created the modern conservative movement. “
Given that it was a total and complete failure, I wouldn’t brag about it.
Yeah ... and it's hilarious.
Did you actually read NR in the 1970s and 1980s?
You should never ask a question to which you do not know the answer.
Became a conservative in 1970, read NR assiduously for two and half decades.
But why brag?
Would you have supported the government implementation of affirmative action, as did WFB?
I think I know the answer.
Another story about how the Republican Party was handed something on a Silver platter and BLEW IT. Instead of crafting the conservative movement around conservatism and the grass roots, they morphed into a corporatist party which morphed into Blue Blood country club which morphed into a moderate party which eventually lost what they started with. Thus, the grass roots tea party and eventually the Trump populist conservative movement slipped into the vacuum and now is fighting for the soul of the former Republican Party which moved so far left they became assistant democrats.
Then you know better than the swill you're peddling. Your comments aren't ignorant, they're dishonest.
Smith launched the initial attack on Buckley, declaring “.l… Like I view Bill Buckley as like one of the great villains of the 20th century. I think he ruined-”
At that point, Carlson interrupted to shout “I couldn’t agree more!” and pound his fist on a table with a laugh.
******************************************************************************
Carlson was obviously being sarcastic…. a fact that will escape the Ukrainian propagandist Sleestaks here who hate Carlson because he’s an America First patriot and not a slavish Zelensky supporter,
We know how fake-news takes things out of context to confuse and misdirect. My guess is that Carlson was simply being sarcastic.
And BTW, if you’re telling me the truth, then you know what a “neo conservative” is (or was), and you know better than to throw around “neocon” as a meaningless pejorative like a bunch of kids do today.
National Review today is nothing like Buckley’s National Review. Buckley made conservatism intellectually credible. Prior to him, “conservatives” were universally dismissed as grumpy and irrelevant, known only for constantly fretting about progress.
Wow. Not the first time I’ve heard that, however. Various folks on social media accuse him of trying to destroy Southern culture.
William F. Buckley’s writings brought me to Conservatism when I was in the 8th or 9th grade. Reading his books from the school library raised the fog from my brain ...
We are always ready to read your naming calling and stupid analogy of people who think the opposite of your puppet following of Rumple
When Tucker starts attacking Rush, we’ll know he’s jumped the shark. With Buckley, he’ getting close.
The quote is too short know what Tucker is talking about, but Buckley was mostly before my time.
The quotes are short. I like a minimum of three paragraphs. That should be enough for context in many (around 85%) of the cases. Who knows what either speaker really meant? I refuse to get excited over this.
Did Buckley work for the CIA? I don’t know. Is it significant? Probably not.
Was he conservative? He was the face of conservatism at the time. There may have been better conservatives, but they were not prominent. It seems to me that he was the Tucker Carlsen on his day.
Tucker has been great on many issues. I realize that Ukraine/Russia is a topic that divides people at FreeRepublic. He is a rare public skeptic of the Biden/MSM narrative that Trump=Putin and Russia=USSR. Same goes for the J-6 “insurrection.” I value Carlsen’s contributions.
UFOs? I have a prejudice here. Pretty much a closed mind.
I knew a NASA employee who regaled audiences telling them about inter-dimensional transportation. He’d personally travelled to dozens of alternate realities.
NASA and the military have their share of kooks. That they are credentialed and held responsible (at least on paper) positions, does not change the fact that they are kooks. I suspect Carlsen has been taken in. He’s not alone. Look at how many people believe in global warming / climate change, or that a “vaccine” that does not fully protect for 6 months is “effective.”
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