Posted on 07/22/2006 8:45:38 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
President Bush ran for office as a "compassionate conservative." And he continues to nurture his conservative base even issuing his first veto this week against embryonic stem cell research.
But lately his foreign policy has come under fire from some conservatives including the father of modern conservatism. CBS Evening News Saturday anchor Thalia Assuras sat down for an exclusive interview with William F. Buckley about his disagreements with President Bush.
William F. Buckley's Stamford, Conn., home is a tranquil place that allows Buckley to think and write, and spend time with his canine companion, Sebastian.
"He's practically always with me," Buckley says.
Buckley finds himself parting ways with President Bush, whom he praises as a decisive leader but admonishes for having strayed from true conservative principles in his foreign policy.
In particular, Buckley views the three-and-a-half-year Iraq War as a failure.
"If you had a European prime minister who experienced what we've experienced it would be expected that he would retire or resign," Buckley says.
Asked if the Bush administration has been distracted by Iraq, Buckley says "I think it has been engulfed by Iraq, by which I mean no other subject interests anybody other than Iraq. ... The continued tumult in Iraq has overwhelmed what perspectives one might otherwise have entertained with respect to, well, other parts of the Middle East with respect to Iran in particular."
Despite evidence that Iran is supplying weapons and expertise to Hezbollah in the conflict with Israel, Buckley rejects neo-conservatives who favor a more interventionist foreign policy than he does, including a pre-emptive air strike against Iran and its nuclear facilities.
"If we find there is a warhead there that is poised, the range of it is tested, then we have no alternative. But pending that, we have to ask ourselves, 'What would the Iranian population do?'"
Buckley does support the administration's approach to the North Korea's nuclear weapons threat, believing that working with Russia, China, Japan and South Korea is the best way to get Pyongyang back to the negotiating table. But that's about where the agreement ends.
"Has Mr. Bush found himself in any different circumstances than any of the other presidents you've known in terms of these crises?" Assuras asks.
"I think Mr. Bush faces a singular problem best defined, I think, as the absence of effective conservative ideology with the result that he ended up being very extravagant in domestic spending, extremely tolerant of excesses by Congress, and in respect of foreign policy, incapable of bringing together such forces as apparently were necessary to conclude the Iraq challenge," Buckley says.
Asked what President Bush's foreign policy legacy will be to his successor, Buckley says "There will be no legacy for Mr. Bush. I don't believe his successor would re-enunciate the words he used in his second inaugural address because they were too ambitious. So therefore I think his legacy is indecipherable"
At 81, Mr. Buckley still continues to contribute a regular column to the National Review, the magazine he started 51 years ago.
Bump for later
If he can't see "Islamofacism" in the same light as "communism"......he's got problems.
Didn't Senator Barry Goldwater suffer similarly in his dotage?
yitbos
"William F. Buckley's Stamford, Conn., home is a tranquil place that allows Buckley to think and write, and spend time with his canine companion, Sebastian."He's practically always with me," Buckley says. "We talk all the time."
Stop talking to the dog, Billy, you know he's full of bad advice.
Did he ever! Gays in the military, pro-choice...he was completely off the reservation!
Well, Mr. Buckley, the same would have been said of Lincoln as of September 1, 1864. Wait till the game is over.
I have to wonder how Mr. Buckley feels about how his interview was published.
While Buckley has his opinions about the President, and they aren't all wrong - some of the opinions expressed here appear to be lacking the context in which they were originally expressed.
W has done more conservative things than Ronald Reagan every thought of doing.
I admire Buckley, but think he has it exactly backwards. Bush has been a successful conservative in foreign policy, but the compassionate fallout domestically has been horrendous. With the single exception of the tax cuts, the administration has been marked by bloat, wasteful spending, and an interpretation of the Commerce clause that dooms the federal republic.
Whenever I saw Buckley on TV doing his Demosthenes imitation as if he had marbles in his mouth, I always wondered if he really had anything to say in between those pretentious, pompous ah's and pauses. When I see this interview in print, I am sure he had nothing of substance to say. The reporter wasted a drive out to see an old man flattered by the attention.
"If he can't see "Islamofacism" in the same light as "communism"......he's got problems."
He fought the enemy of his time, and did so valiantly. Let's give him respect for that.
If he can't move beyond that, then so be it. Islamofascism is in our time, this is our fight, and not his.
Ouch. That's going to leave a mark.
Mr. Buckley, you should get away from Stamford.
"The reporter wasted a drive out to see an old man flattered by the attention."
The reporter got exactly what he wanted out of the trip. A blow to the president and the republicans by getting a "conservative" to criticize our current policies.
I admired President Reagan and I admire President Bush. To say that Bush is not a true conservative then in contrast Reagan was not a true conservative either.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.