http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/340485/buckley-rule-according-bill-not-karl-neal-b-freeman
Buckley Rule — According to Bill {Buckley}, not Karl [Rove]
9th paragraph, last sentence.
With each of us in our assigned seat and with six pairs of eyeballs staring at him unblinkingly, Bill announced that “National Review will support the rightwardmost viable candidate.” {Emphasis Added}
10th & 11th paragraph(s):
Victory for Team Goldwater! We all knew what “viable” meant in Bill’s {Buckley} lexicon. It meant somebody who saw the world as we did. Somebody who would bring credit to our cause. Somebody who, win or lose, would conservatize the Republican party and the country. It meant somebody like Barry Goldwater. (And so it came to pass. For the next 40 years, the GOP nominated and elected men from the West and the South. Nixon won twice, Reagan twice, the Bushes thrice. Only in recent cycles has the GOP reverted to its habit of nominating “moderates” favored by the establishment. Dole, McCain, Romney — all of them were admired by the fashionable media until they won the GOP nomination, at which point they were abandoned in favor of the liberal nominated by the Democrats.)
Bill Buckley was careful with words. If he had opted on that June day for the words “rightwardmost electable candidate,” we would all have recognized it as a victory for Team Rockefeller. And life might look very different today. If there had been no Goldwater, National Review might not have become so influential, and if there had been no Goldwater, no National Review, there might have been no Reagan.
Not meant to harass, but merely get the truth out., exactly just what did William F. Buckley Jr., say.
” - - - Bill announced that “National Review will support the rightwardmost viable candidate.” {Emphasis Added} - - - “
I stand corrected. Thank you! Always happy to be corrected to the ‘Reality of Fact.”
Okay, so here we are with ol’ “Turd Blossom” Rove running around with his balding scalp on fire, vetting all potential Candidates on HIS opinion of electability by invoking HIS bastardized re-definition of the Bill Buckley Rule.
[ Note: Here I am making the assumption that Rove does not distinguish between viability and electability. Please correct me if Rove’s public utterances are at variance with that assumption. ]
“Viability” not “electability” is the Buckley standard, as you so carefully documented.
Perhaps the Rule that Rove is using, based on electability, should be named after Rove? Say “The Rove Electability Rule.”
BTW, us graewoulves have REALLY thick hides, so never shy away from flaming me.