I once shook Bill Buckley’s hand. He was campaigning against the loathsome Lowell Weicker who imposed the income tax on Ct which led to a deep blue, one party Democrat state. Weicker. Spit.
The funny part about Buckley is that back in the 1960s, he was confrontational and considered rude and abrasive by the political establishment. He was deliberately provocative to his liberal guests. Very similar to what the political establishment says about Trump. And the irony is that National Review never stops expressing its distaste for Trump’s confrontational, provocative and sometimes crass style. I guess they have either whitewashed or forgotten their roots.
Paul Shanklin did a hilarious parody of a debate between William Buckley and Ross Perot with Perot mistaking Buckley saying “Pro Bono” for “Sonny Bono” and asking “can anybody tell me what he (Buckley) just said?” then storming off the set.
Miss the laughs on Rush’s show.
Marking.
I can’t find the full article.
Buckley was not not suited for a soundbite world. George Will called GWB “a lap dog”. People still remember that.
Buckley once ran for a political office.. mayor or such.
When asked what his first official act would be upon winning, he said he would demand a recount!
He introduced me to the marvelous insult "retromingent."
Try this:
https://www.ocregister.com/2008/03/03/mark-steyn-in-the-beginning-there-was-buckley/
First publiched in 2008.
In otehr words, the “conservative movement” has been a Deep State op from the beginning, now coming to an end?
During the 60s while the adults of his generation were turning all of our institutions, media, schools, government, colleges, and laws to the left, a young person could tune into Buckley’s TV show and hear conservatism and an alternative to it all.
The appeal of liberalism continues.
Buckley’s world is gone. He sort of realized that in his last years — or at least he realized that his father’s laissez-faire world was long gone and he missed the Cold War of his own youth and the clarity of those days.
He became my hero when I was at MIT in the mid 70s. I figured out quickly that these eggheads weren’t near as smart as they thought they were. It made them pull into a cocoon. Pseudo-intellectuals.