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I was on Mark Levin's radio show yesterday, and Mark made the fairly obvious point that it's a bit much for him and me to be portrayed as hyper-partisan McCainiacs excoriating the apostates for not sticking with our guy at all costs. We've both been critical of McCain and neither of us wanted him as the nominee. In fact, it's many of the recent ship-jumpers who helped inflict him on the party, telling us that Cap'n Maverick was the perfect chap to reach out to the soi-disant moderates, independents, centrists and whatnot. Here, for example, is a lively column from...

On Friday October 10, Christopher Buckley posted a piece titled "Sorry Dad -- I'm Voting for Obama" on "The Daily Beast" announcing that he intended to do exactly that. It's worth reading if only to see how something completely obnoxious can be expressed in the most whimsical, lighthearted manner conceivable. A cynic might ascribe this sudden apostasy to the fact that Buckley has a new book to promote. But not being cynical (at least not that much), we'll make the effort of taking him at his word. Buckley gives a number of reasons for his gesture, ranging from the incoherent...

A Word on Christopher Buckley [Rich Lowry] Chris is up with a post at The Daily Beast, "Sorry, Dad, I Was Fired." I’d like to clarify this “firing” business. Over the weekend, Chris wrote us a jaunty e-mail with the subject line "A Sincere Offer," in which he offered to resign his column on NR's back page and said that if we accepted, there "would be no hard feelings, only warmest regards and understanding." We took the offer sincerely. Chris had done us the favor of writing the column beginning seven issues ago on a "trial basis" (his words), while...

Let me be the latest conservative/libertarian/whatever to leap onto the Barack Obama bandwagon. It’s a good thing my dear old mum and pup are no longer alive. They’d cut off my allowance. Or would they? But let’s get that part out of the way. The only reason my vote would be of any interest to anyone is that my last name happens to be Buckley—a name I inherited. So in the event anyone notices or cares, the headline will be: “William F. Buckley’s Son Says He Is Pro-Obama.” I know, I know: It lacks the throw-weight of “Ron Reagan Jr....

Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum, but the special election to be held here next Tuesday has many people wondering if the laws of physics and politics have been temporarily conjoined. On Election Day, Florida’s Cuban Americans will go to the polls twice—once to vote for America’s next president, and again to determine Cuba’s.

With Republicans controlling Congress and the White House, conservatives these days ought to be happy, but most aren’t. They see expanding government, runaway spending, Middle East entanglements, and government corruption, and they wonder why, exactly, the country should be grateful for Republican dominance. Some accuse Bush and the Republicans today of not being true conservatives. Others see a grab bag of stated policies and wonder how they cohere. Everyone thinks something’s got to change. Now seven prominent conservatives dare to speak the unspeakable: They hope the Republicans lose in 2006. Well, let’s be diplomatic and say they’d prefer divided government—soon....

I'd like to recomend No Way to Treat a First Lady by Christopher Buckley who also wrote Thank You For Not Smoking and Florence of Arabia. This book reminded me of some of the goings on in the Clinton administration. The First Lady, Beth McMann (Lady BethMac) is better looking than Mrs Clinton. The VP reminds me some of Algore. One review says: "Forbes FYI columnist Buckley knows Washington politics and uses them to good effect in this outrageous and witty whodunit. When philandering President Ken MacMann is found dead, his bossy wife, Beth, irreverently dubbed Lady Bethmac by the...

<p>Dec. 12, 1941: The City Council of Berkeley, Calif. approves, by 5-4, a resolution condemning as "warmongering" the recent U.S. declaration of war on Japan. In a statement, the council deplores "violence as a means of settling international disputes" and urges President Roosevelt to "sit down with the Japanese ambassador in Washington" and "enter into a meaningful, non-gender or race-based dialogue."</p>

Christopher Buckley, author of such comic novels as "Thank You for Smoking" and "Florence of Arabia," has won the ninth annual Thurber Prize for American Humor. Buckley, son of conservative author and commentator William F. Buckley, was given the prize for "No Way To Treat a First Lady," which spoofs the marriage of President Clinton and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Thurber award, named for the late humorist and cartoonist James Thurber, is worth $5,000. Previous winners include Ian Frazier's "Coyote vs. Acme" and David Sedaris' "Me Talk Pretty One Day."

What was the meaning of the past remarkable nine days? You cannot stop the American people from feeling what they feel and showing it. From the crowds at Simi Valley to the hordes at the Capitol to the men and women who stopped and got out of their cars on Highway 101 to salute as Reagan came home--that was America talking to America about who America is. It was a magnificent teaching moment for the whole country but most of all for the young, who barely remembered Ronald Reagan or didn't remember him at all. This week they heard who...

LIFE DURING WARTIME Now and Then What if today's media covered World War II? BY CHRISTOPHER BUCKLEY Saturday, November 10, 2001 12:01 a.m. EST Dec. 12, 1941: The City Council of Berkeley, Calif. approves, by 5-4, a resolution condemning as "warmongering" the recent U.S. declaration of war on Japan. In a statement, the council deplores "violence as a means of settling international disputes" and urges President Roosevelt to "sit down with the Japanese ambassador in Washington" and "enter into a meaningful, non-gender or race-based dialogue." Dec. 13, 1941: In an article for the New Yorker, Mavis Montag suggests that the...

<p>Howard Dean searches for the Almighty--and we search for both of them.</p> <p>"In a shift, Howard Dean says he will mention God* more often in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination."</p> <p>"God*, it's great to be here with you in Iowa."</p>

<p>"In a shift, Howard Dean says he will mention God more often in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination." -- The New York Times, Jan. 4.</p> <p>Your Google Search for "Howard Dean" and "God" resulted in 49,201 matches.</p> <p>"God, it's great to be here with you in Iowa."</p>

<p>I write -- or try to write -- under the general heading of satire, ever mindful of playwright George S. Kaufman's admonition that satire is what opens on Saturday night and closes Sunday. It's a living, I suppose, poking fun at politicians and the French, and every so often Barbra Streisand makes one's day by issuing a 25-page manifesto lecturing Democrats on how to win back a majority in the House and Senate. In my line of work, that's the equivalent of what people in the business world call "low-hanging fruit."</p>

| Marc Racicot, the Republican national chairman, said recently that [Massachusetts Senator John] Kerry “is going to have a hard time translating out of New England.” Another Bush adviser said of Mr. Kerry, “He looks French.”—The Times. President Bush told the Union of English-Speaking Peoples today that those who seek the U.S. Presidency should “at least make an effort to look American.” The President told the monolingual audience that, “at a time when American values are being assaulted by a country we’ve had to liberate twice in the last century, it’s a bit much that Senator Kerry goes around acting...