William F. Buckley has died, in case you haven’t heard. The guy I first remember from impersonations of him in the 60s (David Frye, I believe), founder of a modern conservative movement brought into being on the pages of the National Review, a man with close S.C. ties…
What to say about him? I can’t stop and say anything right now, as I’m in the middle of editing copy for tomorrow’s pages. Robert and I just had a discussion for a cartoon about Buckley (Robert’s big on elegiacal cartoons), but I haven’t liked any of the ideas. He was too complex to sum up simply, which cartoons tend to do.
Anyway, I thought I’d let y’all know.
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William F. Buckley what can you say except that you wouldn’t want to get into a word fight with him. What was the ETV show that I think he hosted, Firing line or Cross Fire or something like that. I do remember him making one prophetic statement. He said, ” Americans need to be ready to accept a lower standard of living.”
Some Buckley quotes:
“Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich.”
“Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.”
“There is an inverse relationship between reliance on the state and self-reliance”
“The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry.”
“I would like to electrocute everyone who uses the word “fair” in connection with income tax policies.”
“One must bear in mind that the expansion of federal activity is a form of eating for politicians.”
“One can’t doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed….different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgement of defeat.”
Surprised Buckley lived to be 82, considering the decadent lifestyle he led. He was a raging alcoholic, frequently used hard drugs (including heroin and cocaine right up until his death), and was a well-known homosexual swinger who frequented gay bathhouses.
May he rest in peace.
Quote: ” I should sooner live in a society governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston phone book than in a society governed by the two thousand members of the Harvard faculty.”
Funny, Jim, but you seem to be the only person who remembers him that way.
Now I understand why they canceled your TV show.
Bill Buckley and his brother Jim were great people, and great South Carolinians. They took every opportunity to let people know that they were educated in SC, and that SC was a state filled with people of letters.
When he tried marijuana, he did it one time, on a yacht, in international waters, just so he wouldn’t be breaking the law, which was only a misdemeanor. That’s the kind of person he was. What a shame that someone using a phony name would post a scurrilous lie about him.
I let you have one there, “Jack Twist,” mainly because weldon responded and I didn’t want to unpublish him, too.
But that’s enough. We’ll observe at least a modicum of respect for the dead.
Buckley was a true “American”; European and Southern.
He still has people that live full-time in Camden.
A huge loss to those of us who still have common sense; who know that being very partisan, very conservative, and intolerance of free-thinking morons are virtues.
BP
Ain’t life a hoot? Bill Buckley was a man of Southern parentage who spent a lot of time in the South, and successfully convinced people he was a genuine Ivy Leaguer (which he was; I can stiill remember his forays onto the campus at Yale); whereas George W. Bush . . .
Why is it that liberals can’t stand a success that the government didn’t create?
Because government never does create success.
Government lives off the creativity those in the private sector. Government is incapable of creating wealth. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as government jobs are limited to their proper role. When they try to be creative, compete with or out do private individuals, they usually fail, or replace more efficient market solutions with expensive, clumsy and sometimes brutal substitutes.
Sadly, this is what “liberals” consider to be clever debating.
Just to make typing more of a challenge, R2H.
And to even the playing field for you.
…buckley was a true conservative, so it was meaningful when he came out and said that dumbya was the worst president in his lifetime…
GW Bush is a liberal, like Richard Nixon was.