It may be a little late to write a tribute to William F. Buckley, Jr., but I was reading his Newsweek obituary by Evan Thomas this morning and was struck by the glaring differences between the intelligent and erudite conservatives of my youth and the troglodytes who pollute the airwaves and the blogosphere of today.
I grew up as a conservative Republican before George W. Bush and his supporters turned me into a center-left Democrat. I was ten years old when I saw the comedian David Frye perform an impression of someone named Buckley on the Ed Sullivan show. I thought his darting eyes and reptilian tongue were hilarious. My grandmother told me that William F. Buckley, Jr was a writer and that I could read his column in the newspaper three times a week if I wanted to. I did and it was an education.
William F. Buckley was a man who loved life, who loved ideas, and who loved the debate. He was never cruel or rude when he skewered someone else’s argument and those with whom he disagreed were often guests at his dinner table. He created the modern conservative movement, taking it away from the anti-Semites, the Neanderthals, and conspiracy-theorist nutcases who had dominated it before he made it respectable. It’s a shame that those who had discredited conservatism before Buckley have taken it back over, even as they praise Buckley as their leader and teacher.
I wanted to throw up as I watched the tributes on Fox News to Buckley. There is no one on Fox who can hold a candle to the intelligence and good manners of William F. Buckley. There is no one among the grunting cavemen of AM talk radio who deserves to be mentioned in the same breath with William F. Buckley. I was pleased to note that, though he seldom sank to personal insults, he loathed Ann Coulter. Buckley and I had something in common.
America lost a happy warrior and a giant with the passing of William F. Buckley, Jr. and though I grew to disagree with some of his politics, I never lost my respect for his love of language, logic, and ideas. I wish there was another Buckley to guide the right. Unfortunately, Headrush, Annorexia, O’Liery, and the Savage Wiener seem to be all they have left. Somehow, Rush Limbaugh’s cheesy third-grade impressions of those whom he hates just don’t compare to the wit and wisdom of William F. Buckley.
