| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/27/2008 9:10:57 AM | WFB has passed away.
No one likes to speak ill of the dead, but on both sides of the political fence, people had an opinion about him...what's your's?
and now, to fill up this post so it'll post... | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/27/2008 10:22:43 AM | | My mom and I were JUST talking about him! He was an amazing user of words. I didn't necessarily agree with him , but , boy, could he turn a phrase. I missed him being on TV, and I'll miss him being on earth. | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/27/2008 10:28:28 AM | I have to say that I thought the guy was pretty fair minded for the most part. He had traditional conservative views which I share some of. He would tow the party line when push came to shove but he would do so only after giving what IMO was his honest 2 cents which wasn't always in agreement with what the party line was. He could be as hard on a conservative as he could on a liberal.
He was also pretty funny, in a dry sort of way. I'll miss his little quips...and case in point as to how fair minded the guy could be;
“Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.” | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/27/2008 3:10:54 PM | | Privileged son of one of the oil barons grows up to espouse values that preserve him and his. Any surprises there? Too bad more people of his talents and abilities cannot find it within themselves to do for others. | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/27/2008 3:56:29 PM | Buckley started out as a conservative when there were precious few that would claim that name. The Republican party starting endorsing an Equal Rights Ammendment in the 50's and did so at each convention till Reagan. Eisenhower was a liberal and thought that every rational person was a liberal and said so.
It took some guts to buck the trend back then. I may have disagreed with him, but he was a smart guy. Pretty much all the standard bearers from that era have repudiated what conservatism has come to mean today. | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/27/2008 5:29:16 PM | Amazing intellect and a superior philosophy. A prolific writer and a personal and profound influence to me personally. Passed away at his desk writing his next column for National Review.... what a finale to a remarkable life.  | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/27/2008 5:47:39 PM | Although I didn't always agree with him, I did respect him for his intelligence and eloquence, and courage to express sometimes unpopular views.
“Even if one takes every reefer madness allegation of the prohibitionists at face value, marijuana prohibition has done far more harm to far more people than marijuana ever could.”
- William F. Buckley, Jr.
I can't imagine too many conservatives actually coming out and saying something like that, and getting away with it.
“The Beatles are not merely awful. They are so unbelievably horrible, so appallingly unmusical, so dogmatically insensitive to the magic of the art, that they qualify as crowned heads of antimusic.”
- William F. Buckley, Jr.
Nor that.....
Well, sometimes calvary officers just don't understand tanks ..... 
I always saw him as much a performer, as anything else. Compared with many intellectuals, that's a rare trait. He seemed to always be aware of the need to entertain, and I think that was a large part of his success. I remember watching his show on TV, and it was always something which allowed one to watch some great minds at work in discussion. Seeing him with someone like****Cavett (the yin to his yang at the time) was like watching Ali and Fraser at their best, and marveling at the spectacle.
At times I look back at such things and regret how far we've fallen in the interim.
I do suppose he and God are now discussing how liberal Heaven is, and how that perhaps is why nothing productive ever gets accomplished there. I hope God's winning the argument, but it may be a close one.
R.I.P Bill , and thanks for being the unique person that you were. Along with people like Barry Goldwater, you made people like myself actually see that conservatives are essential to good political discourse, at it's highest level. | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/28/2008 7:41:33 PM | WFB
..............a helluva man!.......probably more conservative then i'd care to be but he was always fair!
.........not only was he word-knowledgeable , he knew how to articulate a thought using simple wording, better than anyone!.
......he certainly had literary influence over me in my school-years....and he emboldened many conservative tyros through the years!
......he will be missed...........peace be with him! | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/29/2008 11:26:26 AM | | I can't say I agreed with him much at all... but he certainly expressed himself well and managed to do it, usually, without yelling juvenile insults... it's really sad to think that the standard of public discourse has fallen so far since his heyday... who is around now that can pick up and carry his baton? | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/29/2008 5:32:42 PM | WFB may be gone but he will never be forgotten.....I didn't always agree with him, but there were times when I did. I agree with simlasa above, that he was a rare gem who knew how to express his views without "yelling juvenile insults".
My Dad strongly favored the medical use of marijuana, something that WFB advocated. I loved that twist in Mr. Buckley's thinking--I remember those columns very well and fondly remembered my Dad's thoughts on the very same issue when I read them.
I was mortified when I heard a snippet of a conservative radio talk show host's program. His language was disgusting to say the least. I flipped that channel right off! The conservatives that express their views well also include George Will and William Safire, who would never dream of using distasteful language and stupid insults to get their points across. | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/29/2008 5:42:08 PM | | Meh, an alright guy for a conservative. Just don't look at some of his quotes on the civil rights movement or homosexuality. | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 2/29/2008 9:06:47 PM | | I should crowd so much into 80 tears.Read his last book.wonderful stuff. | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 3/1/2008 1:18:59 PM | | Great men are hard to find and impossible to replace.Bit I find some comfort in knowing that there are millions who listened,and were inspired by Mr Buckley.If only one tenth of a percent of those who listened,understood and embraced the principles that this man loved and stood for,then I have no doubt that a bit of him will live on for generations. | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 3/1/2008 10:40:25 PM | | I listened to an interview with Buckly and Chomsky on the radio today that was recorded on Firing Line during the Vietnam war. Really good stuff if you can get a hold of it. It's gotta be on the web somewhere. That was a real meeting of the minds. | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 3/2/2008 11:08:30 AM | " Buckley started out as a conservative when there were precious few that would claim that name. The Republican party starting endorsing an Equal Rights Ammendment in the 50's and did so at each convention till Reagan. Eisenhower was a liberal and thought that every rational person was a liberal and said so.
It took some guts to buck the trend back then. I may have disagreed with him, but he was a smart guy. Pretty much all the standard bearers from that era have repudiated what conservatism has come to mean today. "
Good points. Even though I disagreed with a lot of what he said and even though he's largely to blame for the word 'liberal' becoming a pejorative (in some less-tolerant segments of society) one still has to admit that he was a pretty smart guy. He did a t least have a mind of his own, rather than just parroting talking points from 'on high' as so many seem to do these days.
I just heard a little segment on CBC Sunday Edition about Mr. Buckley. Towards the end, they played some audio of a very lively exchange Buckley had with Gore Vidal at the '68 Democratic convention in Chicago. If you get a chance, check out the CBC podcast site and have a listen. Very entertaining!!
http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/pastpodcasts.html?25#ref25
(Note: The podcasts for each show usually go online the day after, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow (03 march) to hear it.) | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 3/2/2008 11:20:08 AM | Or go over to YouTube , and see it now.
William Buckley Vs Gore Vidal
- and also the one's with Chomsky.
Nothing like seeing Bill actually threatening to punch someone out. 
Not quite up to the standard rules of debating, but entertaining no less.  | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 3/2/2008 4:54:52 PM | ^^^
Thanks for the links, Montreal Guy!
(Go Habs, Go!)
For more tete-a-tetes of a similar nature, (but without the threats of physical violence ) check out some of the YouTube clips of Frank Zappa's encounters with Tipper Gore's little group. Frank had some interesting observations about censorship. | |
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| William F. Buckley dies
Posted: 3/4/2008 3:08:55 PM | WFB... well, i have to hand it to him... brilliant man... noone could turn a phrase better then buckley... he was hands down, a brilliant political thinker... noone can deny this... even those on the liberal side of the aisle...
lar | |
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