Thursday, February 28, 2008

another one bites the dust...

William F. Buckley: 1925 - 2008

Have to acknowledge this cat as I actually enjoyed listening to him talk. Rather than say things like, "Well, that's confusing," or "I find that bewildering," he'd say something more like, "I must confess to a certain mystification."

Was just listening to a soundbite on the radio on the way home: Michael Medved, dipstick extraordinaire, said of Buckley that he personified the concept of "intellectual" and "conservative" as not being a contradiction in terms. Well mebbe so, but Medved and his lot are doing their damnedest to put the lie to that.

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Update: Back in '88, Buckley was given a good pasting by none other than Al Gore; this being at a Democratic primary debate, Buckley was the moderator. The question had to do with Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, a.k.a., SDI, a.k.a., Star Wars. Buckley saw fit to challenge Gore w/a follow-up question. Gore was on his game, however, and after a few back-&-forths, Buckley said, "We have to move on," to which Gore retorted, "I don't blame you!" That was when I realized Gore had something to bring to the table.

Come to think of it, even Mike Dukakis had a good debate that night. Go figure!

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