Buckley

I suppose I have to say a word or two about William F. Buckley, though admittedly I have a better memory of Robin Williams' impression of him than the man himself (also, while Christopher Buckley's conservative writings leave me cold, his novel Thank You For Smoking was entertaining).

This is of course another case of the conservative whitewash. After death you cannot find anyone to say a bad word about the guy, even his adversaries, and the hagiography is amped up to ridiculous heights. While Rick Perlstein gave a moving tribute this morning, it seems to me that little is spoken about the man who believed AIDS patients should be tattooed, who opposed World War II, who was the greatest defender of Joseph McCarthy in America, and whose National Review was a cornerstone of opposition to the civil rights movement. Buckley, having spawned a conservative movement that left him behind, became almost sympathetic at the end of his life, and the conservatives praising him today weren't singing the same tune just a few short months ago.

"Aren't you embarrassed by the absence of these weapons?" Buckley snaps at Podhoretz. He has just explained that he supported the war reluctantly, because Dick Cheney convinced him Saddam Hussein had WMD primed to be fired. "No," Podhoretz replies. "As I say, they were shipped to Syria. During Gulf War I, the entire Iraqi air force was hidden in the deserts in Iran." He says he is "heartbroken" by this "rise of defeatism on the right." He adds, apropos of nothing, "There was nobody better than Don Rumsfeld. This defeatist talk only contributes to the impression we are losing, when I think we're winning." The audience cheers Podhoretz. The nuanced doubts of Bill Buckley leave them confused. Doesn't he sound like the liberal media? Later, over dinner, a tablemate from Denver calls Buckley "a coward". His wife nods and says, "Buckley's an old man," tapping her head with her finger to suggest dementia.

Of course, everyone who doesn't cotton to the agreed-to tenets of conservatism must be tossed aside, even the... founders of conservatism. But I don't hold that the enemy of my enemy is my friend in every case. I wish his family to have some peace, but I'm disinclined to raise a glass for the likes of William F. Buckley. Unless you can find me any instance of him raising said same glass for anyone below his station.

...I should also add that the main reason Buckley's passing makes me sad is that we don't have any public intellectuals anymore. I'm not one who thinks the culture has been "dumbed-down" necessarily, but the time where someone could be famous for having ideas has clearly passed. And that's ultimately not a good thing. To the extent that the blogosphere represents a return to that in a different venue is somewhat hopeful, but it's, you know, still the Internets. That Bill Buckley's intellectual ancedent is Jonah Goldberg should bring shrieks of horror to pretty much everyone.