The nation’s thesauruses have gone into mourning.

BTW IIRC Buckley came out against the Iraq war before Hillary Clinton.

def. thesaurus = ancient kind of dinosaur which Buckley had for breakfast one day and burped up repeatedly the rest of his life

Somehow I can imagine Buckley being against stupidity such as Bush exhibits. Of course, that wouldn’t have stopped him from continuing to support the administration in all it’s Caligulan proportioned tragedy.

Whether it’s the definition-challenged, whorehouse prodigy Jonah Goldberg, or the crush-on-any-conservative-male-who-looks-her-way Lopez, the publication (both in print and online) lacks any rational debate on politics. They will defend any GOP action, no matter how corrupt, bad for America (or the world), and/or just plain clinically fucking stupid that action is in reality.

Basically, it has become a joke that only the delusional take as a serious outlet of political thought.

No offense, or anything …

We need more political discourse of the qualities Buckley displayed for so long and less of the pie-throwing (to be polite about it)and political opeartive tricks that are so prevalent now.

I didn’t always agree with WFB by any stretch, but I always respected him, learned something from him and enjoyed what he had to say.

I will miss him a great deal.

I’ve been surfing blogs to see who’s saying what about WFB. So far, so good–just a few blue meanies, if you know what I mean.

Here’s my tribute to a great man:

American conservatism has lost its most brilliant and stalwart public intellectual. William F. Buckley died this morning at his home, following his wife, who died last year, and his dear friend Van Galbraith, who died last month.

Mr. Buckley’s National Review had this to say this morning about the legacy of its founder and editor:

If ever an institution were the lengthened shadow of one man, this publication is his. So we hope it will not be thought immodest for us to say that Buckley has had more of an impact on the political life of this country — and a better one — than some of our presidents. He created modern conservatism as an intellectual and then a political movement.

In terms of Mr. Buckley’s unwavering opposition to liberalism, NR notes:

When Buckley started National Review — in 1955, at the age of 29 — it was not at all obvious that anti-Communists, traditionalists, constitutionalists, and enthusiasts for free markets would all be able to take shelter under the same tent. Nor was it obvious that all of these groups, even gathered together, would be able to prevail over what seemed at the time to be an inexorable collectivist tide.

Though ruthless and relentless in his advocacy of conservative principles, Mr. Buckley was by temperament a true Southern gentleman. I can think of no better a tribute to this man than to point you to the gracious eulogies he published for two of his most bitter ideological (though not personal) enemies, Arthur Schlesinger and Norman Mailer, both of whom passed away last year.

Bon voyage, Bill. Happy sailing up there.

William F. Buckley’s archive at National Review

links available here: http://newsprism.wordpress.com