Wednesday, February 27, 2008

A tribute to Bill Buckley

Polprint would like to pay tribute to William F Buckley Jr, who passed away yesterday. She has met him in passing on a few occasions; he was always full of wisecracks and wisdom. Several years ago--probably 2004 or 5—he confessed that invading Iraq was a mistake; he may have been among the first conservatives to take that position.

Paul Gigot of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page was interviewed on Newshour about Buckley (Gigot was a protégé). He related a funny story about when Buckley ran for mayor of New York in 1965. Buckley emerged with an impressive 13% of the vote; when asked what he would have done upon taking office, he replied, “Demand a recount!” (More about that campaign can be found here.)

Buckley is among the last of a spirited band of public intellectuals on both sides of the aisle to pass away. Would that political discourse today could be half so civil, substantive and witty.

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