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William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925-2008) |
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 by Daniel Koffler, February 27, 2008 |
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William F. Buckley, Jr. (1925-2008) William F. Buckley, the founder of National Review and the most prominent conservative public intellectual of the modern era, passed away this morning. His son Christopher found him at his desk in Stamford.
Through the course of his career, Buckley said and did many things that were reprehensible, including, most notably, offering crudely racist opposition to civil rights legislation (which he later repented), and giving demagogic support to Francisco Franco and assorted other clerico-fascist dictators (which he never repented).
Much like Barry Goldwater, Buckley became more interesting and heterodox the older he got, and went some way to confirming that his earlier belief in states' rights had at least something to do with a (misdirected) belief in individual liberty, when he signed on to the cause of drug legalization.
W.H. Auden's elegy for W.B. Yeats contains a fitting send-off for Buckley:
Time that is intolerant
Of the brave and innocent,
And indifferent in a week
To a beautiful physique,
Worships language and forgives
Everyone by whom it lives;
Pardons cowardice, conceit,
Lays its honours at their feet.Time that with this strange excuse
Pardoned Kipling and his views,
And will pardon Paul Claudel,
Pardons him for writing well.
The vast majority of Kipling's poetry is excruciatingly awful, but the occasions when he hit the mark more than justify his lasting place in the canon.
No one would accuse Buckley of being economical with words, and some of Buckley's writing is unbearably languorous and stale (I defy anyone to make it through his paean to sailing in the Atlantic several years ago without dozing off at least once). He simply had such a command of language --- and reveled in the sheer joy of playing with language --- that he would frequently enough allow his prose to become swollen with ill-conceived efforts at self-amusement. Yet for the cases where he could rein himself in and harness his wit and intelligence in the cause of good writing, he deserves the same pardon as Kipling. And of course, Firing Line did enough to elevate public political discourse (or at least slow its decline) to constitute an apologia for Buckley's life.
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David Kelsey
We are dealing with the most critical normative conservative
intellectual to help pave the way for the jump of the Neoconservatives
to the Republican party, and you waste our fucking time with criticism
of his "paean to sailing"?!?
This is not an obit. This is an absolute disgrace.
Daniel Koffler
As it happens, I recently read through Cancel Your Own Goddam Subscription, Buckley's collection of correspondence with irate off-their-meds letter-writers, so I'll do my best to channel the old man here.
If you'll refer to the first sentence, David, you'll notice that I acknowledged Buckley's prominence as a conservative public intellectual. I did so with the phrase "the most prominent conservative public intellectual of the modern era." Better luck at reading next time; and do look up the word 'normative' before you impale yourself on it again.
David Kelsey
And do a little Jew-history.
"If you'll refer to the first sentence, David, you'll notice that I
acknowledged Buckley's prominence as a conservative public
intellectual."
That's right, Koffler. You really covered your ass with that. No need for any Jew related specifics. Now can we have another poem? Pleeeeeease?
naftali
I think the Neocons arrived at Neoconhood (and I suspect one becomes a Neocon the same way one qualifies for senior discounts, you wake up one day, and Boom--5% off) by watching the projects and methods of the Great Society fall flat, some programs failing so miserably that Robert Altman could only make them seem better than they were.
No one would ever confuse Washington with the ideal Confucian bureaucracy.
naftali
Under my name, this should be the 100th comment. I should make it profound, but then again, maybe not.
Daniel Koffler
naftali
It's that we breathe, isn't it? Breathing is a big part of Jew-history. We do a lot of it. Always have.
Harry
Readers of the NYT obit will note that "Mr. Fbuckley" (as Lily Tomlin's character Ernestine on TV's Laugh In once called him) went to great lengths to distance himself from conservative groups with anti-semitic overtones, including the John Birch Society. Later in his career Buckley went so far as to write a "reasoned critique of anti-Semitism" (NYT). And of course he and his followers supported Goldwater.
Daniel Koffler
Cavanaugh
I wonder what David (the other David) would say about Mr. Buckley's proposal to force people living with HIV (a category which includes some Jews) to get tattoos indicating this fact on their arms and buttocks.