His vital spark is extinguished in obeisance to the regulations of mortality. He is an ex William F. Buckley. Yet another Gore Vidal foe gone… coincidence?
He died of emphysema and was found by his cook. Story
Among his many talents, he was an excellent and gracious writer of obituary pieces in his magazine. I wonder who will write his?
R.I.P.
Heh, the Gore Vidal thing is kind of funny. With both of them at 82 years it was just a matter of time before one of them finally croaked.
I enjoyed reading Buckley’s columns for many, many years. I didn’t always agree with him, and part of me was a bit turned off by his extremely large ego that seemed to pervade much of his writing.
I certainly didn’t always agree with him, but Buckley was intelligent and well spoken.
Firing Line vs Fox News? There is no contest.
Let’s not tell Vidal.
Then he can lie on his deathbed, whenever, and sigh, “Buckley yet lives!”
Tris
I am not a conservative by any means, but I respect anyone who can make an intelligent argument in favor of a political view, even if I disagree with it. True conservatism has lost one of its strongest voices, leaving us, unfortunately, with more clowns like Limbaugh and O’Reilly who call themselves “conservative” but wouldn’t know the true meaning of conservatism if it bit them in the backside.
A great writer and editorialist, and one of the last of the “true believers”.
He was also criticized like McCain for not always towing the party line. He believed in decriminalization of soft drugs, for instance, and had come out against Iraq. Of course he also still championed his former homies Joe McCarthy and Roy Cohn.
Like Vidal would mention someone else on his deathbed.
Kristol or Will perhaps. Maybe Brooks. Looking forward to reflections by each, as well as what must be forthcoming now, God and Man at Heaven.
Yes, R.I.P.
Can someone please tell me if this is a “memorial” thread? Because I have some snarky tattoo-related remarks and I need to know whether it’s OK to post them.
Are you sure we didn’t already read about them in the threads about the deaths of other conservatives you didn’t agree with ideologically, like Thurmon, Reagan, etc?
It’s a “W. F. Buckley is dead” thread. No real intent one way or the other except as an announcement.
OK then. William F. Buckley will I hope be forever remembered as a jackass who in all seriousness suggested tattooing people with HIV on the arms and buttocks so that people sharing needles with them or fucking them in the ass would see it. I could not respect or take seriously anything the old fool said after that.
Cite?
In any case, if we stopped listening to people after they said something outlandish, I’d have to stop listening to most of you.
And you’d likely not be listening to me.
Each their own, I guess. But Buckley should be judged by his whole life and body of work, which were considerable indeed. And I hasted to add that emphysema is a particularly nasty way to go, and I wouldn’t wish it on someone I hated, much less Buckley, who I admired very much.
He’ll always be William FBuckley to me, after that Laugh-In skit by Lily Tomlin’s Ernestine. He had a strong enough libertarian streak to make him ideologically difficult to categorize, but I also think he was overly influence by his Catholic religion. He had a great command of the English language (which was not his first language, btw), although he tended towards pompousness too much for my taste. He will be missed.
Actually, it was his third language - he spoke German and Spanish at home and didn’t start learning English until he was 7.
He wasn’t really pompous, just very self-assured. Remember the expression “It ain’t bragging if you can do it?”
Buckley could do it. He had a pretty well-rounded set of interests ranging from sailing to skiing to the harpsichord. He wrote spy novels. And of course, he had a rather outsize effect on American politics through a magazine he started from scratch just before his thirtieth birthday.
I believe Spanish, and then French. English later, but still as a child.
I assume this is the article Otto was talking about. Seemed more like thought-provoking musing than an actual policy recommendation.
Not going to speak for anyone but I assume this is it. He wonders if the idea, actually proposed by another 20 years before, should be given consideration in an attempt to prevent additional deaths at the hands of those unwilling to share that they were ill, feeling they were acting in a manner consistent with putting a bullet through the head of another.
Hardly an admirable method and certainly not one of his finer moments but one reading the article may infer his rationale was humanitarian and not homophobic.
ETA: On review, I see John’s provided the same. No need to click twice.
The “someone” he coyly refers to is himself, in a 1985 column suggesting tattooing as an alternative to castration. I can’t find the column itself, but here’s a second-hand source..
I’m guessing he probably wrote his own. (It’s what I’d do.)