William F. Buckley Jr concedes defeat

William F. Buckley Jr is the founder of The National Review and one of the most influential conservative thinkers in the US. In an opinion piece published yesterday under the headline “It Didn’t Work” , he wrote

I voted for GWB twice and have at times defended the US invasion of Iraq. For a while, I have been concerned that the goal of a stable, democratic Iraq was unattainable via US involvement. Given the large number of Americans who have been against the Iraq war from the beginning, and the increasing number of people who have shifted to that view based on subsequent revelations and events, I wonder what impact Buckley’s new assessment will have on conservative opinion, and on the White House, where Buckely is certainly read and respected. Does this article signal, or will it help to initiate, the beginning of a change in US plans in Iraq?

None.

Intellectualism has been repudiated by the White House over & over again. Buckely was tolerated, not embraced, because he was “on board”.

Now that he is not “on board”–i.e. now that he disagrees with the Administration-- he will be taboo.

I anticipate a public villification of Mr. Buckley.

Buckley and other writers in his magazine have disagreed with the Bush administration on various issues since GWB took office, so this isn’t an initial act of apostasy. It is a statement of a new appraisal of a very important issue by someone who has never been “on board” in the sense that I think you mean. Buckley is highly regarded in conservative circles and is not easily ignored by Republican politicians.

I tend to doubt it. For one thing, Buckley’s article was careful not to accuse the Administration of actually, y’know, doing anything wrong or stupid. All the blame goes to circumstance and situation. What “failed” was not the Administration’s actual conduct of the war, but its “objective” and its “postulates”:

Also, I think that many conservatives are aware that liberals are expecting them to tar and feather Buckley (especially given the hysterically vituperative conservative reaction when Howard Dean less than three months ago said essentially what Buckley’s saying now—including suggestions that Dean ought to be prosecuted for sedition (Ben Shapiro) or hung for treason (Michael Reagan)).

Conservative commentators, IMO, will put up with being called hypocrites over the Dean-and-Buckley affair rather than give liberals the satisfaction of seeing them turn on the “Grand Old Man of Conservatism” with vilification and accusations of treason. The responses to Buckley so far seem to have been pretty moderate:

Buckley commands a decent amount of respect from Fiscal conservatives, Baseball fans and a grudging respect from Moderate Republicans.

If this article is followed up on with other articles and interviews, then it might affect public policy.

If he makes a few rounds, appearances on The Daily Show, The Don Imus Show, Hardball, it could snowball into something.

If it is just an article read by his regulars, I do not think the impact will be the same.

This is not on par with Cronkite questioning the Vietnam War. I do not think anyone has the general respect and appeal in 2006 that Cronkite had in 1970.

Jim {just my opinion of course}

Baseball fans? You sure you’re not thinking of George Will?

Kimstu, thanks for the links. Buckley fallen prey to defeatism? Gina Cobb must be unfamiliar with his writing over the years. Nor do I think her claim that this change is simply a reaction to the mosque bombing is true.

What Exit - Jim, you may be confusing Buckley with George Will, who is a noted baseball fan. And I wouldn’t expect WFB to hit the talking head circuit. I think he has retired from television.

You are of course right. I guess I need a scorecard to help me keep track of Conservative writers. :smack:

Neurotik: good catch thank you for the correction.

I still stand by the idea that this won’t have a large impact barring an unexpected boost for the media.

Jim

That’s what I was thinking. He stays off camera for the most part nowadays doesn’t he?

Buckley ain’t what he used to be, but he’s still the epitome of intellectual conservatism. Even old lefties like me concede the guy is brilliant. When you start losing people like him, you have to wonder who else will fall out of line. Traditional conservatives may at long last have had enough of the neocons and will start to fight to take their party back. If so, perhaps that will be the only positive result of Bush’s madness.