Vote '08

William F. Buckley Jr ., the erudite Ivy Leaguer and conservative herald who showered huge and scornful words on liberalism as he observed, abetted and cheered on the right’s post-World War II rise from the fringes to the White House, died Wednesday. He was 82.

Buckley is often called the father of modern conservatism. But he also helped create much of what we think of as the ‘debate’ media today.

Long before Crossfire, Hardball, or Hannity & Colmes, Buckley debuted a public affairs show called Firing Line that brought impassioned political discourse to the airwaves. Buckley was passionate about his views, but unlike almost anyone on the airwaves today, he treated each & every one his ideological foes with patience & respect, which is a trait toward which we all should strive.

Here’s a clip from one of the most famous Firing Lines, in which Buckley debates well-known liberal thinker Noam Chomsky:

Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Flash video.

Buckley was an “old-style” conservative meaning he leaned more towards libertarianism. Consequently, he was a vocal opponent & critic of President Bush’s invasion of Iraq:

“The war in Iraq was anything but conservative. The reality of the situation is that missions abroad to effect regime change in countries without a bill of rights or democratic tradition are terribly arduous.” He added: “This isn’t to say that the Iraq war is wrong, or that history will judge it to be wrong. But it is absolutely to say that conservatism implies a certain submission to reality; and this war has an unrealistic frank and is being conscripted by events”

Feel free to leave your thoughts on Mr. Buckley in the comments section.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.