MUSTACHE OF THE DAY
On pain of red-carding, accept for one moment the eschewing of the politics, and just consider the life on the enthusiasms alone: he sailed as an expert, spoke prose despite having Spanish and French as his first languages, proposed the introduction of bike lanes in New York City to reduce traffic, worked for the CIA, wrote spy novels, served as a delegate to the United Nations, founded a successful magazine, hosted a popular television show, and once played the harpsichord on the Conan O’Brien show.
He’s dead, but the tank had to be empty. We bestow this week’s tribute to William F. Buckley, who really should have had this stache.
Ah, yes: RIP, Bill. HT to Holly
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My favorite Buckley moment was his response to the heat he took for the Playboy interview. He said he wanted to do the Playboy interview so his son would actually read it. What a guy. Nobody else could pull off sprawling casually back in a chair while brutally beating someone at a debate like Buckley could. It’s just a shame that Buckley lived to see conservatism get completely abandoned by the party he brought it to.
Comment by Dante — February 29, 2008 @ 10:25 am
40
some people will stop at nothing…
don’t confuse football with real life
Comment by Kecalf Bailey — February 29, 2008 @ 12:19 am
39
Guy was a swashbuckling renaissance kind of guy who chose $10 words when a $5 word would suffice, he did make conservativism respectable and less illiterate and KKK’ish — not like he didn’t have those kind of moments, as when he sided with Southern segregationist b/c he believed and always believed that poor blacks were too dumb to vote.
But he did create a lot of avenues where intellectual debate could occur:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYlMEVTa-PI
Chomsky bests him in this I believe. It’s a far cry from the screaming idiots that pass for debate today.
Comment by BKdawg — February 28, 2008 @ 6:55 pm
38
I got hooked on the clipboard he always had on Firing Line, still use one to this day. He lived part of the year in Camden, SC for a long time & Firing Line was an SCETV production. KInd of an oxymoron there.
Back in 1968, when Gore Vidal called him a neo-nazi racist or something like that, he called Vidal a “goddam queer” to his face. On CBS - live, no less. He didn’t take any shit.
Comment by yoyofutbawl — February 28, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
37
He looks like that ginger lady from “In Living Color.”
Comment by MiseanAuFan — February 28, 2008 @ 12:47 pm
36
is that tommy bowden??
Comment by gerry dorsey — February 28, 2008 @ 11:41 am
35
I’m the exception here in that my opposition to his politics comes from the right, but he was a good man who will be missed.
Comment by DenverGregg — February 28, 2008 @ 11:00 am
34
Well done. A life well-lived indeed.
Comment by Will Collier — February 28, 2008 @ 10:45 am
33
Godspeed, WFB.
A titan of intellectual prowess, civility, humor, and (from what I understand) kindness and graciousness. A life well lived indeed.
Comment by Irwin Fletcher — February 28, 2008 @ 10:22 am
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I don’t think we should heap such praise on his vocabulary until we have confirmation that he had used the phrase “fuck lion” correctly in context.
But I gotta say… dying suddenly at 82 while doing what you love… that’s how I want to go. But unlike him, I won’t be on top of a keyboard.
Comment by ChemE93 — February 28, 2008 @ 9:53 am
31
Yep, besides his command of the American language, and his unyielding belief in the free market, he was one of America’s best novelists. My grandmother made me read his editorials as a youngster to improve my vocabulary - so sad that it never stuck. And it is too sad that Blackford Oakes is no more…
Comment by Southern Papa — February 28, 2008 @ 9:41 am
30
That should say “unreformed and unrepentant lefty.”
Comment by Signal to Noise — February 28, 2008 @ 3:58 am
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I am an unreformed and unrepentant, but to me, Mr. Buckley was, how would I put it….ah yes, a truly formidable opponent.
Comment by Signal to Noise — February 28, 2008 @ 3:58 am
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I used to work for his niece
Comment by Boston Frog — February 27, 2008 @ 11:59 pm
27
Ave Atque Vale Mr. Buckley
Comment by ToddlyKSU — February 27, 2008 @ 11:50 pm
26
the dude picked up playing the harpsichord at 50 just for the challenge of it.
Comment by kleph — February 27, 2008 @ 10:39 pm