I rarely agreed with William F. Buckley, but could not help but enjoy his quintessential wit and intellect. The same cannot be said for current National Review editor Richard Lowry who, as Keith Olbermann and others vividly pointed out, was reduced to an embarassing fanboy in the appreciation he expressed for Sarah Palin's performance in the VP debates.
Christopher Buckley is cut from much better cloth. When Chris Matthews asked him on Hardball tonight what he saw in Obama, Buckley said he sensed a fine mind and first-rate intellect in Obama, and that that might be more important than his particular political positions. That is an intelligent reason for supporting a candidate if ever there was one.Buckley entitled his endorsement published in The Daily Beast Sorry, Dad, I'm Voting for Obama ... I think William F. would have been proud, not sorry, about his son's sense of reason and intellectual bravery.
PS - And I see Buckley has just put up a new piece on The Daily Beast - Sorry, Dad, I Was Fired ... :)
And here's Lori Harfenist's piece on Christopher Buckley on her Internet video show, The Residence, October 3, 2009.
1 comment:
Like many great minds, William Buckley had his own view points but would gladly accept dissenting opinions if they were backed up with reasoning. Far from being ashamed of his son, he would support Chris being true to his own beliefs and expressing them clearly.
Palin is both a freaking disaster and also the biggest beneficiary of this campaign. With a stroke of unlikely fortune, she was lifted from the governer of a politically insignificant state to the national spotlight. The moronic adulation that certain hardcore Republicans heap upon her means she will be the most sought after speaker of the far right for years to come.
As for her continuing to claim that Obama will raise taxes:
1) Due to hectic campaigning, she may not have the time to go through the tax proposals to understand what is actually in them. She may then have to rely on her handlers to tell her what to say.
2) She may not have the mental capacity to understand the tax proposals without a lot of diligent study.
3) She may know the tax proposals somewhat and chooses to focus on Obama "raising" taxes for the wealthy and the corporate entities.
In any event, the bottom line is that intelligent conservatives should follow Chris Buckley's courageous example and discard the McCain / Palin ticket. However, I expect that many of them won't have sufficient intelligence or courage or both to do so.
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