Posted by: Sister Toldjah on February 27, 2008 at 11:48 am
He was 82. Kathryn Jean Lopez reports the sad news:
I’m devastated to report that our dear friend, mentor, leader, and founder William F. Buckley Jr., died this morning in his study in Stamford, Connecticut.
He died while at work; if he had been given a choice on how to depart this world, I suspect that would have been exactly it. At home, still devoted to the war of ideas.
As you might expect, we’ll have much more to say here and in NR in the coming days and weeks and months. For now: Thank you, Bill. God bless you, now with your dear Pat. Our deepest condolences to Christopher and the rest of the Buckley family. And our fervent prayer that we continue to do WFB’s life’s work justice.
Amen.
His wife Pat passed away last April.
RIP, Mr. Buckley.
Update: Lots of tributes are pouring in at The Corner.
I didn’t know he lived in Stamford. Gee, what a missed opportunity I had to meet him. All those years I worked for Pitney Bowes, I could have tried to meet WFB.
Th Godfather of American Conservatism will be missed.
Every conservative – no, every American – owes Mr. Buckley an enormous debt. Benning’s right – this was the founding godfather of modern American conservatism. He revitalized it and made it eloquent at a time when all the political classes had consigned it to the ancient history books.
I’m reminded of a tribute to Buckley at a testimonial dinner many years ago:
You gotta know the Gipper was front and center in the welcoming party today up yonder. And I’ll bet he brought the dictionary with him. It’s the kind of humor they both loved.
RIP, Mr. Buckley. And thanks.
timblair
My link to timblair, truncated try again.
Keith Olbermann’s “Eulogy” of Wm F Buckley
Last night, I joined the thousands of TV viewers around the country who watch Keith Olbermann’s “Countdown” on MSNBC. Krazy Keith’s show is consistently an hour of angrily bashing President Bush, Republicans and conservatives in general. His guests and correspondents are routinely liberal. There are no debates, no disagreements, just KKO and his pals, people like Richard Wolffe, Rachel Maddow (Air America)and Jonathan Alter. Last night, Keith outdid himself and reached a new low.
While announcing the death of conservative icon William F Buckley, Olbermann took the opportunity to inform his viewers that:
Buckley’s opinions were “indefensibly and gloriously wrong”.
As a student, Buckley had opposed World War Two.
He had defended Sen. Joe McCarthy.
He once suggested that AIDS patients be tattooed.
He once “ruminated” about denying the vote to the uneducated.
Keith, that was completely “klassless”. Why didn’t you raise a glass to cheer the death of Buckley while you were at it? Not that I was surprised. I am used to the far left making those kinds of comments about conservatives who have just died. I remember when Reagan died, and many on the left were celebrating the “fact that Reagan was burning in Hell”. Just recently, it was reported that Nancy Reagan had suffered a fall in her home. Adriana Huffington’s blog, “The Huffington Post”, was filled with entries from her readership insulting the former First Lady and wishing her nothing but the worst.
But that’s not all. Toward the end of the show, KKO presented his “Worst Persons in the World”. (Surprisingly, Bill O’Reilly wasn’t among the finalists last night.) Who got the Gold Medal? John McCain. Why? Because, in the wake of the Bill Cunningham rant in Cincinnati, McCain had stated that he didn’t know Cunningham, nor had he ever met him. Cunningham has stated that he met McCain on a couple of occasions at political events. At that, the McCain campaign backtracked, stating that it was possible that the two had met at some time. So for that, John McCain was the Worst Person in the World? I think it is fair to say that when a major political figure attends political events, he/she shakes hands with a lot of people that they never see again. The person who shakes hands with the pol will remember the meeting. The pol forgets it.
As a conservative, there are a lot of things about McCain that I don’t care for. He is not the person I had hoped would win the nomination. As a presidential candidate, he has to accept the barbs, just as I have pointed out for Sen Clinton. But just to nitpick, I would like to suggest that before Olbermann calls someone like McCain (whose shoes he couldn’t shine) the “Worst Person in the World”, he might want to accumulate a resume similar to McCain’s in the service of his country. I don’t need to repeat the senator’s military record; it is known to all. On the other hand, Mr Olbermann’s military record is not known to all-because he doesn’t have one.
gary fouse
fousesquawk
Pretty typical, gary – Keith Olbermann is about as classless as they come.