Buckley the Fighter
Kristol’s at the Weekly Standard and others:
Here’s one measure of the man and the scope of his achievement: No serious historian will be able to write about 20th-century America without discussing Bill Buckley. Before Buckley, there was no conservative movement. After Buckley, there was Ronald Reagan. Reagan was the most important American political figure of the latter half of the 20th century. No one was more central to his emergence and success than Bill Buckley.
…
Many of the tributes have emphasized his charm and civility, his generosity and decency–all qualities he had in spades. But Buckley was also a fighter. From the beginning, he wasn’t deterred by the extraordinary odds against him.
The rest of Kristol here. Also at WS, Andrew Ferguson, On the “Firing Line” and Christopher Hitchens, Man of Incessant Labor,
At NRO, Mark Steyn, It’s the Epigoni, Stupid.
At the National Post, David Frum, Friends with those He Fought.
Topics: America, conservatism
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:43 pm on Sunday, March 2, 2008
One Response to “Buckley the Fighter”
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March 3rd, 2008 at 9:34 am
Some memorable Buckley-isms…
“Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich.”
“Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.”
“Liberals, it has been said, are generous with other peoples’ money, except when it comes to questions of national survival when they prefer to be generous with other people’s freedom and security.”
“The academic community has in it the biggest concentration of alarmists, cranks and extremists this side of the giggle house.”