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Dig A Hole: Pedantic rhetoritician/uber conservative William F. Buckley, Jr.

February 27th, 2008 by Scott Marks

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William F. Buckley Jr., political commentator, languid talk show host, publisher, Ivy Leaguer, harpsichordist and progeniture of the post-FDR American conservative movement died today.Buckley’s body was found by his cook in his home in Stamford, Conn. The cause of death was unknown, but he had been ill with emphysema for many years. He was 82.

As a child, William F. Buckley’s Firing Line meant two things: big words and time to change the channel! His saponaceous, reptilian mien, wontedly predisposed to extortionate facial paroxysm, left me thunderstruck Winsomeness notwithstanding, I stood impuissant, unable to osmose one word wrested from the recondite realpolitik outcrier’s sportive and lubricious tongue. (I think I just crashed Thesaurus.com.)

I began softening to his presence in my early teens when Buckley became somewhat of a pop culture icon. Any friend of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In was a friend of mine and if nothing else, David Frye’s uncanny mimicry eased my childhood trepidity by at least making Buckley fun to watch.

My first inclination that Buckley was an enemy to right-thinking liberals everywhere came while watching Woody Allen’s Bananas. In an attempt to blend in at a local newsstand, Fielding Melish tops off a stack of pornographic reading material with a copy of Buckley’s National Review.

Buckley soon became a regular on the talk show circuit frequently doing battle with those of opposing political views. (Prior to going Bananas, Buckley appeared on a segment of The Kraft Music Hall named Woody Allen Looks at 1967.) His small screen battles with Gore Vidal became the stuff of legends. Johnny Carson loved having the right wing’s erudite big enchilada on his show. Aunt Blabbly was a big fan of brains by association.

Bill Buckley was also a guest on The Mike Douglas Show. Dust off those tapes! Wouldn’t you love to see the smartest guy in many rooms hold court with an imbecile incapable of uttering one word that wasn’t spelled out for him on idiot cards?

Born Nov. 24, 1925, in New York City, William Frank Buckley Jr. was the sixth of 10 children fathered by a multimillionaire lawyer with oil holdings in seven countries. Young Bill spent his early childhood in France and England, in exclusive Roman Catholic schools.

His prominent family also included his brother James, who became a one-term Senator from
New York in the 1970s and his socialite wife, Pat. The couple married in 1950, the same year Buckley graduated from Yale. Ms. Buckley died in April 2007. Their son, Christopher is the acclaimed author of Thank You for Smoking.

After Firing Line ended its 33 year run in 1999, Buckley began slowly shying away from the media spotlight. He did continue to make appearance of talk shows as late as last year when he guested with both Jon Stewart and Charlie Rose.

Smarty & Dopey
“I loved your daughter’s performance in ‘Carrie.’”

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