On Buckley

William F. Buckley is dead. Though he was an entertaining character in the American cultural scene and a talented wordsmith, his politics were repulsive and the crop of acolytes he raised to prominence are a vile, mostly destructive, presence. There is a direct intellectual line from Buckley defending white privilege in the South to Malkin arguing in favor of nationality-based internment, or Goldberg arguing that FDR was a fascist. Movement conservatism and all it's excesses are his legacy. While I feel honest, liberal compassion (something his followers wouldn't understand) for the pain that those who knew him must be feeling, I don't share their pain. He did far too much damage to this country for me to miss him.