The Passing of William F. Buckley

I must admit that when I heard the news today my first thought was to wonder what this means for Sam Tanenhaus's biography, in the works even before he took the reins as the New York Times Book Review editor. Tanenhaus is taking questions at Paper Cuts and when asked directly about where he's at with the biography replied, "I’m afraid I’ve not completed it yet, and have quite a ways to go on it."

J. Kingston Pierce puts Buckley's politics and novel-writing career in good perspective, while Terry Teachout has a heartfelt tribute. Jaime, I think, really nails why Buckley garnered so much respect from all sides:

People also came to like and respect him because in the age of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, the defining characteristic of conservative commentary has been hatred of liberals, a message that liberals are out to eat your children and turn you gay, and a determination to do the opposite of whatever liberals want. (This contrarianism is found on the left, too, but not so much in TV and radio punditry, where liberal commentators tend to bash their own side a lot.) Buckley, who counted liberals like John Kenneth Galbraith among his friends and clearly knew and liked many of the liberals he argued with, has come to be seen as a throwback to a time when ideas were more important than pissing off your political opponents.

Many more reactions can be searched for here.

Comments

[Cornelia Read]

Damn.

[Laura Benedict]

Buckley, Ray Smith from Ontario Review, Suzanne Pleshette,...I feel like the grown-ups are all going away.

[Graham]

The best remembrance I read was by Joe Leiberman. When Leiberman was running for the Senate for the first time (as a Democrat), Buckley called and asked if he thought his endorsement would help. Leiberman basically shrugged and said, "It couldn't hurt." He won by less than 1%, so it probably got him elected.

Respecting your opponents and recognizing their good ideas is the sign of an intellectually honest person. Anybody can call names.

[Elaine Flinn]

I doubt we'll ever see the likes of him again. And that - is as sad as his passing.

[Maryann Miller]

Buckley's passing is the end of an era of civil discourse. If only more people could have learned from his example.

[Maryann Miller]

Buckley's passing is the end of an era of civil discourse. If only more people could have learned from his example.