George McGovern Now Conservative?
It's been occasionally remarked in recent years that George McGovern, who lost the 1972 election to Richard Nixon in a landslide because he was so ultra-liberal, became more conservative after leaving public life and starting his own business. A column in today's WSJ, "Freedom Means Responsibility," will certainly add another log to that fire. His thesis is ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on March 7, 2008 13:35
Bill Buckley and The Gays
Andrew Sullivan appreciated the late William F. Buckley, Jr.'s civil tone on matters of homosexuality, especially as contrasted with other conservatives of his era, but laments that "Buckley never challenged what he believed was a necessary moral and social injunction against gay love, marriage and sex." GayPatriot's B. Daniel Blatt is more charitable, noting that, "When I was friendly with ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 28, 2008 14:44
William F. Buckley, Jr., RIP
Kathryn Jean Lopez has the sad news that "William F. Buckley Jr., died overnight in his study in Stamford, Connecticut. After year of illness, he died while at work." Sad news, indeed. More from AP: Author and conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr. has died at age 82. His assistant Linda Bridges says Buckley died Wednesday morning at his home in Stamford, Conn. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 27, 2008 11:32
Obama in Muslim Garb
The Clinton campaign is circulating a 2006 photo of Barack Obama in Somali tribal clothes, playing to the "B. Hussein Obama is a secret Muslim" nonsense, and getting properly excoriated from the left and right alike. Indeed, even Robert Spencer[*] judges the "Obama-Is-Secretly-A-Muslim" rumors to be "a lot of hooey." The attack is backfiring on Clinton, feeding into the "she's ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 25, 2008 11:09
Ron Paul - Ralph Nader, Bill Buckley, or Howard Dean?
John Derbyshire and Andrew Sullivan see great similarity's between Ron Paul and a young William F. Buckley, Jr. John Podhoretz and Richard Fernandez, though, see more similarities between Paul and Ralph Nader. Ed Morrissey, meanwhile, thinks he's this years' Howard Dean. To the extent he's following any of those parallels, I'd go with Dean. As Derbyshire notes, Buckley's conservatism ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 7, 2007 10:17
Why Lefty Bloggers Are Owed a Living Redux
Susie Madrak, under the attention-grabbing headline "No More Dead Bloggers," laments "the utter injustice of a Democratic political system that is very, very happy to take the money and volunteers the blogosphere sends its way" and yet returns only "Bubkis" to the non-A-listers. There is not even a little doubt in my mind that, if Rittenhouse Review’s Jim Capozzola had remained ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 6, 2007 09:19
Patricia Taylor Buckley, RIP
Patricia Taylor Buckley, longtime wife of conservative intellectual leader William F. Buckley, Jr., has died. Patricia Taylor Buckley, who died Sunday at age 80, was a true original and a fixture of New York society for more than four decades. Buckley died at Stamford Hospital in Connecticut of an infection following a long illness, according to a statement from her ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 16, 2007 08:49
Media Research Center DisHonors Awards
Last evening, I attended the Media Research Center's 20th Anniversary Gala as a guest of Matt Sheffield of MRC's Newsbusters blog. While the festivities went late into the evening, thanks to not starting the presentation until after everyone had finished dessert and a rather rambling performance by substitute presenter Mary Matalin, it was quite fun. Cal Thomas, Neal Boortz, Herman ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on March 30, 2007 15:42
Buckley Debates Chomsky on American Interventionism
Below is video of a debate between Noam Chomsky and William F. Buckley, Jr. from 1969, presumably on the latter's long running "Firing Line" program about American interventionism, terrorism, and other issues which are still with us. Andrew Sullivan observes wistfully, "There used to be television like this; and people used to watch it." My inclination was to share his ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on January 21, 2007 09:40
Buckley on Webb Sex Scenes
William F. Buckley, Jr.: "The charge by assorted gentry that James Webb is not qualified to serve as a U.S. senator from Virginia because there are lewdnesses in his published fiction rattles one's faith in democracy." Indeed. Of course, anyone who has read any of Buckley's Blackford Oakes spy novels would expect this reaction given the number of explicit sex ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 3, 2006 13:49
