Some Notes on the Death of Mr. Buckley

I can't pretend to be an expert on William F. Buckley, Jr. I have read articles by him, but I doubt that I have read an entire book that he wrote, cover to cover. I am a fan of the magazine that he founded, "The National Review," and I think that Mr. Buckley's intellectual charisma is far better than the sort of rubbish that most "conservatives" consume nowadays on Talk Radio or in Godless by Ann Coulter. A friend of mine, a Talk Radio "conservative," asked not long ago if there were any conservative writers whom I admired--I had been trashing Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh in his presence. "I'm a big fan of William F. Buckley," I said (Take that, dowg!) "The National Review" has stated that Mr. Buckley is irreplaceable. Given the current state of affairs, I would say that intellectualism in politics is, too. William F. Buckley, rest in peace.