The Z Man: One of the first things I learned about conservatism, way back in the before times, was that William F. Buckley made conservatism respectable. In the 1980’s, Buckley became a rock star, riding the wave of enthusiasm for Ronald Reagan. Like a lot of young men in that age, I was caught up in it. Being a conservative was suddenly cool and everyone credited Buckley for making it possible. It was hard to argue with the claim. Bill Buckley was a charming, intelligent and sophisticated guy. Who would not want to be like Bill?
The part that no one seemed to notice back then, at least not the people involved in the conservative movement, was that the whole point of the thing was to make the people in it respectable, as judged by their alleged opponents. Pretty much the only thing they really cared about was being seen as respectable. It’s why guys like George Will were not fans of Ronald Reagan initially. They worried that his earthy sense of humor and popularity with normal people would not go over well with their friends on the Left.
A big part of being respectable, at least in modern politics, is drawing the line between yourself and those who are not respectable. In the 80’s, when conservatism was booming, no one thought much about all the people that had been read out of the conservative movement in order for guys like Bill Buckley to be respectable. That was the thing though, by the 80’s, conservatism was nothing but drawing lines between the respectable and the unacceptable, in order to be in good standing with the Left.
That all came to mind when I read this post by the Asness Chair in Applied Liberty. It is the typical flip-flopping equivocation that is a Jonah Goldberg column. If there are two sides to an issue, he will find a way take four sides, all in the same post. Reading one of his columns is like watching a fish flop around on the deck. The basic point of the column is that he fears conservatives have not been vigilant enough in policing that line between themselves and the people the Left finds offensive. Thus the Alex Jones fiasco.
His follow up column is a call to war for his fellow conservatives. Well, it’s more like a long love letter to Bill Kristol and the other paranoids of the neoconservative cult. more here
I want a cruise ship emoticon.
Pick one from my fleet, anon…
⛴⛴⛴⛴⛴⛴⛴⛴⛴⛴
“William F. Buckley made conservatism respectable.”
Horseshit. Robert Taft was far more respectable – and conservative – than the big-state-loving Buckley.
Another thing about Bill Buckley:
What he did to Joe Sobran was despicable.
RINO Scumbags like Kristol should just go away.
Kristol is not just a bitchy fraud, he’s an actively treacherous malignancy…
“On July 24, 2016, just days before Strzok helped launch a counterintelligence probe into the Trump campaign, Kristol gave Strzok and the Obama Justice Department a big assist from the anti-Trump Right by posting a flawed and questionably-sourced article.”
https://amgreatness.com/2018/08/15/the-weekly-standards-ties-to-fusion-gps/
Wanna hear my Buckley impression?
“Son? Go clean your room right now or I’ll smash you in the goddamn fayyyyyyyyce.”
“Daughter? Stop grabbing the dog’s tail or I’ll smash you in the goddamn fayyyyyyyyce.”
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I have been a Ronnie fan since THE SPEECH – for the young guns it was 10/64. Buckley was NOT an enthusiastic Ronny man. He was a Lemming who went with the crowd. He was not anti- Ron. But thought and said the GOP had “better” men.
Ronny was so very popular that even G. Will PRETENDED to support him. I never heard of Will till his real support of the liberal GWB, read 3 of his column and there was now doubt Will was a collectivist. When he announced he was leaving the GOP Ace said he never was a conservative. Will attacked Ron many times from ’76 to ’80 EVEN 1 WEEK BEFORE THE CONVENTION. Buckley was not as liberal as Will But he never was a Barry Ronny man. He was in the middle of the flock!
Anyone giving Buckley credit for Ron’s success is either under 50 or fibbing! there were many conservatives who’d helped Ron be great. Buckley was not 1.