Gracious

I didn't think it was possible.

William F. Buckley, dead at age 82.

You can find the NY Times obituary here.

I honestly thought he'd outlive us all. A man with a brain as big as his, it would seem, would figure out a way to cheat death. Unfortunately, he was as mortal as the rest of us.

I remember, way back in the day, watching Firing Line and wondering how his brain worked. He would seemingly go off on tangents in any debate he partook, but the glorious thing about Buckley is that he could always make the digressions and tangential arguments relevant to the debate in which he was participating. In other words, he could bring it back, and it made his argument all the more compelling. He's like a boxer, looping around the ring, hitting here and there, perhaps taking a few punches himself, but ultimately winning the match in the end. Very few people have the presence of mind to be able to do that. To consistently have one line of thinking, of belief, but to be able to explore other areas without losing part of what brought them there in the first place? That's rare.

Don't believe me? Go on and watch him debate Noam Chomsky in 1969. It's long, but it's absolutely riveting and completely worth it.

While I will forever be cursed to listen to that odd mishmash of an accent in my head whenever I read anything he's written, I'm nonetheless very sad he's passed on. Moreover, conservative bloggers owe Mr. Buckley a untold debt of gratitude for starting the ball rolling, way back in 1955, when National Review was launched. There was nothing like it at the time, and it was his willingness to yell, "Stop! When no one else was inclined to do so," that, in part, gives us our mandate to do what we do, even if our contribution will never be as meaningful and long-lasting as his was.

RIP, dear sir.

Posted by Kathy at February 27, 2008 11:57 AM | TrackBack