I always feel like a bit of an idiot writing "Junior" after someone's name, especially when they died at the age of 82. But whatever. Born in 1925, Buckley made conservatism something cool, and his TV show Firing Line is a program I'll always remember.I was a kid back then, and I thought he was some Limey snob, but he was fun to watch. His mouth was a scar that ran off his face, he talked high and mighty, and his eyes were quick and bright. He wrote tons of articles, over 50 books, and was the founder and editor-in-chief and, later, editor-at-large of the National Review. When he died yesterday morning, he died at his desk while writing a new book about Reagan.
It was interesting watching the news of his death. All of the anchors and reporters kept calling him "conservative." A "conservative commentator," or "conservative writer," or "Bill Buckley, the conservative writer of the conservative National Review who used to host the conservative Firing Line."
I can't remember the last time the media told me about a dead liberal. For them, there is "normal," and "conservative," which shows their bias more than any poll.
Buckley's writing was famous for being high-brow, and I guess he really was the embodiment of Yale intellectualism given center stage, swaggering at being so smart and so right.
My favorite story of Buckley doesn't involve his politics.
He swore the following story was true, and that he was there:
Buckley and David Niven are at a party, talking to another man. Two women come down the stairs.
Niven says, "Look at that ugly woman."
The man says, "That's my wife."
Niven says, "I meant the other one."
The man says, "That's my daughter."
Niven says, "I didn't say it."
Buckley wrote scads of spy novels and, according to him, about 1500 words a day when working, which seemed to be always.
Here's an interview between Buckley and Charlie Rose, after the death of Reagan. Watch it if you have the time and you'll get a good sense of Buckley.
Photo: Sam Falk/New York Times
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