A Children's Treasury of Strange Buckley Eulogies on National Review's Blog
William F. Buckley Jr., the founder of conservative politics, died yesterday , leaving a decrepit magazine and its very-Y2K blog as heirs. If you thought the endless eulogies on the National Review 's Corner blog might veer towards hyperbole as the news cycles went on, you were underestimating. How is Jonah Goldberg taking the news? Kathryn-Jean Lopez? The other 40 writers on the Corner? They're honoring their founder's legacy by promoting their books, relating the death to various natural disasters, and cursing the liberals ahead of time for disrespecting Buckley. Buckley, unfortunately, is not the problem.
First we've got John Derbyshire , who delights in the horrible earthquake outside London that Buckley's death so generously caused:
The Earth Trembles [John Derbyshire]
So it has happened.The epicentre of the tremor, which measured 5.3 on the Richter scale according to the British Geological Survey, was centred on the village of Holton cum Beckering, about 15 miles northeast of Lincoln.
[Me] I can't find hard data, but I have always thought the surname "Buckley" belonged up there in the North. My uncle Teddy Buckley (no relation) was a Yorkshireman.
Next, John J. Miller , responding to Jonah Goldberg, on the Liberals' various plans to dance on Buckley's grave for socialist political gain:
Re: Prediction [John J. Miller]
Jonah: Liberals will have two types of anti-conservative responses to WFB's death. One will be exactly as you describe--those that try to suggest that WFB's successors are betraying his memory, which they find much easier to praise now that he's gone. This is an old trick, and we saw it when Reagan died. With WFB, they may focus on Iraq, noting that WFB became a critic of the war. What they may fail to point out is that WFB also supported the troop surge and last year wrote a check to the presidential campaign of John McCain. (The New Yorker performed its own bait-and-switch a few years ago when it argued that conservatism betrayed its noble founding when WFB seized the reins from the likes of Peter Viereck. This is preposterous, as I tried to point out here.)Ooh, now we've got the ol' prize cow herself, editor Kathryn Jean Lopez , on how Buck's death majestically coincided with Jonah Goldberg's book becoming a #1 bestseller. The old sailor's final gift!:
Not a Bad Legacy [Kathryn Jean Lopez]
If you ask me, the Right thrives, and it, with all its thinking and pushback and debating, is Bill Buckley's living legacy.
And it's no bad thing that Jonah Goldberg's important book, Liberal Fascism, will be #1 on the New York Times bestseller list next week.Shannen Coffin can easily relate to the passing of this magazine founder, because her father is also dead:
Fathers [Shannen Coffin]
Sixteen years ago today, I lost my father after a sudden onset of cancer. Last night, the modern conservative movement lost its father. In both cases, the legacy will survive long past the loss, and we all will thrive, having been made richer in the knowing. My prayers and thoughts are with the Buckley family today and with my friends at National Review.That's enough for now. Oh wait, what's that? Bill Buckley has e-mailed Wonkette himself and has one he wants to include???:
Memo from Hell [William F. Buckley, Jr.]
I have read your responses, and I ask that you please find a way to kill me again.Always had that winning spirit, WFB did.
[ The Corner ]