Magazine Rips Buckley's Legacy, Even Though He Only Died Like Two Seconds Ago
William F. Buckley Jr., founder of conservative ideas and delightful sailor, died earlier this week. This afternoon, the Nation posted an article challenging Buckley's legacy. "Buckley's so-called boldness and playfulness had an ideological flip-side," Richard Kim writes, "cruelty, pettiness and a tendency to embrace fascistic solutions in the guise of pragmatism." What the hell is wrong with Richard Kim? Doesn't he know that it is, objectively, too soon to question Buckley's ideas? If Kim expects anyone to show up at his funeral after this stunt, he's kidding himself.
This is just really uncalled for, but still predictably rude for a damn liberal:
... during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, Buckley suggested that "Everyone detected with AIDS should be tattooed in the upper forearm, to protect common-needle users, and on the buttocks, to prevent the victimization of other homosexuals."
Oh oh, and one time Abraham Lincoln crossed the street without looking both ways. But did people mention this only days after he died?
Still, Kim goes on:
In the final analysis, Buckley thought that unprotected sex was the same as "committing murder" and that "murderers need to be stopped." Now, someone tell me how such Neanderthal views on public health pass for brilliance or wit? Is anyone laughing? Maybe Norman Mailer said it best when he called Buckley a "second-rate intellect incapable of entertaining two serious thoughts in a row."
Wow, Neanderthal, huh? At least Neanderthals had primitive rituals to honor the dead, in their caves, and they certainly didn't use the word "murder" only days after a famous person died.
His "AIDS" record. What?
Buckley Blather [The Nation]