William F Buckley Bucks the War

[wyethwire]

"With the benefit of minute hindsight, Saddam Hussein wasn't the kind of extra-territorial menace that was assumed by the administration one year ago," Mr. Buckley said. "If I knew then what I know now about what kind of situation we would be in, I would have opposed the war."

William F. Buckley

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/29/politics/29buckley.html?pagewanted=2&hp

[Cheswick2.0]

1. why didn't you know William?

We knew, why didn't you listen to us?

[LittleApple81]

4. Because HE DID NOT WANT TO KNOW. "There is no worse deaf that he

who doesn't want to hear."

[skooooo]

7. None of us knew..

...because we were lied to.

[indigobusiness]

16. Some of us knew we were being lied to.

Mine was a voice in the wilderness when I shouted from the rooftops how the war was a sham and would go down as a vile and tragic mistake.

[LittleApple81]

5. Love your Dean thingy!!! Thanks for having it as your sig line. n/t

[indepat]

10. My thoughts exactly: thanks for beating me to the punch

[seabeyond]

23. this is exactly my thought

listening to the right now say if we knew. well hey dudes, we kept saying, even powell said, you all just didnt listen. and now we are saying so much more, and still you dont listen. a year later when all we say now comes true are you going to say, if i had known. well guys, that is called incompetence.........not 20/20 hindsight

[Coventina]

2. Namby-pamby

Can't admit he was WRONG. Just whines that he didn't know then what he knows now.

[ixion]

3. hindsight... how convenient

there was plenty of information available... calling selective blindness hindsight is just another rethug tactic. :grr:

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Still -- I'm grateful for this statement from a conservative icon --

any separation between conservatives and Bush is a good thing.

[Sporadicus]

8. Remember When Gore Vidal Called WFB a Crypto-Nazi?

At the Aug. 22 <1968> debate in Chicago - the penultimate encounter in the series, with an estimated 10 million people watching - things began with relative calm. But it didn’t stay that way, and before long the men began exchanging words that one simply didn’t hear on TV at that time (see box below). Vidal called Buckley a "pro-crypto-Nazi," a modest slip of the tongue, he later said, because he was searching for the word "fascist" and it just didn't come out. Inflamed by the word "Nazi" and the whole tenor of the discussion, Buckley snapped: "Now listen, you queer," he said, "stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in you goddamn face and you’ll stay plastered." Smith attempted to calm the exchange with "gentlemen, let's not call names," but the damage had been done. The two men, considerably subdued, met the following night for the last of their week of debates.

http://www.pitt.edu/~kloman/debates.html

[skooooo]

12. lmao...

I would have loved to hear that exchange! "Now listen, you queer.."

lol...

[PA Democrat]

9. And I'll bet he insulted and berated those of us

who DID oppose the war from the beginning.

There is no joy in being able to say, "I told you so," just incredible sadness for the lives lost and the lives forever ruined.

[teryang]

11. Obscurantist for the rich

spoiled rich kid, and apologist for the social register. The oil dividends are rolling in.

[Bonhomme Richard]

13. How is it we all knew this crap....................

and the "experts" were clueless? Is it because we are smarter (I don't think so) or is it the fact that they are blinded by party loyalty? I believe the only reason thay are upset is because they are beginning to look really bad to the voters and they are at risk of losing power.

[ProfessorGAC]

15. It's Simple, Oz

It's because they're NOT experts at anything than the political machinations of the big time media business. They've risen to high status in the field, not because of what they're capable of, but how they've worked the system.

All one need do is read the major columnists. I would posit that less than 20% have any real knowledge of the subject matter about which they write.

We knew, because we read. We process. We analyze. We conclude. They do the same, but they're not experts, they're not smarter, and they draw the wrong conclusions.
The Professor

[Kolesar]

14. I wrote letters to the newspapers and representatives

Buckley has no excuse. He cannot claim ignorance. The press didn't just fail to do "due diligence", but they became active GOP liars. It is that simple.

[bullimiami]

17. Well then Mr Buckley sir, you are a fool.

I knew. A lot of us knew. We tried to tell you to look, asked you to question.
I protested. We protested. We yelled and stood with signs around the world in unprecedented numbers.

You KNEW better. You should be ashamed.

[gratuitous]

18. Well golly, Bill

You didn't know. That's a tough thing. Damn, you know, if only some people had, I don't know, marched in the streets by the millions all over the world, waving signs and demonstrating, then, oh then, you might have had an inkling. But nobody said a single syllable against this war. Not a thing. No way you could have possibly known that any of the administration's proffered rationales for the invasion and colonization of Iraq were bogus, that they were lying to you.

And now, now when your eyes have finally opened and recognized what's been happening right before your smug, overfed, self-satisfied mug, your response is to sigh heavily and retire. Oh well, lied to, Treasury squandered, thousands dead. Nothing to be done here. It is a pity. No use getting upset or trying to set things back to rights. What's done is done. Ah me. Ah my.

Eat shit and Cheney off, Buckley!

[Jacobin]

19. Apparently, your opinions are then piffle

Because you are not able to digest information readily available in the public domain and make informed judgments.

Go away you paleo con and sail your boat into the sunset and spare us the pulp you write.

[yellowcanine]

20. Well Willy, it is not as if there weren't millions of people in the

streets all over the world telling you - you just weren't listening. Minute hindsight my ass.

[Sweetpea]

21. I think they there are those who just believed in Bush and Co

and have been embarrassed. There are many Republicans who are seeing the light.

[gratuitous]

22. If he's embarrassed, I'm all for it

Buckley should be embarrassed for being so gullible. But his disingenuous apology (Oh, if I'd only known then what I know now) is self-justifying crapola. A normal human being, upon making a mistake, apologizes, and then tries to set things right. Buckley is shuffling off the punditry stage now, giving up his position at his magazine, and apparently finishing his career. Three years too late, I'd say, but Willie Mays did the same thing. Of course, thousands of people didn't die because Willie hung on too long, but those are the relative perils of being a major league ballplayer and a beltway player.

Buckley needs to take a little personal responsibility for the grievous effects of his failure.