when smirk honored Buckley he opened his mouth and said:

[donsu]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/10/20051006-4.html

President Honors Buckley at 50th Anniversary of National Review

-snip-

The amazing thing is, is that sometimes it's hard to be a leader because you hear all kinds of voices. He's certainly heard different voices when he formed the National Review. He had an eclectic group of people. That's a Yale word. (Laughter.) He had voices that included ex-communists who knew better than most the threat posed to America by the Soviet Union. He had voices such as free marketers who knew that markets could deliver better results than bureaucracies. He had voices from the traditionalists who understood that a government by -- of and by and for the people could not stand unless it stood on moral ground. They all different -- represented a different strand of conservative thought. Yet, when they came together under the conductor's baton, they made beautiful music. Congratulations for being a leader. (Applause.)

-snip-

It's hard to believe that in 1955, the Soviet Union was in full power, that Ronald Reagan was a Democrat -- and the truth of the matter is, Bill, I was more interested in Willie Mays than I was in you. (Laughter.) But a lot has changed in a brief period of time, when you think about it. Many of the more important changes of the 20th century happened because the National Review stood strong, and that's a fact -- that's a fact of history.

-snip-

I found another Buckley quote interesting -- when he wrote, with characteristic modesty, that did National Review not exist, no one would have invented it. (Laughter.) I think it's more accurate to say that only Bill Buckley could have invented National Review. And that's a tremendous influence on American life that can be explained only by its unwavering trust and appeal of human freedom -- this great understanding of the power of freedom to change societies and to lift up people's lives.

It is an honor to be here to thank you for your service. I want to thank you for leaving us a magazine and a group of thinkers that will help make the advance of liberty over the last 50 years look like a dress rehearsal for the next 50 years.
-snip-
------------------------------

life in the bubble

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cassiepriam]

2. Is it just me, but is this speech coherent? Does it make sense?

[shenmue]

9. Yeah, I noticed that...

Wow, he can use whole sentences!

[Larry in KC]

17. No, no he can't....

One thing we can be absolutely sure of, after having watched it for these many years, is that any time he's speaking in what appear to be whole sentences, or sentences which use complex or insightful words, he's reading a speech that's been written for him by someone else.

And the odds are good that he had to practice and be coached to make it sound as close to natural as it does. The odds are even better that he just barely understands what he's reading.

You know, it's just pathetically sad that this is true. If we hadn't gotten so used to it, it would seem like it had to be a joke. Well, it is a joke, of course, but not the one it should be.

[RandomKoolzip]

3. I wonder how big "conservatism" would be today if its figureheads

were stuffed-shirt types like Buckley. I think Buckley did more to turn regular people off to conservatism than anything else due simply to his sniggering, toffee-nosed disposition and highfalutin accent. Had the conservative movement not adopted "just folks"-types like Bush and Reagan, conservatism would probably be back where it deserves to be: in the margins, a fringe theory that if put in place leads to disaster.

If more people realized that the conservatives were the REAL elitists (there's no way you could call William F. Buckley anything BUT an elitist snob) we wouldn't be in this mess we're in today.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

8. Buckley is intelligent and with his

unusual demeanor, he is very interesting to observe if one has time to pursue things irrelevant to real life.

[ieoeja]

11. Buckley After Clinton's 1992 DNC Acceptance Speech

All he could talk about was Clinton's use of vulgar language, "they got the goldmine, and we got the shaft". Initially all the other reporters were confused. Finally making the connection they naturally dismissed Buckley's complaint as rather silly and went on to discuss the points made in Clinton's speech. And every thirty seconds or so you would hear Buckley blurt out "the first presidential candidate to use a vulgarity in his acceptance speech!".

At the time Buckley looked like a clueless fool (the Rightwing version of Chomskey). Of course, that was 1992. Today, "A nation is shocked by liberal presidential nominee's use of obscene language. Moderate Democrats call for Clinton to drop out of the race." would dominate the airwaves.

[tanyev]

4. Such a comedian.

Does he bring a drummer along to do rimshots at the appropriate moments?

[dean_dem]

5. Re: The first paragraph

He also had voices who opposed integration. But hey, who's counting?

Something tells me if Bush has actually read any of Buckley's writing, he'd spend more time looking at a dictionary than at the text.

[Sandpiper]

6. Bush Honors a McCarthyite and White Supremacist

An excerpt from National Review's 1957 pro-segregation article "Why the South Must Prevail":

The central question that emerges . . . is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in areas in which it does not prevail numerically? The sobering answer is Yes – the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race. It is not easy, and it is unpleasant, to adduce statistics evidencing the cultural superiority of White over Negro: but it is a fact that obtrudes, one that cannot be hidden by ever-so-busy egalitarians and anthropologists.

National Review believes that the South's premises are correct. . . . It is more important for the community, anywhere in the world, to affirm and live by civilized standards, than to bow to the demands of the numerical majority.

<snip>


More at:

http://www.amren.com/009issue/009issue.html

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

7. Eclectic is a Yale word since when?

I guess he thinks he has to apologize for using any word that isn't in a basic 500 word working vocabulary.

[donsu]

10. I noticed that - as if only Yale people use the word

nt

[pretzel4gore]

12. too bad noam chomsky never punched buckley

when buckley threatened to beat Noam senseless.....that was on a firing line show back in the old days(?) Noam Chomsky is a fairly small unmilitary type of bespectacled thinker and bookish type while buckley comes off as a upper class twit who flew under the 'hearties' banner at places like yale etc even though buckley always looked like a church going dope/upper class twit. Noam said something that caused buckley to make the bald faced threat, which caught Noam off guard...i dream of Noam getting up and walking over to buckley, with his pen ready to jam in buckley'e bug eye, and how buckley would have turned pale and fled screaming like the bully punk he is!
that awful old man must be horrified at bush!.....man, this is great

[Sandpiper]

14. He also threatened to punch Gore Vidal

When Gore called him a pro crypto nazi.

[pretzel4gore]

16. I recall that! before buckley became a shut-in!

i'd love to see that show! Gore Vidal could easily whup buckley (is bill gay, btw?)...he, Vidal, once had a fight with Norman Mailer, if i recall correctly....lol. And Buckley aint no Norman Mailer haha!

[marbuc]

13. Bush still cares more about Willie Mays than William Buckley

Some things never change.

[dajoki]

15. i think * hears voices... in his empty head