This should get Ryan's attention...

William Buckley.

Since his unfortunate passing a few days ago, I have been watching his interviews and debates on You Tube. Obviously, the most famous (infamous) one was with Gore Vidal (that "god-damn queer")... but there are literally dozens of interviews and debates of his if you just search his name.

Now, I'm not the fan of Buckley that James is. I admire Buckley for his drive to argue his point of view as opposed to simply presenting it with no direct opportunity for rebuttal. In that sense, more than any other, he was an innovator and a ground-breaker, and he influenced many future media venues by his televised debates (some of which have taken a decidedly anti-Buckley turn since, like NPR and the BBC). His unquestionably conservative views were never an issue with me as much as his conviction that the US could do no wrong based solely on its inherent founding principals. I feel his view and analysis of US political and foreign policy was a bit myopic at some times, and that he had a real tendency to try to work analogies into discussions that simply didn't apply (perhaps a tendency in myself that I learned from him).

Now, I am certainly not going to speak ill of the dead here, and Mr. Buckley's accomplishments are wonderful and staggering in their scope. I only wanted to introduce the man as an example of what I feel is still a failing of the conservative movement today, as it was at its inception (if we are to take Buckley as the founder of the movement).

As stated, the Buckley-Vidal brawl that you can see as soon as you type in his name at You Tube is the most famous exchange the man had... and it is very entertaining (the look on Vidal's face is priceless as he hears, then ponders, then realises just what it is that Buckley has said to him on LIVE TV is priceless!). The exchange that I think better demonstrates a general flaw in the conservative mind-set, however, is the Buckley-Chomsky debate from Buckley's own program.

First of all... this is format of debate-discussion that you will never see anymore... and that is tragic. 30 minutes of non-stop discussion about a determined topic. No moderators, and no clock ticking-down the 15 seconds to the next topic or commercial break. Imagine how much more we would know about our politicians, our authors, our pundits and commentators, and ourselves if we only saw more of this kind of intellectual exchange in the media... *sigh*

As I have repeatedly said in the past, the last truly "conservative" President that this nation has had (meaning one who actually DID all the things that the conservative movement says a conservative President should do) was Hoover. Buckley was NOT an influence on Hoover, so to label him the "Father" of modern conservatism is misleading, I think. I would say that he is the father of modern conservative media without hesitation, though. Between the National Review and Firing Line, he set the standard for all future conservative pundits. The most unfortunate aspect of this is that most of them have failed to maintain his standard of polite, rational debate.

Another unfortunate feature of the end product of Buckley's work is that many have also retained his tendancy to utterly disregard any opinion or observation that might conflict with his own. The Chomsky interview is a classic example of this, I think.

Chomsky is a fruit-loop... don't get me wrong. A pacifist of the first order, and an avowed anarchist. He is also a first-rate linguist and someone who bases his arguments and opinions on clear and measurable facts (as he sees them, anyway). There is no emotion in his delivery of his opinion, and he is unquestionably ready to back his opinion with facts and figures (which don't make him right, only a refreshing change from modern liberals). If you watch the exchange, the one thing you WON'T see Chomsky do is make an analogy.

Chomsky strives constantly to avoid the "what if?" questions, while Buckley never stops making them. THAT is why I say that the same tendency in me may very well be something I got from watching all those years of Firing Line on PBS in the 70's.

Another shocking aspect of this specific interview is that it is no long walk to see the same talk happening about Iraq instead of Vietnam. Check it out, if you don't believe me...

So when one hears me bitching about pundits that are ignoring their liberal guests-callers and simply using them as abuse-targets, know that these are the ones that have forgotten Buckley's efforts and example. The ONLY one that stands up to Buckley's example today (at least that I am aware of) is Bill Bennett's Morning in America. Calm, rational, sometimes funny, always entertaining... Buckley would be proud of Mr. Bennett.