I know I've sometimes said, "that's what conservatism has always been", which is a gross oversimplification; but I think I can safely say, "that's who conservatism has always been willing to play footsie with", with no dishonesty.
Thanks for this great write-up, and I also enjoyed your recent episodes of IS THIS DEMOCRACY! The new David Austin Walsh book is pretty good (not surprised to see your name in the acknowledgements).
I recall watching Buckley a few times and remember thinking that he wasn't that impressive. He had one good tactic, which was to yell "squirrel" and send the guest off on some side tangent when the discussion wasn't going the way he wanted it to. I once saw an old recording of him with Noam Chomsky. Chomsky was very focused on making his points and wasn't being distracted, and Buckley finally said, "What if I come over there and punch you in the nose?"
Chomsky later wrote that Buckley, in the future, would be just a footnote in the history of public relations.
I know I've sometimes said, "that's what conservatism has always been", which is a gross oversimplification; but I think I can safely say, "that's who conservatism has always been willing to play footsie with", with no dishonesty.
Thanks for this great write-up, and I also enjoyed your recent episodes of IS THIS DEMOCRACY! The new David Austin Walsh book is pretty good (not surprised to see your name in the acknowledgements).
I recall watching Buckley a few times and remember thinking that he wasn't that impressive. He had one good tactic, which was to yell "squirrel" and send the guest off on some side tangent when the discussion wasn't going the way he wanted it to. I once saw an old recording of him with Noam Chomsky. Chomsky was very focused on making his points and wasn't being distracted, and Buckley finally said, "What if I come over there and punch you in the nose?"
Chomsky later wrote that Buckley, in the future, would be just a footnote in the history of public relations.