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News Lampoon |
R.I.P. William F. Buckley, Jr. | |||
| A voice for the ages
March 2, 2008 The passing this week of William F. Buckley, Jr. leaves me with much the same feeling, though slightly more intense, as did the passing of Gore Vidal, with whom Buckley sparred. The feeling is one of emptiness, if emptiness can be intense. Perhaps an example would help. Last summer, my 93-year-old grandfather, Col. Loren E. Bishop, died. A member of "The Greatest Generation," my grandpa fought in WWII, was a capitalist, humanitarian, outdoorsman, environmentalist, engineer, and a voracious reader who seemed to be interested in everything. He sent me newspaper and newsletter clippings along with notes providing information he thought I should know. The articles were often about corporate or political fraud or abuse. Somewhere on the article he would write in his barely-legible, geometric scrawl something like, "Vote the bums out!" He was a staunch Republican in the Barry Goldwater vein and, I have no doubt, a Buckley fan. I remain mystified how he was fooled by George W. Bush. For Christmas and my birthdays, grandma and grandpa would renew my subscriptions to Wyoming Wildlife and Reader's Digest. The Wyoming Wildlife I loved, the Digest, not so much. But since my grandfather's passing and my grandmother's retreat into a realm of her own, my wife and I have renewed the subscriptions ourselves, one for the reading, the other for the memory, though I still can't resist "Word Power." My grandfather and men like him are disappearing. As "they" say: "They don't make men like that anymore." My grandmother will probably soon join my grandfather. It's what she wants. Like me, she probably feels less safe without him in the world. I don't say "they don't make women like that anymore" because I think they might, though I'm not sure. Time will tell. Women have always held men's hope. (I have lately become a Hillary fan, largely because of the repulsion I experience while watching news media drool over Barack Obama, but also because she makes me feel "safer" than wunderkind Obama or "Warhorse" McCain. Thankfully, my grandpa will never know of my new-found love for Hillary or that, yesterday, I accompanied my wife to a "Women for Hillary" rally.) Anyway, back to Mr. Buckley. To me his passing marks the end of an era. An end to civility and good humor. Mr. Buckley was one of the funniest men alive. Who will replace him? Maureen Dowd? George Will? They can never hope to be more than shadows of Mr. Buckley's shadow. I feel sorry for those uninitiated to Mr. Buckley's wit and word wizardry, who have never read the National Review (which Mr. Buckley founded, along with modern conservatism), never seen a Buckley interview or Firing Line (another Buckley creation and longest-running "talk-show" ever). For the two people who will read this, who came here expecting twisted news, humor & satire, I apologize. But, if you don't know, William F. Buckley was a big deal. One thing though: they say Mr. Buckley could pound out an article in twenty minutes. What's so hard about that?
Rick Bishop, News Lampoon Editor
Read Mr. Buckley at National Review archives. |
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