While I'm Procratinating: William F. Buckley, Jr.

I LOVE it that Buckely's son told the world that his dad died at his desk fingers on the keys, mid-composition, with his boots on, as son put it.

No, people, not for mean progressive-girl reasons.

I love it because that's how a thinker and writer should go out. And because the intelli-nerd in me loved how WFBjr could kick. ass.

I was probably the only teenager I knew who really dug watching Firing Line. It was way good prep for grad school and academic fencing. It was fascinating, compelling, inspiring. I did not agree with WFBjr much, but I learned oodles watching him and his opponents work.

I read The National Review because I like to know what smart and "smart" conservatives are thinking and how, and because my aunt reads it, which makes it easier to debate with her. I got her turned on to Harper's and The Nation so she'd have some smart (and "smart") liberals and progressives to read.

Also, there are two degrees of separation between me and WFBjr. My grandpa spent a stint as the Buckely family's lawyer while WFB was on the Supreme Court, just until the elder son could take over doing that work, like three or four years. I didn't know this until I was about 14, at the ranch with the grandparents, watching Firing Line. My G-pa harumphed into the living room, leaning pointedly on his rather elegant mahogany cane, stood right behind me, gazed at the TV for a second, and said, "Harumph, that fellow was a jackass when he was six years old." I knew G-pa was a little vain and didn't much appreciate precocious children (me being a case in point), but Wha? This led to the storytelling in which I learned just what a major player my G-pa had been in his day (and it went beyond the Buckley's, but that's another post). I have a copy of WFB's book, or one of them, inscribed to my G-pa with thanks.

So, his passing is not just a historical matter for me. It's a matter of someone I admired (not for his opinions themselves) passing, and honorably. Which, more with the honorable, please. There's a good deal of retrospecting going on in the press, and here, for your review are a few of the retrospections: The Nation (really about how converstism these days offers no arguments), Alternet, and The National Review (where you will have to scroll down and eventually search on his name).