Airborn – Again

From the moment the first bit of political awareness dawned on me I spent a lot of time being annoyed at William F Buckley, Jr. Lately I’ve been wondering why he persists in his loud and public rituals of intellectual scratching and self-righteousness. He has, to my mind, spent his entire adult life defending his right to wallow in luxury amidst oceans of poverty, defending the indefensible. Though it would be comforting to find Buckley stupid, he obviously isn’t.

Not long ago I treated myself to an hour and 20 minutes of Buckley. The first hour was his own Firing Line (interesting metaphor), the last 20 minutes a puff-ball cutesie-poo profile of the great man by Morley Safer.

Buckley devoted his show to ...