• May 25, 2012
NEW MUSLIM TRAITORS

October 14, 2008

Christopher Buckley Quits National Review, Scorns Them All

by Jim Newell  

After Christopher Buckley insulted his dead father’s National Review magazine by endorsing a liberal black Maoist over the Crazyfarts McBombs and Sideshow Moosetits ticket, every editor at the National Review and every wingnut with an AOL account called him a traitor to his own family, Jesus, and The Cause. And so Buckley has now quit his columnist position at the magazine and written a rather brutal excoriation of Modern Conservatism on Tina Brown’s new Huffington Post, The British Space Cyclops.

Since my Obama endorsement, Kathleen [Parker] and I have become BFFs and now trade incoming hate-mails. No one has yet suggested my dear old Mum should have aborted me, but it’s pretty darned angry out there in Right Wing Land. One editor at National Review—a friend of 30 years—emailed me that he thought my opinions “cretinous.”

[...]

So, I have been effectively fatwahed (is that how you spell it?) by the conservative movement, and the magazine that my father founded must now distance itself from me. But then, conservatives have always had a bit of trouble with the concept of diversity. The GOP likes to say it’s a big-tent. Looks more like a yurt to me.

While I regret this development, I am not in mourning, for I no longer have any clear idea what, exactly, the modern conservative movement stands for. Eight years of “conservative” government has brought us a doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance. As a sideshow, it brought us a truly obscene attempt at federal intervention in the Terry Schiavo case.

He mentions about 6,000 times that his father was William F. Buckley, in case you forgot!

Sorry, Dad, I Was Sacked [Daily Beast]

{ 84 comments }

magic titty October 14, 2008 at 3:09 pm

Wait – an angry conservative (pro-life) thinks his mother should have aborted him?
I don’t understand these people.

hockeymom October 14, 2008 at 3:10 pm

Wankers, all.

CivicHoliday October 14, 2008 at 3:11 pm

Wrong, Bucko. Yurts are for pinko environmentalists. Outhouses are for the GOP.

TGY October 14, 2008 at 3:11 pm

Oh, to be ‘fatwahed’ by fatheads. Let us hope the fatheads will fatwah us all.

AngryBlakGuy October 14, 2008 at 3:12 pm

…wow, he is really swinging for the fences on this rant!

V572625694 October 14, 2008 at 3:12 pm

Ol’ Bill would’ve fired those jerkwad Chimpy apologists years ago, and let himself be ruled by the first fifty signers of the Port Huron Statement instead. Because he was obscenely rich with oil money he never did a thing to earn and didn’t really give damn which obedient servant of the Ruling Class was executing his orders. But at least he could write, and so can his son.

ihasasad October 14, 2008 at 3:13 pm

I certainly hope that is how you spell fatwahed because I used it to win a license plate game on the way home the other day.

Gopherit v2.0 October 14, 2008 at 3:13 pm

If most neo-cons could both read and comprehend, I bet they would find this article devastating.

petite brawnley October 14, 2008 at 3:13 pm

Unfit to change a Lieberman diarrhea diaper!

AngryBlakGuy October 14, 2008 at 3:15 pm

[re=133343]magic titty[/re]: …a truly conservative statement would have been: “I wish your genetic material was wasted on a blowjob or anal sex”

freakishlystrong October 14, 2008 at 3:15 pm

Oh SNAP Bitch! Welcome to the yurt, where were you four years ago?

TeddyS October 14, 2008 at 3:15 pm

Dammit, I’m tired of all of these conservatives trying to get into our tank.

SayItWithWookies October 14, 2008 at 3:17 pm

The conservative movement is now so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.

Tommy Says Soooo October 14, 2008 at 3:17 pm

If WFB were alive today, he’d disowned Christopher, or at random, one of his kids.

StrangelyBrown October 14, 2008 at 3:17 pm

The National Review: now 100% Buckley-free!

It’s for the best, though. All those Buckleyan polysyllabic words were impeding its readership within the contemporary conservative milieu. Darn right! Also.

2goats October 14, 2008 at 3:17 pm

Suppose you were a real, true Dodger fan, who believed in the Dodger Way and bled blue whether they won or lost because dem bums were your bums. Well, you maybe would have thought “Manny Ramirez? No thanks! Rather lose without him than win with him.” And Chris Buckly? He ain’t no Manny ramirez.

sati demise October 14, 2008 at 3:18 pm

He and Parker will have to start their own party.

The grand new party? The the new republic party? The smart guys for Obama party?

Deepthroat October 14, 2008 at 3:19 pm

“yurt”

HedonismBot October 14, 2008 at 3:19 pm

Yes, yes… (sip my chardonnay, puff my pipe, chew thoughtfully on my designer glasses for a moment while I put my silk-stockinged feet upon an elegant chaise lounge in my yurt in the Hamptons…) indeed..
(All said in a Thurston Howell III voice.)

nurple October 14, 2008 at 3:19 pm

One of National Review’s earliest contributors, former Trotsky pal Max Eastman.

Sussemilch October 14, 2008 at 3:19 pm

“Dad, what’s a conservative?”

“Well son, it’s a God-fearing and compassionate person who respects humanity and seeks to create a better world for peoples of all creeds where they can come together in the spirit of unity and respect and forge a bright future for us all.”

“But I thought -”

“SHUT YOUR FACE!”

Cogito Ergo Bibo October 14, 2008 at 3:20 pm

I intend to use “fatwahed” indiscriminitely and inappropriately forever more. Thanks, Chris!

Tommy Says Soooo October 14, 2008 at 3:23 pm

Maybe I’ll be famous if I said Michelle Malkin made me yurt my pants.

Kev-O-Tron October 14, 2008 at 3:26 pm

When McClennan published his book I said the same thing: this is like watching lion’s eat their young. And I like that.

grendel October 14, 2008 at 3:28 pm

Hahaha… The Reagan coalition is crumbling… Buckley’s dad worked hard to keep the nutjobs out of the Republican party, then he died and they took their revenge by shitting all over it. Now there’s nothing left but a smoldering mound of dung and a failed presidential campaign. This is hilarious!

Serolf Divad October 14, 2008 at 3:28 pm

OMG, the National Review disowning the founder’s kid? That’d be like Wm. F. Buckley Jr. disowning his own grandchild.

facehead October 14, 2008 at 3:29 pm

In response to the conservative uproar, a spokesperson for Buckley has released this statement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqn_fixp5ec

monty October 14, 2008 at 3:30 pm

[re=133376]Cogito Ergo Bibo[/re]: I concur it goes along with my other new favorite word “festooned”

slappypaddy October 14, 2008 at 3:32 pm

Turns out he’s the love-child of Katharine Graham and Gore Vidal, adopted by William F. in an absinthe-fueled spasm of compassionate conservatism.

magic titty October 14, 2008 at 3:32 pm

[re=133362]AngryBlakGuy[/re]: “You should’ve been a blowjob!” – perfect.

Botswana Meat Commission FC October 14, 2008 at 3:34 pm

but it’s pretty darned angry out there in Right Wing Land

Up until a week ago, right wing politics were based on acceptance and understanding.

shortsshortsshorts October 14, 2008 at 3:35 pm

The commenters on Daily Beast aren’t wingnutty enough. Not even one death threat.

MoonshineJoe October 14, 2008 at 3:36 pm

[re=133368]2goats[/re]: When did you turn into George Will? Less baseballz!

Botswana Meat Commission FC October 14, 2008 at 3:37 pm

The GOP likes to say it’s a big-tent. Looks more like a yurt to me.

DAMN HOMEY. HE STRAIGHT WILDIN OUT UP IN THIS BITCH.

haha. white people.

HuskyMescan October 14, 2008 at 3:37 pm

jesus sarah palin christ, the republican party is disintegrating before our very eyes.

WadISay October 14, 2008 at 3:39 pm

Kathleen Parker’s expulsion managed to make both the conservative movement and the rest of the world a little stupider.

longjohnson October 14, 2008 at 3:43 pm

[re=133366]Tommy Says Soooo[/re]: No, Bill would have tacked to the center, as he usually did, and pointed out McCain’s deficiencies. Buckley and his son, Christopher are gifted writers and thinkers and objected to the Hee-Haw-right-wing-nut-Jesus-freaks that were #ucking things up in catastrophic style.

slappypaddy October 14, 2008 at 3:48 pm

[re=133399]HuskyMescan[/re]: I’ll bring the popcorn.

theo October 14, 2008 at 3:49 pm

How is today’s GOP like a Mongolian yurt?

It’s was once a big tent but now it’s low and has a wide stance.

Also, it’s full of Mongoloids.

nurple October 14, 2008 at 3:49 pm

Husky:

Look for a hastily-assembled motorcade of ZILs to make an early morning dash from DC to the Paraguayan frontier in the next couple of weeks, laden with bullion and jumbo sized tins of caviar, which are better than cash.

Tommy Says Soooo October 14, 2008 at 3:53 pm

[re=133406]longjohnson[/re]: Sounds like a Bull Moose resurgence to me, and, uh, SP would shoot it.

pdiddycornchips October 14, 2008 at 3:54 pm

The chances that Buckley’s little tantrum will change any conservative minds is about the same as Jonah Goldberg contracting Sickle Cell.

Itsjustme October 14, 2008 at 3:54 pm

I love the way this commentor put it! Is this too much to put on a T-Shirt?

bpai99
“You do realize that conservatives are on God’s side and all others are not,
conservatives know God’s will while all others do not, and that
conservatives want to use the power of government to advance their
understanding of God’s Kingdom. Finally, them being the only possessors of
God’s wisdom gives them the right to ignore his teachings when dealing with
others who do not see the light that they do.”

Woodwards Friend October 14, 2008 at 3:56 pm

GOP = the party of William Jennings Bryan

Bryan was a vulgar and common man, a cad undiluted. He was ignorant, bigoted, self-seeking, blatant and dishonest. His career brought him into contact with the first men of his time; he preferred the company of rustic ignoramuses. It was hard to believe, watching him at Dayton, that he had traveled, that he had been received in civilized societies, that he had been a high officer of state. He seemed only a poor clod like those around him, deluded by a childish theology, full of an almost pathological hatred of all learning, all human dignity, all beauty, all fine and noble things. He was a peasant come home to the dung-pile. Imagine a gentleman, and you have imagined everything that he was not. – HL Mencken

Cape Clod October 14, 2008 at 3:57 pm

Another great conservative thinker, Ted Nugent, is still hoping for victory.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28990#continueA

JadedDIssonance October 14, 2008 at 3:58 pm

Growing up as a “Hee-Haw-right-wing-nut-Jesus-freak,” I believed that compromise was a useless and empty tool when compared to the power of an allmighty. Helping former wingnuts realize their useless and empty nature is my job now. It’s a shame that the people who want the government to dictate all things “moral” have wound up in the “states’ rights” small government party.

StripesAndPlaids October 14, 2008 at 3:59 pm

Poor Chris. They don’t like a race traitor at the National Review.

slappypaddy October 14, 2008 at 3:59 pm

[re=133416]Itsjustme[/re]: Game, set, match!

Itsjustme October 14, 2008 at 4:05 pm

[re=133420]Cape Clod[/re]: Ted Nugent is the substance you find whilst cleaning the Douchebag.

pdiddycornchips October 14, 2008 at 4:06 pm

[re=133416]Itsjustme[/re]:

How about this….

Conservatives think god is on their side because they get their religion from a guy on TV every Sunday morning. That guy would have been an Elvis impersonator but he discovered the business of spoon feeding religion and politics to morons paid much better.

longjohnson October 14, 2008 at 4:11 pm

[re=133414]Tommy Says Soooo[/re]: Your are partially correct . . . I believe Palin’s motto is suck it, then shoot it!

Nevertheless, it essentially translates into what is known as a boner bender in the rougher regions Alaska . . .

problemwithcaring October 14, 2008 at 4:12 pm

Well, it’s not like conservatives give a good-god-damn about some washed-up ghey…unless its Chris Hitchens.

brain meats October 14, 2008 at 4:14 pm

Chris is pretty mavericky.

Kingbee October 14, 2008 at 4:22 pm

Sad — his father would have known that it doesn’t matter how we spell it, since it’s a tranliteration of a non-English word, and we can spell it any old damn way we want. I propose “fatwad”, as in, “Daddums left me a fatwad of money, which I’m not sharing with any love children.”

Schadenfried October 14, 2008 at 4:23 pm

[re=133343]magic titty[/re]: I know, right. Even when Dennis Miller turned on the Left, nobody wished his mother aborted him (not in public anyway). In fact, I still hold a vigil that he’ll come to his senses.

Kingbee October 14, 2008 at 4:23 pm

transliteration — not that I can spell, either.

Schadenfried October 14, 2008 at 4:25 pm

[re=133367]StrangelyBrown[/re]: They’ll be giving a column to Larry the Cable Guy.

FMA October 14, 2008 at 4:33 pm

[re=133470]Schadenfried[/re]: My favorite Dennis Miller reference was in the Simpsons when the family gets a computer to run the house and one of the voices available is Miller’s and Bart asks Homer, “Isn’t that the guy who caused all those suicides?” And Homer says, “Murder-suicides.”

HedonismBot October 14, 2008 at 4:33 pm

He’s a pompous ass, but at least now he’s OUR pompous ass.

WIDTAP October 14, 2008 at 4:35 pm

Extra points to Christopher for using the word “yurt”.

Accordion-o-rama October 14, 2008 at 4:36 pm

While it’s always heartening to trumpet the turning of a conservative,
Christopher Buckley is still a boob. His father wrote eloquently, sometimes humorously,
carefully marshaling facts to support the smug, unreflective conservatism of the trust fund set.
The younger adopted the smug, privileged attitude, toned down the eloquence, and infused a National Lampoonish “I’m an asshole, but I can get away with it because its funny” vibe. PJ O’Rourke does this shtick much better.

nurple October 14, 2008 at 4:45 pm

Where are all the dyed-in-the-wool WFB haters? Maybe they all stayed on Gawker. In the old days, you couldn’t say a nice condescending word about the old buster without 1000 people calling you a Nazi.

TexasCowGirl October 14, 2008 at 4:47 pm

This and writing Thank You for Smoking makes two good things he’s done.

Schadenfried October 14, 2008 at 4:53 pm

I think Buckley the Younger should have handled this in Wonkette fashion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LJBVgoUNzw&feature=related

Dernyul October 14, 2008 at 4:55 pm

I just fatwahed and blew a yurt all over the couch. Time for a panty changin.

Mista Eko October 14, 2008 at 4:56 pm

Out with “In the tank!”, in with “In the Yurt!”

StrangelyBrown October 14, 2008 at 5:00 pm

[re=133479]Schadenfried[/re]: Wouldn’t that be a little redundant? I mean, they already have Jonah Goldberg.

Mr Blifil October 14, 2008 at 5:08 pm

Give the guy a break. His dead dad used to dream of playing Bach Concerti for 2 Cembalo with Rosalyn Tureck, who may have been a solid interpreter who ornamented tastefully, and posessed an excellent command of rubato, but who basically looked like a pig with arms and legs.

William F. Buckley. Total fucking fag.

bitchincamaro October 14, 2008 at 5:17 pm

[re=133380]Kev-O-Tron[/re]: Haha! I like your new avatar. Is it a jug of headache juice? Now I’m thirsty. Must go to bottle shop.

bofm October 14, 2008 at 5:17 pm

Mr. Buckley has inherited the honesty and forthrightness of his father. He is brave enough to admit that the ideas that drove the conservative revolution of the 80′s on up have pooped out. We really did the experiment, and it really did not work. OK. Time to go back to the drawing board while the rest of us try to sort thru the mess. Mr. Buckley is honest enough to say this in a room full of True Believers, which takes real courage.

Barack Like Me October 14, 2008 at 5:17 pm

[re=133522]TexasCowGirl[/re]: I picked up his “Boomsday” for a light summer read and then I come to find out he stole the idea lock, stock, and smoking gun barrel from The Onion:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/29507

Republicans, even when they’re good, nobody calls them on it.

I’m so disappointed.

forgracie October 14, 2008 at 5:20 pm

At first I was confused betweeen Kathleen Parker (kinda hot) and Kathryn Lopez (not hot) so I was worried Buckley Junior was BFF with Sasquatch.

I’m better now.

Crow T. Robot October 14, 2008 at 5:32 pm

[re=133353]V572625694[/re]: That would be the original Port Huron Statement right, not the compromised second draft?

bitchincamaro October 14, 2008 at 5:35 pm

WFB spoke at my college commencement back in the 60′s. That took balls because the entire student body was composed of Bill Ayers clones. The next year it was Mr. Rogers. No shit.

keepinitrealyo October 14, 2008 at 5:59 pm

[re=133568]bofm[/re]: Well said, but next time more snark please.

1ofUS October 14, 2008 at 6:12 pm

Christ, baby, who’s your daddy? Get with Oldfarts McBommy and his Moosetitsinkships mommy you’re gonna to be siberianized with ground wolf gizzards slathered on your Private Johnson.

S.Luggo October 14, 2008 at 7:14 pm

[re=133365]SayItWithWookies[/re]: And that would, indeed, be a pleasure to watch. I’d bring the popcorn.

S.Luggo October 14, 2008 at 7:15 pm

“Modern Conservatism”? Just one more oxymoron to add the list.

Dr. Spaceman October 14, 2008 at 11:24 pm

[re=133365]SayItWithWookies[/re]: Well played.

TexasCowGirl October 14, 2008 at 11:56 pm

[re=133700]S.Luggo[/re]: Unless it now means conserving the crazy.

Jukesgrrl October 15, 2008 at 4:42 am

[re=133470]Schadenfried[/re]: Regarding that vigil for Dennis Miller, hon, save your candles. Dennis doesn’t have any senses to come to. He’s a son of Castle Shannon, a close-in suburb of Pittsburgh created by white flight, and the origin of that “I’m outta here” accent. If McCain-Palin signs are in short supply anywhere, it’s because they’re in every other yard in Castle Shannon, the home Dennis will embody no matter how many models he marries.

brown_recluse October 15, 2008 at 9:47 am

This reminds me of high school, when I wore Docs before all the cheerleaders decided to go ‘grunge.’ I liked Hopey before it was cool dammit!

Schadenfried October 15, 2008 at 9:49 am

[re=133918]Jukesgrrl[/re]: Jesus, he from my home state (PA) too? This has not been a good week.
:::takes one last look at the candles, slowly puts them away:::

thefrontpage October 15, 2008 at 12:20 pm

In the real world, now, and being direct and honest and straightforward but not meaning to be disrespectful to the recently-departed: The National Review and William Buckley were a big stinking pile of crap, they often did not deal with facts or reality, they often existed in some bizarro, unexplainable political twilight zone world, they often literally did not make any sense, they were closeted bigots and racists (yes, they were), and they just did not deal with reality-based political intelligence and common sense. They were blowards, hotheads and snobs. That’s the truth, and everyone knows it. Congratulations to Christopher Buckley for joining the real world, and for finally seeing the light. Welcome to reality.

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