"I Haven’t Left the Republican Party. It Left Me."

[ufojoe]

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com

Buckley’s Son Leaves National Review

By PATRICIA COHEN

Christopher Buckley, the author and son of the late conservative mainstay William F. Buckley, said in a telephone interview that he has resigned from the National Review, the political journal his father founded in 1955.

Mr. Buckley said he had “been effectively fatwahed by the conservative movement� after endorsing Barack Obama in a blog posting on TheDailyBeast.com; since then, he said he has been blanketed with hate mail at the blog and at the National Review, where he has written a column.

As a result, he wrote to Richard Lowry, the editor of the National Review, and its publisher, Jack Fowler, offering to resign, and “this offer was rather briskly accepted,� Mr. Buckley said.

Mr. Buckley said he did not understand the sense of betrayal that some of his conservative colleagues felt, but said that the fury and ugly comments his endorsement generated is “part of the calcification of modern discourse. It’s so angry.� Paraphrasing Ronald Reagan’s quote about the Democrats, Mr. Buckley added, “I haven’t left the Republican Party. It left me.�

[Snake Pliskin]

What the NR did to him was di**CENSORED**able. I guess if you're not in lock step with the people who say they're what you should be, you'r eout of their closed little world. And the republicans wonder why they're getting destroyed this year?

[white dragon]

Is tar and feathering still illegal?

[Snake Pliskin]

It's still legal if you're wearing a hood and plain shoes.

[ufojoe]

Here's his blog entry on his resignation Good read and not too long,,,

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-14/sorry-dad-i-was-fired

Here's an excerpt...

I retain the fondest feelings for the magazine that my father founded, but I will admit to a certain sadness that an act of publishing a reasoned argument for the opposition should result in acrimony and disavowal.

My father in his day endorsed a number of liberal Democrats for high office, including Allard K. Lowenstein and Joe Lieberman. One of his closest friends on earth was John Kenneth Galbraith. In 1969, Pup wrote a widely-remarked upon column saying that it was time America had a black president. (I hasten to aver here that I did not endorse Senator Obama because he is black. Surely voting for someone on that basis is as racist as not voting for him for the same reason.)

My point, simply, is that William F. Buckley held to rigorous standards, and if those were met by members of the other side rather than by his own camp, he said as much. My father was also unpredictable, which tends to keep things fresh and lively and on-their-feet. He came out for legalization of drugs once he decided that the war on drugs was largely counterproductive. Hardly a conservative position. Finally, and hardly least, he was fun. God, he was fun. He liked to mix it up. 

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.

So, to paraphrase a real conservative, Ronald Reagan: I haven’t left the Republican Party. It left me.

[cyberdude557]

Joe Lieberman could say the same about the Democratic party.

[ufojoe]

Joe Lieberman could say the same about the Democratic party.

Actually, no he can't.

[cyberdude557]

Lieberman has a 90% liberal voting record in the Senate. Yet the Democrats deserted him, why? Because of one issue...the war.

[Snake Pliskin]

Christopher Buckley is a conservative columnist who believes the same things for the most part that his Father did. Joe Lieberman is a politician and not a very smart one at that.. Big difference and the NR wouldn't have dared do this if his Ol' Bill was still alive. The Republicans have begun eating their own.

[Snake Pliskin]

Lieberman has a 90% liberal voting record in the Senate. Yet the Democrats deserted him, why? Because of one issue...the war.

How would you have spun that if he was McCain's running mate?

[swirless]

Lieberman has a 90% liberal voting record in the Senate. Yet the Democrats deserted him, why? Because of one issue...the war.

How would you have spun that if he was McCain's running mate?

McCain would never have chosen him as his running mate in a million years

JOE THIS IS WHY there has to be a new major third party with the values and ideology of Thomas Jefferson....maybe buckley will start it

[Skull and Bones]

another Bonesman.

[ufojoe]

Lieberman has a 90% liberal voting record in the Senate. Yet the Democrats deserted him, why? Because of one issue...the war.

How would you have spun that if he was McCain's running mate?

McCain would never have chosen him as his running mate in a million years

JOE THIS IS WHY there has to be a new major third party with the values and ideology of Thomas Jefferson....maybe buckley will start it

I thought about that as I was reading it.

I know I call for a 3rd party and for people to vote for a 3rd party but what I really want is candidates to be independent, with no
parties. But for now, I'll take a 3rd party guy who is fiscally conservative and socially liberal and we can go from there. Of
course, some people disagree with me 100% on that stuff.

Some of my views are fiscally liberal and socially conservative. I need a mix and match candidate! Ventura comes closest to my
feelings on things.

Libertarian (to some degree) for all!

I thought about that as I was reading it.

I know I call for a 3rd party and for people to vote for a 3rd party but what I really want is candidates to be independent, with no
parties. But for now, I'll take a 3rd party guy who is fiscally conservative and socially liberal and we can go from there. Of
course, some people disagree with me 100% on that stuff.

Some of my views are fiscally liberal and socially conservative. I need a mix and match candidate! Ventura comes closest to my
feelings on things.

Libertarian (to some degree) for all!

Well there is one thing that we can agree on, fiscally conservative, that's a start.  If there could then be a candidate with that coupling a belief that the constitution as it stands now should be left in tact as it were.  I guess libertarian would be that part of fullfilment.  But until our country starts demanding more options then the two turd party, we're stuck.

[ufojoe]

Well there is one thing that we can agree on, fiscally conservative, that's a start.  If there could then be a candidate with that coupling a belief that the constitution as it stands now should be left in tact as it were.  I guess libertarian would be that part of fullfilment.  But until our country starts demanding more options then the two turd party, we're stuck.

Ventura would fit the bill. But he's liberal on social issues. I love that but not everybody will.

Civil unions for everybody, including sam-sex couples. No more state sanctioned marriage.