Book Review: William F. Buckley, Jr. - The Maker of a Movement and a very icky man!
In the May 17, 2010 issue of National Review magazine (the subscription my Dad funds since I wouldn’t pay a nickel for it), James Person gives a fawning review of the book, William F. Buckley, Jr.: The Maker of a Movement, by Lee Edwards. Is it necessary to whip out the sycophantic pencil when the subject of the review is also the founder of the magazine you’re writing for?
Well, I have no allegiance to William Buckley—that is the William Buckley who is NOT my Dad (same name, no relation). So what if he’s the “St. Paul of the Conservative Movement.” Who cares? I have no trouble dumping him into the Icky Man’s Club.
WFB gained admittance into the IM Club the same way his son did—Christopher Buckley the writer (see my blog dated 2/24/10). Chris the son had a son with another woman while he was married. Chris the father refuses to acknowledge his son.
Likewise, WFB the grandfather refuses to acknowledge his grandson. He went so far as to make sure the child was disinherited in his will.
What did this toddler do to either one of these gents (and I’m using that word satirically—duh) to deserve such miserable treatment from his own flesh and blood? He is innocent as to the way he was brought into this world. Is this child supposed to pay for the sins of his parents?
This little kid shouldnot be shunned by his father and grandfather. That is beyond icky. It’s pathetically disgusting. But you can see how the apple didn’t fall from the tree in this instance. In this case, it’s one rotten apple propagating another.
But back to the book review…
The reviewer says that Buckley’s goal was to “keep the Republican Party—the primary political vehicle of conservatives—tilted to the right…”
Isn’t the Republican Party supposed to be the champion of family values? Or is it the champion of valuing only some families?
The reviewer says many complimentary things about WFB, such as:
“…had a knack for being generous with his time; paying his friends, his associates, and even his enemies the courtesy of actually listening to them…”
…but I guess he had no time for his grandson.
The reviewer said WFB had a “deeply ingrained and unwavering Roman Catholic faith.” Oh brother. As I once heard a preacher say, “Another practitioner of convenient Christianity!” Where does it say in the Catholic Rule Book to disown your grandchild because you don’t like the baby’s mother? I guess when you’re a Big Whig with your ‘polysyllabic, wit, charm, and NY intelligencia social standing’ you get to ignore the parts of Jesus’s teachings you don’t like.
The publishing of this book is a waste of trees. Any man that won’t take care of his own is no man. It makes him a waste. I don’t care how much business or political-movement success WFB had. He was a colossal moral failure. And that goes for the son, too. (BTW, not buyin’ your books any more, no-pal-o-mine. But I do have a title for your next book: Thank You for NOT Being My Son: How Growing Up Without a Father Best Serves Me But Not Him.)
I have to get my Dad to stop sending me that icky man’s magazine. It makes my skin crawl.
