Blame him and Goldwater, but not for all of it. In the era of the sign and signified, those men of thought and letters have been eclipsed truly by Reagan’s icon. Both Goldwater and Buckley had good intentions, and strove for something like virtuous lives, as they saw them. Buckley’s contributed much to English and the cult of good writing–he wrote concisely, he wrote daily, he aimed for coinherence between art and matters of the state.

Buckley’s life was an irony: alleigance to the Anglophilic bourgoisie he represented blinded him from empathizing with the various subcultures the thugs who took up his mantle presumed to rule, which prevented him from growing into the philosopher he might have been; his apologies for a morally bereft Church drew contradictions between sincere religious faith and his lamentable admiration for centuries of inertial power; age did not reduce his competence to testify on the indelicacies of our age in commentaries ranging from the outrageous,

Everyone detected with AIDS should be tatooed in the upper forearm, to protect common-needle users, and on the buttocks, to prevent the victimization of other homosexuals.

Buckley, William F. “Crucial Steps in Combating the Aids Epidemic; Identify All the Carriers.” 27 Feb 2008

to the delightful:

I stopped by at the local Abercrombie & Fitch for sailing wear. I waited, at the counter, for my package and looked down on the A&F Summer Catalogue. You could see the handsome young man on the cover, but the catalogue itself was bound in cellophane. My eyes turned to the card alongside. “To subscribe: Fill out this card and head to the nearest A&F store with a valid photo ID.” With a valid photo ID? I thought that odd and asked the young man behind the counter, who was perhaps 19 years old, why IDs were required for purchasers of an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue. He said, “Well, uh, it’s kind of porny inside.”

Buckley, William F. “In the Issue: William F. Buckley Jr. on pornography on National Review Online.” National Review Online. 27 Feb 200

Our fellows in the blogosphere are too quick to write, and too late in reflection. Buckley deserves better than ‘good riddance.’ His memory, like the memory of all the good dead, deserves careful measure and humble ambivalence. Those disinclined to remember him fondly refrain with good reason, those inclined to speak well should do so without apology.