The Passing of a Paleo-Con

William F Buckley died today. Buckley was the founder of National Review, which spawned the online version, NRO. He was also one of the leading right-wing thinkers of the 1960's and 1970's. There are many people who have commented on Buckley's legacy recently, and most of these people have much more Buckley experience than I do. I have only 3 things to say personally: 1. He was a hard-line right-winger. This means that he doesn't have much in common with me. 2. He had the ability to modify his viewpoints. This is evidenced by his change of heart on the Iraq invasion (aren't you embarrassed by the lack of WMD's in Iraq?), even when he was ridiculed by the NRO staff writers for his viewpoint. His ability to do this puts him above most of the Neo-Cons on the circuit today. 3. His brand of political discourse hearkens from another era, as this debate with Noam Chomsky shows. Decency and politeness - coupled with actual content - make these debates a far cry from the current political cesspool. A return to this type of political analysis would be a welcome change indeed.