Christopher Buckley

I have always enjoyed reading Christopher Buckley's books.  He has a strong flair for characters and situations that I find quite humorous and insightful.  I did think that his last couple were a bit weak in the follow-through but all in all I've always thought highly of him as a writer.

I have never felt that he was nearly as conservative as his father.  Though it can be argued that you don't really know a fellow through his fiction work (which is primarily where I know him from) I think that a sense of an author's attitude toward life does come through.  So when Mr. Buckley announced to the world that he had decided to vote for Barrack Obama I was neither greatly surprised nor greatly disappointed.

I think that Christopher has been careful to not make the claim that his father would have voted for President Obama but I could be wrong about that. 

In the most recent article of Mr. Buckley's (http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-10-27/my-brush-with-...) he decides to take aim against Rush Limbaugh, taking offense first because one of Rush's comments about Mr. Buckley's father, William F. Buckley in response to a caller identifying Rush as WFB's heir apparent in the conservative movement.  Rush's response?

" One of the questions I always ask, "What would Bill say?" When I was stuckon an issue or an opinion, "What would Bill say? What would Bill think?" andI think Bill would probably thank you and say, "Yes, madam, you're veryintelligent, very wise, and you're right."" 

To which Christopher Buckley says, " I found them a bit…de trop.  That’s French for “a bit much,” " 

Well I'm sorry Mr. Buckley but like it or not Rush has far more claim to the mantle of head of the conservative movement than any other living person today and I'm sure that WFB would have indeed been in agreement. 

But Mr. Buckley's greatest ire is reserved for Rush's clear statement that he hopes the President's policies fail.  I fail to see the crime in wishing for the failure of policies that one sees as harmful to the country so I am rather mystified by all the crying and howls of outrage coming from the likes of Mr. Buckley and those further to the left of him.  Why shouldn't we want these policies to fail?  We love our country and we want it to be strong and free and the policies of the President appear to us to be going down exactly the wrong road...Finally Mr. Buckley quotes himself from before the election about Barack Obama,  

" If he raises taxes and throws up tariff walls and opens the coffers of theDNC to bribe-money from the special interest groups against whom he has(somewhat disingenuously) railed during the campaign trail, then he willalmost certainly reap a whirlwind that will make Katrina look like a balmysummer zephyr." 

Looks like that's exactly what the man is doing doesn't it?  But I've yet to hear from Mr. Buckley an acknowledgement of reality.