Charlie Rose - An Appreciation of William F. Buckley

Buckley's show Firing Line was boring and that was because I was a kid in the 1980s. The only thing that I liked was the theme song. It was only that I've matured enough to admire his conservative arguments in a charming, witful manner. He was never a loudmouth like the shock jocks @ fox news or MSNBC. He made PBS special....Now he's gone...forever...just like Louis Rukeyser, Mr. Rogers, Shari Lewis, Alistair Cooke, Justin Wilson, Julia Child, etc. Is Public TV dying I wonder?

Haha charlie rose, to think he could care less about you...

You think?

It is interesting to note that Winston Churchill had similar words to Buckley.

"I'm bored with it all." Winston Churchill
Before slipping into a coma. He died 9 days later.

I did not like Buckley. Before Faux News "Fair and Balanced" there was Firing Line. He loved to grill an opponent pinned between himself and another right winger either seated or standing as an examiner. The show was always stacked towards the right wing. He must have gotten production advice from Roger Ailes. But I was an avid Firing Line watcher to see how the intellectual jousting match would turn out. And yes Buckley was a prince compared to just about everyone else in his movement. RIP.

I know what you mean, i disagree with most of what he said- but i do always liked watching him joust with his guests- i often find myself watching clips of old debates in fact, just to remind myself that yes, once upon a time people actually argued rationally and intelligently on television.

Have you ever seen an episode of Firing Line? For many years the examiner was the liberal journalist Michael Kinsley, and before him people like Jeff Greenfield and others with left-of-center ideological tendencies.

Jeff Greenfield early in his career wrote media criticism for Commentary - hardly a left leaning publication. Yes Kinsley was an examiner and so was Mark Green but they were to my recollection usually examining two conservatives - Buckley and his guest.

My point is that Firing Line stacked the deck towards the conservative side - not too hard but certainly enough to be clearly noticeable. This tactic in my view is the forerunner of Fox News which always lets the right have the last word.

Reagan was a child of Satan.

It is a testamony to that " child of Satan " that his influence--felt through tea parties and angry town meetings is --even from the grave, more than capable of teaching the present holder of Reagan 's old job, how to lead a political movement.