Firing Line mock episode with William F. Buckley and Christopher Buckley

On December 9, 2004, William F. Buckley Jr. and his son Christopher Buckley joined the Goldwater Institute for their first-ever joint stage appearance to consider the future of American conservatism. The event was set up as a mock episode of Firing Line.

[@camrock76]

40 yr old die hard progressive. Love this man. Brilliant and a joy to listen to and read.

[@Pedroisanickname]

Which one, Buckley or Buckley?

[@bdinger74]

I miss him.

[@1Victorinus]

No one is on Buckley's level. Let's pray to God that someday soon a new William F. Buckley will arise.

[@terri6854]

Christopher Hichens was above Buckley's level and without all the corny, pretentious pomposity when speaking.

[@bt10ant]

7:35 -- great exchange

[@lsnows]

This guy was the last true Right-wing intellectual in the US. Ever since then, the Right in the US has since been in a steady degeneration into anti-intellectualism. Somebody please fill this void!

[@Pedroisanickname]

Boy this comment has aged really well.

[@terri6854]

Wow. 13 years ago, you, and the rest of the world, had no idea how low the right-wing could degenerate. Makes those days seem quaint.

[@suigeneris2663]

All class.

[@jeffhegarty]

With two very funny men.

[@terri6854]

7:20 What will Bush begat? Turns out he begat Trump. Imagine telling that to Buckley. How embarrassed and bewildered he'd be.

[@billmason2785]

I believe Buckley would be embarrassed by Trump

[@DermochelysCoriacea]

This is very funny!

[@DCUPtoejuice]

@lsnows Absolutely! Back when, thanks to WFB, argument followed a logical framework and did not eternally deviate and degenerate.

[@lsnows]

All of these names are big names (I am especially a fan of Ferguson), but respectully, I say that none of them is quite on the level of Buckley. What I think is regrettable is that the Right here in America spends too much time listening to the likes of Hannity, O'Reilly and Limbaugh instead of studying and listening to the likes of Ferguson and WFB. Why is that? I wish the right could sell its intellectuality as well as the left does.

[@danielsteel5251]

42:25 Like father, like son?

[@guygregorymiller]

You must ask yourself why America has spiraled downward after his death.

[@lsnows]

@stevevandien Okay, you're right. There are many out there, but unfortunately the conservative movement in its current incarnation marginalizes thinkers like the ones you mentioned. What Buckley did like nobody does today was to bring intellectualism to the mainstream of the American right. The right has somewhere along the line abandoned thinkers like these. The tea party movement can't get enough of Sarah Palin, but you never hear of Kate O'Beirne or George Will as keynote speakers there.

[@jkovert]

Mark Steyn

[@mainsqueeze1977]

@WhenLilacsLast "Elsewhere he compares stem-cell research to nazi eugenics" ... and righfully so!!!

[@ColdCypher]

@WhenLilacsLast LOL! How elegant, how passionate, how cultured. Such sophisticated prose. When Lilacs Last. Such a name should communicate the nature of a very deep and thoughtful individual who clearly has an extremely fine tuned asthetic sense and appreciation for the finer things in life. Go read Dostoyevskys "The Idiot" and offer the bohemian hordes one of your world class critiques. LOL!!!

[@greatbookie]

The name Goldwater represents the very essence of Conservatism: either ur-ine or you're-out.

[@acmna]

@FAHayek89 Charles Krauthammer, Niall Ferguson, Nick Gillespie(Libertarian, but still), David Friedman, and as the other guy pointed out George Will and Thomas Sowell are all on Buckley's level. Sowell and Charles both, in my opinion, surpass Buckley. So, I wouldn't say that the right is "anti-intellectual" or that Buckley was the last "true intellectual" of the conservative movement.

[@greatbookie]

Buckley has a child -- Satan has a child. I don't have a child. Life is unfair.

[@500hours]

Do you have a kid now Jerome?