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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Buckley the Navigator
From: Fred Hebard
Date: 2008 Mar 1, 16:54 -0500
From: Fred Hebard
Date: 2008 Mar 1, 16:54 -0500
But that was before the internet. And it was on tv. And Vidal said it in an inventive way, as one would expect. On Mar 1, 2008, at 3:32 PM, Peter Fogg wrote: > There is a rule-of-thumb that states that the first to call the > other a fascist in a debate loses the argument at that point > (although in William F. Buckley's case it must have been difficult > to resist). > > There is another rule-of-thumb that holds that the first to > threaten physical violence in a debate loses the argument at that > point (although with Gore Vidal as a verbal sparring partner it > could have been difficult to resist). > > This famous anecdote, that I even heard on the radio recently as > part of a Buckley eulogy, does neither of them any credit at all. > > > On Sun, Mar 2, 2008 at 1:36 AM, Fred Hebardwrote: > > Buckley indeed had a fantastic personality and demeanor. He also > could be tough, somehow without escalating a confrontation. In the > spasm of recent coverage, I saw a video of him interviewing Gore > Vidal in 1967. Vidal, in his vicious way, essentially called Buckley > a Nazi. Buckley immediately, at a normal volume of speech but > menacingly said he would "punch" Vidal in "the goddammed face" right > then and there if that line of reasoning were pursued. No > histrionics, no screaming, reminding me of the way one of the > middling-sized boys in the class might inform a larger one that said > larger one had crossed a line and needed to back down; the smaller > boy being one of those kids you didn't mess with, even though he > wasn't big and had never been tested in a real fight. In my case, > I'm sure it would have flown over the top of my head as I continued > in the same mode to debate such a vicious attack, therebye losing the > debate. I also have witnessed a very unseemly scene erupt during a > formal meeting when the Nazi metaphor/simile was invoked. > > Fred Hebard > > On Mar 1, 2008, at 3:32 AM, frankreed@HistoricalAtlas.net wrote: > > > > > An excerpt from an obituary of William F. Buckley: > > > Norfolk photographer and writer Christopher Little first met > > Buckley while > > on assignment for The New York Times in the early 1970s.... > > > > Little said Wednesday during a > > phone interview. "In my line of work, you meet a lot of famous and > > charming > > people, but Bill took that to an even higher level. You couldn't > > possibly > > have more fun with someone. He told hilarious stories and shared > great > > gossip about all the famous people he knew." " > > > > -FER > > www.HistoricalAtlas.com > > > > > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---