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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 Hebard <Fred@acf.org> wrote:
>
> 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
> >
>
>
>
>
>
> >