A reader writes:
Regarding your post on "Buckley's Clarity", I have been watching The Corner closely to see how they would respond to Buckley's piece. Most of them have chosen not to respond at all, and the two that have are discussing only polls, Tenet's "enhanced interrogation" defense, and the failures of the MSM.
Buckley is clearly saying that the "surge" cannot work, and that the war was and is a mistake - the same sentiments that earn Democrats the childish "Party of Defeat" and "Defeatocrats" insults. I had hoped that the denizens of The Corner would take up for discussion that their elder statesmen sees the war as a failure; and whether they disagreed or not, I hoped that they would be forced to grapple with the idea in a way that they aren't when a Democrat makes the same observations. I thought their respect for WFB would require them to consider the argument differently - or barring that, at least consider their invective differently. Foolishly, perhaps, I thought it might elevate the tone of the debate.
But no. Buckley can't be vilified, but he can be ignored.
He's been ignored by his own magazine and by the conservative movement for several years now.