More Noted Things

by Cliopatria

Heidi Przybyla,"Buckley Says Bush Will Be Judged on Iraq War, Now a ‘Failure'," Bloomberg.com, 31 March, reports on a fascinating interview with 80-year-old William F. Buckley and his thoughts about the war, his evaluations of the Nixon, Reagan, Clinton, and Bush II administrations, and his own regrets (the failure of National Review to support civil rights legislation in the 1960s). What is it about some conservatives, like Buckley and Goldwater, who become more empathetic characters in their seniority than they were at the peak of their careers and influence? Thanks to Kevin Drum at Political Animal for the tip.

Ray Cha,"next/text: new media in history teaching and scholarship," if:book, 30 March, reports on further discussions at the University of Southern California's Annenberg Center for Communication's The Institute for the Future of the Book, which is based in Brooklyn, NY. Our colleague, Manan Ahmed, participated in earlier discussions and I hope that he continues to be in touch with them. Thanks to Brian Downey at behind AotW for the tip.

"Class, Privilege, and Rape at Duke," Allistan, 28 March, is an undergraduate woman's frank report on the problem. Thanks to Margaret Soltan at University Diaries for the tip.

History of food sites: Eat Your History is a good history of food blog. Red Tape features the Presidents' favorite recipes, since George Washington. Thanks to A. Lincoln Blog for the tip.

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Barry DeCicco - 4/5/2006

Sorry, Ralph, I should clarify; I presumed some context and background here:

For **American** political movements, radical attempts to conquer and remake regions through a series of war would not count as 'conservative'. Somebody on the right wing of US politics who advocated/did such things could legitimately be denied the title of 'conservative'. They would still be 'right wing', however.

Ralph E. Luker - 4/4/2006

Barry, I suppose that you can't think of any left-wing regimes that tried to "conquer and remake" ..., right?

Barry DeCicco - 4/4/2006

Scott, I've encountered an error before - 'you are not allowed to post here'. It happened once.

Barry DeCicco - 4/4/2006

Good point - it's really one of a long list of defenses; Bush is being prepped for excommunication from the ranks of 'True Conservatives'.

In a technical sense Buckley's correct - an attempt to directly conquer and remake the Middle East is not conservative. However, it is quite right-wing.

Scott Eric Kaufman - 4/4/2006

Ralph,

Have you black-listed me and/or my domain? Or are you just ignoring me because my ideas are beyond stupid?

David H. Noon - 4/4/2006

I wouldn't be so quick to congratulate Buckley on his apparent transformation. In that interview, he seems to believe that poor Dick Cheney -- that gullible child -- "was misled" on the issue of WMD by some kind of unspecified force. Moreover, he wants to claim that (a) the goal of maximizing democracy is unsustainable, unconservative hubris; that (b) George W. Bush "really is a conservative"; and that (c) George W. Bush has spent too much time promoting an [unsustainable, un-conservative] international agenda.

I must admit that I can't do the math there. He seems to acknowledge that BushCo is on the hook for all this, but not much of this sounds like a critique. I suppose it's big news that the "founding father" of modern American conservatism has given up on the war in Iraq, but holy cow -- conservatives like Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke have been making that argument since 2003 and have used fewer passive verbs in doing so...

Barry DeCicco - 4/3/2006

"What is it about some conservatives, like Buckley and Goldwater, who become more empathetic characters in their seniority than they were at the peak of their careers and influence?"

I suspect that it's a direct effect. When power is no longer on the table, they are freer to act ethically. Before, when they had power/influence and sought more, they had made the choice to seek that more, and threw away empathy and morality.