Christopher Buckley, the son of William F. Buckley, the icon of conservative intellectuals for more than 50 years and founder of National Review, had the gall to endorse Barack Obama.
This led to a deluge of angry e-mail to NO, where the endorsement did not even appear, and for C. Buckley to resign his position there.
In a follow up post for The Daily Beast, he writes:
While I regret this development, I am not in mourning, for I no longer have any clear idea what, exactly, the modern conservative movement stands for. Eight years of “conservative” government has brought us a doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance. As a sideshow, it brought us a truly obscene attempt at federal intervention in the Terry Schiavo case.
The Republicans and conservatives parted ways many moons ago, it's just that far too many conservatives have been loath to recognize it. Kudos to Buckley for standing on principle. McCain is certainly no conservative, and that is an important fact to recognize.
We have discussed this turn
We have discussed this turn in the Republican Party many times on the Batavian. These Bush Republicans are not the party of Regan anymore. They left conservatives behind and now have turned to socialism of all things. It’s a shame that the National Review won’t stand by its conservative principles either and would rather defend a party that has lost its way.
Charlie, both you and Howard
Charlie, both you and Howard are 100% right on this.