A few days ago the San Diego Union Tribune published an editorial lamenting arch-conservative and bigoted William Buckley handing over the reigns of the National Review to his almost-as-conservative son, Christopher. The Union Tribune described Buckley as “irrepressible … whose charm and grace recall a halcyon time when civility mattered.” They go on:

Would that the same could be said for the current crop of self-important political commentators whose corrosive discourse is geared toward the lowest common denominator in an increasingly coarsened society.

We are reminded anew of this cultural decline as the 79-year-old Buckley bows out…”

“The lowest common denominator”? Egalitarianism? Good god, no.

Compare the Union Tribune’s take on it with Deborah Soloman’s interview with Buckley published in New York Times’ Sunday Magazine.

The Union Tribune editorial did get one thing right when it wrote that “conservatives were several bricks shy of a load.”

(My only beef with Soloman’s interview is when she asks, “Why are conservative writers generally wittier than liberal writers?” Are you kidding me? Buckley is about the only witty conservative I have ever come across in my entire life. In fact, he is the only one.)