WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2008
--Heritage
Foundation President Edwin Feulner today issued the following
statement on the death of National Review founder and author
William F. Buckley Jr.:
"Without Bill Buckley there would be no National Review.
And without National Review, there would be no conservative
movement, no Heritage Foundation, no President Reagan - or an
America that's recognizable today.
"It's impossible to overstate the importance of National
Review. It offered powerful conservative opinion against
communism, big government and liberal culture at a time when no one
else had the courage to do so.
"His long-running television show, 'Firing Line' was just as
influential - a model for what political talk shows should be
today. Unlike many current talk show hosts, Buckley rarely raised
his voice. Instead, he had deep, occasionally heated, but
civil discussions on topics ranging from Vietnam to abortion
to the economy.
"His pointed grilling scared away more than a few politicians.
Asked why Attorney General Robert Kennedy rejected several
invitations to be on the show, Buckley quipped: 'Why does baloney
reject the grinder?'
"Buckley changed the world by being himself: His twinkling eyes.
His devilish grin. His sharp sense of humor. His unmatched
intellect. A vocabulary that stumped the editors of the Oxford
English Dictionary.
"Through his magazine, numerous TV appearances, long-running
newspaper column, dozens of books and thousands of lectures,
Buckley 'taught' modern conservative thought to me and millions of
other Americans who now proudly live this philosophy. I will miss
my teacher and my friend."