Buckley gets a glowing tribute from the So-Called Liberal Washington Post Columnist

E.J. Dionne Jr. calls Buckley: The Right's Practical Intellectual

But if liberals are to exercise power again, they need to come to terms with Buckley's genius in understanding how ideas interact with the day-to-day needs of politics. Buckley was more intellectual than most practical politicians, and more practical than most intellectuals.

Somehow the major role Buckley played in turning the Republican conservative leadership toward racism to split the Democratic coalition is glossed over.

In an editorial written in 1957, William F. Buckley came down solidly on the side of white supremacy. "The central question that emerges" he wrote, "is whether the White community in the South is entitled to take such measures as are necessary to prevail, politically and culturally, in the areas in which it does not predominate numerically. The sobering answer is Yes...because, for the time being, it is the advanced race."

At the 1964 GOP convention, the now-Republican Thurmond and other newly organized southern Republicans used their over-representation in delegate seats to give the nomination to Goldwater, who in turn promised to forgo the black vote and "go hunting where the ducks are."