Paul Gottfried

March 05, 2008

In preparing my comments on William F. Buckley posted this morning, I was unaware that another detailed obituary about my subject came out yesterday on www.lewrockwell.com by my close friend and the distinguished linguistic philosopher David Gordon. All readers of this website are urged to look at Dr. Gordon?s heavily documented discussion of Bill Buckley?s ?tergiversations,? which is the result of investigation carried out quite independently of mine. This commentary pays special attention to Buckley?s attack on the author?s mentor, Murray Rothbard, an invective that David, who was an admirer but not a slavish devotee of Murray?s, shows was totally baseless.  Even more significantly, however, he fully acknowledges Buckley?s wit and charm and, above all, the mark that he left on American letters as a gifted polemicist. To those who have asked me whether I really looked up to this onetime luminary as a brilliant writer, the answer is an unequivocal ?yes.?