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Politics : To be a Liberal,you have to believe that..... -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (3785)	10/11/1999 11:15:00 PM
From: Tom Clarke	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6418

You should provide examples of his racialism and anti-Semitism. I know he's not a racist, I also know he pulls no punches when being critical, including Israel. In some people's minds that qualifies as anti-Semitism. I disagree. Sobran was betrayed by Buckley after over 20 years of friendship. In 1986 Norman Podhoretz and Midge Decter accused Sobran of anti-Semitism. Buckley wrote a weird disavowal of Sobran's columns on Israel, saying in effect that he wasn't anti-Semitic, but deserved to be called anti-Semitic. It was a failure of nerve. (The Podhoretzes also called Russell Kirk anti-Semitic a couple of years later.) Nobody at National Review disagreed with Sobran's columns. That was the problem. They created an awkwardness. Disagreement is manageable, its agreement that wreaks havoc. Buckley himself used to be accused of anti-Semitism, which should have taught him something about loose charges. But he learned the wrong lesson. He learned that to be safe from charges like that you make them yourself. When Buckley fired Sobran, he wrote publicly that Sobran's firing was due to "An incapacitation moral and perhaps medical." Typical Buckley touch. He not only broke with the Birchers and Randians, but Brent Bozell, Murray Rothbard, Garry Wills, and several others. These are principled people. Somehow Buckley retains the high ground while he continues to write for Playboy and Penthouse. He is peerless at making others look bad. Maybe its time to stand athwart National Review and yell "Stop!"