The godfather speaketh

From time to time I've thought that I detected a certain ambivalence in William F. Buckley's approach toward the Bush administration and its neoconservative ideological comrades.

Well, he's out of the closet now. (So to speak.) In an interview with CBS, the intellectual godfather of modern conservativism criticizes not only Bush's interventionism in Iraq and the resulting war, but its lack of a coherent domestic policy as well.

"If you had a European prime minister who experienced what we've experienced it would be expected that he would retire or resign," Buckley says....

"I think Mr. Bush faces a singular problem best defined, I think, as the absence of effective conservative ideology — with the result that he ended up being very extravagant in domestic spending, extremely tolerant of excesses by Congress," Buckley says. "And in respect of foreign policy, incapable of bringing together such forces as apparently were necessary to conclude the Iraq challenge."

"There will be no legacy for Mr. Bush...."

Ouch.

It's possible that this is a calculated attempt to create a kind of intellectual liferaft for Republicans who wish to distance themselves from the sinking ship of the Bush administration in time for the fall elections. Quite frankly, I doubt that many congressional Republicans will have the brains or the courage to swim toward it.

NOTE: For those with conservative relatives and friends who persist in supporting Bush and his political allies, this might be a good link to send them. In addition to bearing the gravitas of the man who founded National Review magazine and spearheaded the intellectual development of the modern conservative movement, it gives a good quick overview of the ways in which Bush has failed to follow traditional conservative political principles.