Buckley and Kerry: A Dialogue

William F. Buckley, like Christopher Hitchens, believes that the essential poverty and dishonesty of his thought will be hidden as long as he can throw words like "supererogatory" around. Dig it, man:

BUCKLEY (10/9/04): Attention focuses on what exactly went through the minds of the major players on the scene. When John Kerry voted to authorize military action by the president, did he expect such action to be taken?

KERRY (10/9/02): As the President made clear earlier this week, "Approving this resolution does not mean that military action is imminent or unavoidable." It means "America speaks with one voice."

BUCKLEY (10/9/04): If he expected something else, what was it?

KERRY (10/9/02): Let me be clear, the vote I will give to the President is for one reason and one reason only: To disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, if we cannot accomplish that objective through new, tough weapons inspections in joint concert with our allies.

BUCKLEY (10/9/04): A supererogatory resolution by the Security Council? If so, why did he not stress the need for it at the time?

KERRY (10/9/02): In giving the President this authority, I expect him to fulfill the commitments he has made to the American people in recent days--to work with the United Nations Security Council to adopt a new resolution setting out tough and immediate inspection requirements, and to act with our allies at our side if we have to disarm Saddam Hussein by force. And I believe they made it clear that if the United States operates through the U.N., and through the Security Council, they--all of them--will also bear responsibility for the aftermath of rebuilding Iraq and for the joint efforts to do what we need to do as a consequence of that enforcement....If the President arbitrarily walks away from this course of action--without good cause or reason--the legitimacy of any subsequent action by the United States against Iraq will be challenged by the American people and the international community. And I would vigorously oppose the President doing so.

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"Dissimulation Reigns," indeed! None can deny that it is rampant and ululant. And Mr. Buckley, I fear, cannot coax his senescent synapses into action without evulging it so quoquoversedly that he becomes the very Emblem of Falsity. Or, to employ the vulgate: Go to hell, you demented old fossil.