The Hill News

One of my more interesting life assignments was to once ride to the airport with William F. Buckley Jr. to keep him entertained. Conversation went from state sovereignty to whether Russia would be better off with a czar (Buckley said yes).

Soaring, fearless and graceful he was, and without his omniscient overview, some conservative voices today have become strident, orthodox and narrow. And there is stress now among older conservatives about the new energy that is the Tea Party, though there should not be. In terms ad man Don Draper might have used decades back, yes, the new Volkswagen Bug has arrived on the streets of America. Yes, it is disturbing. Yes, it will change America. The venerable elders like Bert Cooper might have a hard time coping or adjusting, like George H.W. Bush, who tells Larry King tonight, “I’m confused by it, frankly.” But the Republicans already have the account. This burgeoning, young conservative movement today has Old Temple vs. New Temple features virtually identical to those which Jack Kennedy, scorned by Eleanor Roosevelt and the liberal Protestant gentry, faced in 1960. His franchise ran for 50 years.

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