Buckley Resigns From National Review

A few days ago, I wrote about how lifetime conservative Christopher Buckley has come out in support of Barack Obama. At the time, Buckley was a writer for the conservative magazine National Review, founded by his father, the legendary William F. Buckley.

Well, the right-wing (both readers and colleagues at the magazine) has reacted to Buckley's support of Obama, and it's not pretty. The magazine received numerous letters and e-mails expressing outrage with his decision. It got so bad that Buckley has now resigned from the magazine.

This is what Buckley wrote online, "While I regret this development, I am not in mourning, for I no longer have any clear idea what, exactly, the modern conservative movement stands for. Eight years of 'conservative' government has brought us a doubled national debt, ruinous expansion of entitlement programs, bridges to nowhere, poster boy Jack Abramoff and an ill-premised, ill-waged war conducted by politicians of breathtaking arrogance. As a sideshow, it brought us a truly obscene attempt at federal intervention in the Terry Schiavo case."

How's that for refreshing? A conservative that can see the truth. But don't get the wrong idea. He has not suddenly become a liberal. He is still a true conservative in the tradition of his father. He has just woken up to the fact that the Republican party has deserted true conservatives.

The right-wing neocons and fundies are pursuing their own agenda, and it has little or nothing to do with traditional small government, balanced budget, constitutional conservatism. It is geared more to the creation of a corporate theocracy.

The modern Republican Party has no room for real conservatives, and that's a shame.