This morning, in the midst of penning what was probably an sharply crafted, intelligently argued but head-explodingly off-base column, William F. Buckley, Jr., a founding father of the modern conservative movement, was called to join his compatriots Joe McCarthy, Barry Goldwater, and Ronald Reagan in that great No-Jews-No-Blacks-Men-Only Country Club in the sky.

Buckley deeply understood the power of the idea whose time has come and, admirably true to form, Buckley has kicked off as the movement he built begins to crumble and rot at it’s very foundation. He couldn’t have chosen a more approproate time to go, lest he had chosen, say, sometime in the 1930s.

Please voice your sorrows in the comments and may you find comfort in the shared grief of your peers.

William F. Buckley, Jr. is Dead at 82 [New York Times]