re: #133 MacDuff

During coverage of the ‘68 Democratic Convention, Gore Vidal called William F Buckley a “crypto-Nazi”, to which Buckley famously replied “Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in the goddamn face and you’ stay plastered.”
Buckley later apologized, but explained:

“Can such men understand the anger in others? Understand the special reverence we need to feel for that which is hateful? I do not believe that anyone thought me a Nazi because Vidal called me one, but I do believe that everyone who heard him call me one without a sense of shock, without experiencing anger, think more tolerantly about Nazism than one he did, than even now he should.”

I can say nothing more succinctly than that on this subject; from WFB’s lipes to God’s ears.

Note that Buckley was deeply embarrassed about lashing out at Vidal, and considered it a personal failure.