The American Spectator

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Fahrenheit 9/11 . I was so shocked by the brainwashing he had received that I immediately began to have daily discussions with him on several topics. I subscribed to National Review among other conservative leaning publications so that I could pass along articles that might persuade him to look at America's history a little differently. His comment that I had fed him to the liberal wolves in college made me wake up to what is happening to our great country. I graduated from Indiana University in 1967 but came away nearly unscathed by the radical liberalism sweeping college campuses of that era. br> -- Jan Wood /p>

RET's beautiful remembrance of William F. Buckley ended on a strange note, "And so the baton is passed. On the conservative side it passes from Buckley to Ann Coulter." That is like replacing a finely tuned piano with a shrill whistle or sour sounding harp(y).

Like Buckley, Coulter has a rapier wit and a dazzling intellect, but she lacks his joi de vive; his warmth. Buckley was a peaceful warrior; even when debating he displayed a sense of camaraderie. Coulter makes almost every exchange a reenactment of Ragnorok. Buckley made his points politely, inviting his opponent to find common ground. Coulter shoots off sharp barbs that leave no room for compromise. Buckley was a gentleman; the word "faggot" would mean only one thing on his lips: cigarette. When having an intelligent debate, even when emotions come into play, it is difficult to get your true point across in a screed; no one listens to the sound and fury if it overpowers the true message.

In Chiam Potok's The Chosen, a brilliant boy, the son of the Rebbe, is an intellect without peer, but the Rebbe understand that knowledge without compassion is as dangerous as a saber without a sheath. Intellect must be tempered with humor and compassion or it can become a great danger to all who encounter it.

Ann Coulter's steadfast commitment, her brilliant reasoning and writing and wit are all great assets to the conservative cause, but her manner makes communication difficult, to say the least.

p>William F. Buckley cannot be replaced, and he will be missed sorely. Let the trumpets sound a harmonious tune at heaven's ramparts. br> -- Ira M. Kessel br> Rochester, New York

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