Buckley's apostasy - Pick your poison

Being an apostate myself, I read with interest Chris Buckley’s defense of his apostasy in The Daily Beast today. After having come out in favor of Obama, the esteemed son of the esteemed William F. Buckley  has been “sacked” (in Chris’ words) by his father’s magazine the National Review.

I would certainly agree that no one should be sacked for such an action.  If the parties are big tents, they should be able to “contain” (in the psychoanalytic sense) internal disagreement. So I support Buckley the Younger in his complaint – and his indignation at being assaulted by former comrades.

But I have to say I am surprised by his shock and by his assertion that that most ot the extreme hatred only goes one way (right to left).  He evidently didn’t read my email (lucky for him) when I left the left, but I can assure him it wasn’t pretty.  Apostates are reviled.  The extremes are extreme. That’s the way it goes.

So I have to say when Buckley writes…

So, I have been effectively fatwahed (is that how you spell it?) by the conservative movement, and the magazine that my father founded must now distance itself from me. But then, conservatives have always had a bit of trouble with the concept of diversity. The GOP likes to say it’s a big-tent. Looks more like a yurt to me.

…  to each his yurt. The Democratic Party that put Joe Lieberman in the dumper for being a Scoop Jackson liberal is about as small a tent as you can imagine.  In other words, pick your poison.

UPDATE:  Rich Lowry responds to Chris Buckley here.