134. Michael Moynihan and the Eternal Orgasm (updated)

Michael Moynihan, FIFTH COLUMN co-host and man about town, joins Nancy and Sarah to discuss The Incomparable Mr. Buckley, the new PBS documentary about conservative firebrand William F. Buckley. They discuss his eloquence, mistakes, and political evolution, and Sarah calls the old Firing Line episodes “a call to civility in a time of chaos.”

Also discussed:

• Sarah puts her vibrator on time-out

• The unfortunate rise of “churnalism”

• AJ Cowling? Tacos anyone?

• The Big 5-0 murder-suicide plan

• That time Tracey Ullman talked to Michael about Morrissey

• The affliction of presentism

• Ronald Reagan as “the pretty ship of ideas that Buckley could load up and push out to sea.”

• What did Hitchens think of Buckley?

• Gore Vidal, dragged

• James Baldwin, praised

• The Buckley biography 20 years in the making

• Are WE the new conservatives?

• Don’t cancel Milk Duds!

• “Free trade is a net gain for people, but there are going to be losers”

• “Technology made us rougher people when it came to politics”

• Who will lead a new campus movement. Could it be… Michael Moynihan? (If you let him do it over Zoom?)

Also, why we watch documentaries we disagree with, Nancy’s kind of town, and more literary and video links than you can shake a Rabbit vibrator at.

Also: CALL FOR LETTERS! You have questions? We have answers! smokeempodcast@gmail.com

Nancy’s late stepfather David Levine drew Buckley many times. Can you tell how he felt about Buckley’s politics?