Notes & Asides - Buckleys for Lieberman seek to defeat Lowell Weicker - Brief Article

National Review, Oct 23, 2000

ATTENTION ALL STATIONS: THIS IS NOT A PRACTICE ALERT. THIS IS A REAL ALERT!

To: All former members of Buckpac, Inc.

-The headline in the Stamford Advocate, Wednesday, August 30, 2000, read: "W"Weicker Says Senate bid 'stands as an option'" "The Greenwich resident and former Connecticut governor told a Hartford-area radio station Monday afternoon that he would consider a run for U.S. Senate should a special election be held in 2001 or 2002."

Buckpac HQ will forward all relevant bulletins. Meanwhile, no professional engagements should be made for September through November 2001 or 2002, in case there is a need for combat duty. I enclose, for your benefit, the charter document of Buckpac, Inc.

Transcript of a press conference at Sharon, Conn., Monday, August 15, 1988:

Q. What is the purpose of "Buckleys for Lieberman"? A. To generate support for the defeat of Lowell Weicker. Q. So that it is primarily the retirement of Weicker, rather than the election of Lieberman, that you wish? A. You can't have the one without the other. As for Joe Lieberman, he is a moderate Democrat, and it is always possible that he will progress in the right direction. There is no such hope for Lowell Weicker. Q. Why do you call your organization "Buckleys for Lieberman"? A. Within my own family there are a good many Buckleys, grounded in Connecticut. An informal estimate suggests that there are in the neighborhood of 11,000 Buckleys in the state. "Buckleys for Lieberman" intends to devote its primary attention to mobilizing their support for Lieberman. Q. What do you propose to do about Buckleys who advise you they are for Weicker, not for Lieberman? A. That matter will be referred to the Committee on Genealogy. It is entirely possible that there are, in Connecticut, persons who call themselves "Buckley" whose birth certificates would not bear out any such presumption. Q. You mean to say you would challenge the legitimacy of a Buckley who announced his intention of voting for Weicker? A. This is a very serious business. The future of self-government depends on retiring such as Weicker from the Senate. Correction, there is no such thing as "such as Weicker." He is unique. Q. How do you propose to establish that? A. That is the responsibility of the Horse's Ass Committee. Q. The what? A. The Horse's Ass Committee. Q. What are its purposes? A. To document that Lowell Weicker is the Number One Horse's Ass in the Senate. The committee, which is engaged in research, is absolutely confident that it will win any challenge, from anywhere, nominating any other member of Congress: Lowell Weicker will emerge as the winner. Q. Just how do you define a horse's ass? A. The kind of person who says dumb things dully, you know . Q. Well, what kind of research is the committee engaged in? A. Researching the speeches and public utterances of Lowell Weicker over the past 18 years. We have a few specimens ready for release at this time, but many, many more will be made public by the Degasification Committee. Q. Excuse me? A. Oh, yes. Well, the Degasification Committee is engaged in attempting to clean up the quality of public thought, and intends to demonstrate that the bombast, murk, and pomposity of Lowell Weicker's public declarations are a threat to democratic ecology. Hence the need for a Degasification Committee. Q. Does "Buckleys for Lieberman" intend to do any active work beyond research? A. Oh my, yes. We have already formed a political-action committee. The BuckPac. Contributions will be solicited from all Buckleys, state to state. Q. Are you limiting financial contributions to people called Buckley? A. No. Special membership goes to all Buckleys, whether Buckley is the surname, the maiden name, or the Christian name. There have already been inquiries from out-of-state Buckleys. Some of these will send money to BuckPac. Others plan to immigrate to Connecticut, become residents, and vote for Lieberman. Q. Well, what happens when you run out of Buckleys? A. Our Ethnographic Committee is compiling the names of Connecticut residents that appear most frequently in the telephone directories. We propose to encourage the formation of coordinate committees. You will not be surprised to know that "Smith," "Jones," "Gomez," "Guttman," and "Rosselli" are among the top 40 in frequency that appear in Connecticut phone books. We do not propose to neglect any citizen of Connecticut, even those with unusual or unique names. Our strategic objective is a committee representing every surname in any Connecticut phone book, taking the civic lead from "Buckleys for Lieberman," to help in the campaign to liberate Connecticut, and Congress, from Lowell Weicker. Q. Does the committee have an address? A. Indeed. It is P.O. Box 1464, Sharon, Connecticut, 06069. Q. And officers? A. Of course. William F. Buckley Jr. is President. Christopher T. Buckley is Vice President. Priscilla L. Buckley is Secretary-Treasurer. James W. Buckley is chairman of the Horse's Ass Committee. Mrs. Jane Buckley Smith is head of the Genealogy Committee. James Buckley Heath is head of the Ethnographic Committee. Bruce Buckley Smith is head of the Degasification Committee. Other appointments will be announced in due course. Regular press releases will be issued. Good day. -WFB