William F Buckley had many great moments but the scene he is most lionized for is the 1968 TV appearance when, after Gore Vidal bitchily called him a Nazi many times, Bill bounced back with, “Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I’ll sock you in your goddamn face, and you’ll stay plastered.” He didn’t demand an apology or insist Vidal be fired. He called him a queer and threatened to knock him out. Can we get back to that please? What’s so great about being civil? It doesn’t work.
