more on buckley & cope

Given that two of my all-time favorite public figures, William F. Buckley Jr. and Myron Cope, died on the same day Wednesday, I feel compelled to pass along some additional reactions:

* The Philadelphia Inquirer has a nice tribute of an editorial today that acknowledges exactly what it was that made Buckley so appealing: "Through it all he perfected the art of disagreeing without being disagreeable."

* Then there's George F. Will, ever eloquent, closing out his piece in The Washington Post with this: "Bill's distinctive voice permeated, and improved, his era. It will be forgotten by no one who had the delight of hearing it."

* I especially liked David Corn's blog at The Nation, a magazine about as ideologically at odds with Buckley's conservatism as any out there. Corn was particularly fond of the humorous approach Buckley brought to his longshot campaign for mayor of New York City in 1965. "I'd demand a recount," Buckley replied when asked what he'd do if he actually won. And when granted the opportunity to offer a rebuttal in a debate during that campaign, Buckley chose not to repeat what he had already said and replied simply, with his trademark arrogant wit: "I am satisfied to sit back and contemplate my own former brilliance." He will be missed.

* All of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's tremendous Cope coverage can be accessed here.

* Chico Harlan, recalling a personal encounter he had with Cope during the run-up to the Steelers' unlikely run to Super Bowl XL two years ago, concludes his P-G piece with a gem of an anecdote.

* And Gene Collier, whose wonderful obit on Cope from the P-G I had linked to earlier in the week, also wrote a column chock-full of lively stuff that also includes the following two sentences: "Entrances and arrivals were unforgettable, but this final departure stings like hell. The withering roster of people who really know how to live, how to enjoy life's every minute, is down one today." A fitting epitaph.