Congressman Mike Pence capped off last night's wonderful dinner honoring William F. Buckley, Jr. by declaring that the path out of the political wilderness for the Republican Party is a return to Buckley-Reagan conservative principles. The overflow crowd at the New York Athletic Club enthusiastically endorsed his call to arms.
The dinner's program included an invocation by Bill Buckley's dear friend, Father George Rutler, a specially produced film starring scenes of Bill Buckley besting in debate the likes of George McGovern, William Kunstler, and Ronald Reagan (yes, Reagan and Buckley were on opposite sides of the Panama Canal debate), the presentation of a beautiful portrait by Constance/Delvecchio Maltese of Bill Buckley to National Review editor Rich Lowry, a heartfelt tribute by Mike Long to the recently deceased Conservative Party stalwart Jim Gay, and a rousing benediction by Rabbi Arey Spero.
In the dinner's journal American Conservative Union Chairman David Keene wrote about Bill Buckley:
"To say that Bill Buckley was important is an understatement.
His life reminds us of what one man can accomplish, but few even attempt.
He will be mourned and he will be missed and, most of all, he will be remembered."
The New York State Conservative Party will remember Bill Buckley for what he accomplished for America and will keep teaching and reminding people of the need for us to follow his path today more than ever. Buckley understood the power of conservative ideas and conservative principles. Without them there would be no conservative movement, with them comes political success.
As the national conservative movement seeks to sort itself out the Conservative Party will continue to assist in this endeavor any way we can. To date, we have played a significant role in almost all of the triumphs of the conservative movement and we do look forward to doing the same in the future.
Now that the Buckley Tribute Dinner is history this web-site will be retooled to help conduct our business of promoting conservatism. Also, look for photos from the dinner here and our sister site.
In closing this report we want to share with you a compelling observation by Bill Buckley that was read by National Review editor Rich Lowry:
"To fail to experience gratitude when walking through the corridors of the Metropolitan Museum, when listening to the music of Bach or Beethoven, when exercising our freedom to speak..is to fail to recognize how much we have received from the great wellsprings of human talent and concern that gave us Shakespeare, Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, our parents, our friends...We need a rebirth of gratitude for those who have cared for us, living and, mostly, dead. The high moments of our way of life are their gifts to us. We must remember them in our thoughts and in our prayers; and in our deeds."
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