1. Since some people aren't aware of why the name L. Brent Bozell IV is so resonate, it's worth underscoring that the Bozells, intertwined with the Buckleys, have been a political dynasty going back a century, shaping GOP politics on everything from abortion to courts to media. https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1362025668574339072
2. These two charmers -- Pinky & the Brain -- are L. Brent Bozell, Jr. and William F. Buckley, Jr. -- sons of wealthy conservative fathers who met at Yale, collaborated on a book defending Joe McCarthy and founded National Review.
3. This is an accurate lineage of the Bozells. What's key to understand is that Bozell Jr. & Buckley, Jr. were both scions of already very right-wing families. When Bozell, Jr. married Pat Buckley, the two dynasties merged. https://twitter.com/BobbyBigWheel/status/1361789573353865216
4. L. Brent Bozell, Jr. was overshadowed in the media spotlight by brother-in-law William F. Buckley, something that drove Bozell mad, but in 1950s/1960s both were stars. Bozell ghost-wrote Goldwater's Conscience of A Conservative, a mega-bestseller that defined 1960s right.
5. Bozell Jr. was an ultra-hawk of the better dead than red school. In 1960s he said, "To stamp out world Communism I would be willing to destroy the entire universe, even to the furthest star."
6. Bozell, Jr. in marrying Pat Buckley, converted to Catholicism & became, as the saying goes, more Catholic than the Pope. Upheld Franco's Spain as a utopia. He, his wife & a son organized some of the earliest direct action violence against abortion clinics.
7. This family has a long history of violence. In 1930s Buckley kids burned cross in front of Jewish resort (WFB cried because he was too young to go). In 1970s Pat Bozell tried to slap feminist (WFB defended Pat). WFB famously threatened to punch Gore Vidal.
8. While some like Charles Murray or Andrew Sullivan might speculate that the Buckley-Bozells are genetically predisposed to political violence, I prefer an environmental explanation: spoiled rich kids indulged by society for 4 generations.
9. To be clear: this is the Buckley-Bozell criminal rap sheet: 1930s anti-Semitic cross burning, 1960s threatened gay-bashing, 1970s assault on feminists & abortion clinics, 2021 riot at Capitol Building. A century of right-wing political violence.
10. It's true William F. Buckley & L. Brent Bozell had a rift in 1960s over Bozell's increasing extremism (and, on a personal level, Bozell's jealousy of WFB's success). But WFB to his credit always looked after his brothers family, helping them with money & jobs. It's a dynasty
11. Moreover, the rift between Buckley & brother-in-law didn't mean they stopped influencing each other politically. Buckley in 1960s was initially open to reproductive freedom but pressure from more Catholic Bozell changed his mind. Bozells key to emerging anti-choice right.
12. Another example of a Bozell defending political violence. L. Brent Bozell III justifying attack on reporter Ben Jacobs by a GOP congressman. https://twitter.com/BrentBozell/status/867727265966301184
13. I can't find the exact quote right now (maybe someone can help me) but L. Brent Bozell III once defended a lucrative sinecure he had at a right-wing think tank by saying conservatives have to defend their legacy families. Buckley-Bozell clan are a legacy family.
14. In conclusion -- am I wrong about the Pinky and the Brain comparison?
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