Chris Buckley, son of one of the most important conservatives of the last 100 years, William F. Buckley, and a conservative in his own right, has decided to vote for Barack Obama. Buckley has known John McCain for well over two decades, and even defended McCain quite a lot during the Republican primaries. He’s now fed up with McCain, at least to some degree because of the recent campaign tactics. From Buckley’s column at The Daily Beast:

This campaign has changed John McCain. It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the federal budget “by the end of my first term.” Who, really, believes that? Then there was the self-dramatizing and feckless suspension of his campaign over the financial crisis. His ninth-inning attack ads are mean-spirited and pointless. And finally, not to belabor it, there was the Palin nomination. What on earth can he have been thinking?

All this is genuinely saddening, and for the country is perhaps even tragic, for America ought, really, to be governed by men like John McCain—who have spent their entire lives in its service, even willing to give the last full measure of their devotion to it. If he goes out losing ugly, it will be beyond tragic, graffiti on a marble bust.

Oh, Chris, McCain may indeed go out losing ugly, with ugly tactics which will tarnish his brand beyond redemption. Part of that problem, of course, is the choice of Sarah Palin and letting her loose to crank up the scurrilous attacks. Former McCain strategist John Weaver also warns the GOP against the ugly attacks, carried out by both Palin and McCain:

John Weaver, McCain’s former top strategist, said top Republicans have a responsibility to temper this behavior.

“People need to understand, for moral reasons and the protection of our civil society, the differences with Sen. Obama are ideological, based on clear differences on policy and a lack of experience compared to Sen. McCain,” Weaver said. “And from a purely practical political vantage point, please find me a swing voter, an undecided independent, or a torn female voter that finds an angry mob mentality attractive.”

But, Chris, you should have seen this long ago. Remember when Obama predicted this plan of attack by the McCain campaign, long before the current economic crisis? Surely you remember, Chris. You should have known then that Obama was right, and you should have jumped on the bandwagon then. That you jumped on late, Chris Buckley, is a sign of your own limp judgement.