Does character still matter in politics?

[Kishkumen]

Please review the first page again. It started because of a film where William F. Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal were discussing issues that turned into an argument with unkind things being said by both. I tried to read up on the issue and came to a Magazine that focused on when they got into an argument and the writer was clearly against Buckley (snarling, teeth bared) but was hit by a paywall to view anything further, but there was a enough to copy it. I posted it. Whether this was the incident that the poster saw is not known but it was clear that the poster and the writer for the magazine were not in Buckley's camp.

My point was not to run down Buckley over this.