William F. Buckley Jr. was a renowned conservative American political author and commentator. Buckley founded National Review, a conservative political magazine, in 1955. He also hosted nearly 1,500 episodes of Firing Line from 1966 to 1999 and wrote over 50 books. Buckley came to the defense of James G. Watt, the Secretary of the Interior of President Ronald Reagan, after he stated that an advisory body set up by him included a “black, two women, two Jews and a cripple.” Watt was accused of “a panorama of bigotry and hate” by Senator Lowell Welcker and his controversial statement resulted in termination as interior secretary. In Buckley’s “Watt’s tongue works faster than his mind”, he gracefully comes to the defense of Watt and raises several compelling arguments defending Watt’s appalling choice of words. Buckley opens his defense by pointing out that there is no evidence revealing that Watt is anti-black, anti-women, anti-Semitic or anti-handicapped. Undoubtedly, Watt’s choice of words was distasteful. However, Buckley explains some background information that provides some insight as to why Watt said what he said. Buckley explains that in 19th century politics it became increasingly important to associate with different ethnic voting blocs known as a “balanced ticket.” In 20th century politics, the balanced ticket extended to both Jewish and black political associates as well. Later in the century, homosexuals and the handicapped requested direct representation so that a balanced ticket would include Americans of Italian, Irish, Jewish and black ancestry, a homosexual and a handicapped. Although Watt did the right thing by including a black, two women, two Jews and a handicapped in his advisory board, it was socially unacceptable to mention the fact. Furthermore, Buckley notes that Watt’s choice of words was ill-chosen, particularly his choice of