Sometimes a libertarian is a conservative who's been wiretapped, and
William Safire on occasion offered us sharp and thoughtful criticism of government snooping. I also remember his revulsion at the Pat & Pat takeover of the Republicans in 1992, and I enjoyed much of his Language Maven stuff. De mortuis and all that.
ETA: And as a
Times conservative, he's like Gerald Ford among Republican presidents: The more successors he has, the better he looks.
Thanx to
ivymcallister