Interesting, but loses focus and doesn't plumb much depth.
I was particularly interested in this episode because of the role charges of intellectualism and ignorance played in the previous Presidential election (Obama/McCain), and was disappointed in that regard. If there are parallels to be drawn from this discussion, they will be between Kennedy and Obama, and as of this writing there have been no acts of an Obama administration to criticize or defend.
The difficulty in this episode quickly shows itself: who exactly are "the intellectuals"?
The most interesting parts of the interview focuses on how LBJ is regarded in contrast to JFK, the first 20-30 minutes. There are real points to be made here, but even though "the intellectuals" is a durable category for much political discussion, and Buckley and Morgenthau agree most of the time on who they are, the conversation is of limited utility since a) it is never possible to precisely identify who they mean, and b) there isn't one of these "intellectuals" present to speak...
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