William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn.

Once, during a CBS News interview, Buckley remarked: President Bush suffers from “the absence of effective conservative ideology,” and that on foreign policy “There will be no legacy for Mr. Bush….his legacy is indecipherable.”