Mr. Buckley had just published a book called In Search of Anti-Semitism, prompted by several incidents, including a scurrilous essay in The Nation by Gore Vidal--of which Mr. Podhoretz and his wife, Midge Decter, were the primary victims--and certain remarks by Pat Buchanan on the Israel lobby in the United States. Messrs. Buckley and Podhoretz had been debating publicly and privately the issue of at what point statements (e.g., Mr. Buchanan's) go over a line beyond which you can't, as Mr. Podhoretz phrases it, reasonably say, "It doesn't matter that much. It's not--as compared with other things--that serious." In today's discussion these two old friends offer a detail-filled exploration of the line between "iconoclasm" and hurtful prejudice, although the conversation bogs down occasionally in "you'll remember I wrote to you" recollections.