Cratered expectations

However did Bill Buckley manage to hold his famously sharp tongue?

This is Bush, toasting Buckley at a party celebrating the 50th anniversary of the National Review:

A sign of a good leader is somebody who can lay the foundation so that people are able to carry on. I think that's going to be a legacy of Bill Buckley. He just didn't show up and create something that cratered, he created something that stood the test of time and grew.

Both Bush and Buckley are oil babies, and cratered is oil drilling slang for caved in, failed.

After a violent blowout, the force of the fluids escaping from the wellbore sometimes blows a large hole in the ground. In this case, the well is said to have cratered.

Cratered. Perfect.

Sums up Bush's entire political career: He just shows up and creates situations that crater.