Gore Vidal tells all
Any leftie worth his peace-symbol lapel pin has a soft spot for Gore Vidal, 82 and as relentlessly acidic as ever. The Independent recently featured an interview with Vidal on the cover of its book section (see image). I call him a leftie, but here’s an excerpt from the piece:
He hands me a copy of the book Ain’t My America by the so-called “radical reactionary” Bill Kaufman, who challenges, from a right-wing perspective, the expansionist policies of Bush and Cheney. “I am considered to be a radical leftie and of course I am not. Neither is Kaufman. We are the original patriots. Like General Washington. We are, for instance, strongly opposed to foreign wars.”
“Joseph Heller wrote a chapter, towards the end of his life, which was called: ‘Every Change is for the Worse.'”
“I won’t contradict it.”
“You would consider yourself to be living under a dishonourable regime?” “Absolutely.”
“With a corrupt president?” “Yes.”
“Who cheated his way to power?” “Oh, yes.”
“Is this the most pernicious US government you have ever experienced?” “Yes. It is inconceivably bad. There is nothing that one could ever have imagined to be so bad.”
“So what hope do you have for what you’ve described as the American Empire?” “None. It’s finished.”
“How do you see it ending?” “No more money.”
“You once wrote: ‘Robert Frost thought that between fire and ice, the world would end in ice. Plainly it is going to be fire this time.'”
“I don’t think so now. We’re too cowardly. We would be at risk if we attempted to blow up…”
“You’re already at risk.”
“Not to anybody truly dangerous.”
“How about a meltdown in the Middle East precipitated by Iraq and Iran? Doesn’t that sound dangerous to you?”
“Well … our people are very, very stupid. And stupid people are apt to make huge mistakes.”
“And your hope for the future?” “Politicians are shadowy people. We don’t know what they may be capable of. The one certain thing is that there will be big surprises. They may be pleasant surprises, but it is my experience of history that most surprises are unpleasant.”
Read the whole, depressing piece by Robert Chalmers here. It also includes a lot of personal information.