Gore Vidal : Literary Lion

cnredd · #1 (**permalink**) 06-15-2008, 03:31 PM

Think the Left's not unhinged?...

Gore Vidal : Literary Lion

(Questions in bold - Vidal's answers not)

Quote:

And what about Mr. McCain? Disaster. Who started this rumor that he was a war hero? Where does that come from, aside from himself? About his suffering in the prison war camp?

Everyone knows he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. That’s what he tells us.

Why would you doubt him? He’s a graduate of Annapolis. I know a lot of the Annapolis breed. Remember, I’m West Point, where I was born. My father went there.

dabateman · #2 (**permalink**) 06-15-2008, 10:16 PM

Vidal's time as being relevant has long since passed.

cnredd · #3 (**permalink**) 06-15-2008, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dabateman

Vidal's time as being relevant has long since passed.

Just because he embarrasses the Left doesn't mean the Left wants to rid themselves of him as quickly as you do...

Interview with Bill Maher

Quote:

HBO: Can you tell us a little about the formula, about what makes the show work? What do you look for when you're making the mix of guests?

Bill Maher: Since it's only a once-a-week show, we try to find three people who can talk about anything. On the old show, on 'Politically Incorrect,' we used to try to match the guest to the subject matter. We'd look at the board and say, you know Pam Anderson is probably not going to be really comfortable talking about the earned income tax credit. But she is good on animal rights issues.

When I signed on to do the new show, I said I'm never gonna do that again. I only want the A-Team on this show. I want Gore Vidal and Andrew Sullivan and the Prime Minister of Canada. They all have to know everything about everything.

dabateman · #4 (**permalink**) 06-16-2008, 12:02 AM

He doesn't want Vidal because he agrees with him. It's a political talk show. He wants Vidal because he needs someone to sway the discourse and challenge the preconceived notions of the left and the right. He wants RATINGS.

cnredd · #5 (**permalink**) 06-16-2008, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dabateman

He doesn't want Vidal because he agrees with him. It's a political talk show. He wants Vidal because he needs someone to sway the discourse and challenge the preconceived notions of the left and the right. He wants RATINGS.

If he wants ratings, he wouldn't choose "irrelevant" people...

dabateman · #6 (**permalink**) 06-16-2008, 12:07 AM

Again, a false statement. Of course he would choose irrelevant people because it's the people on the fringe that get attention simply because they are irrelevant. Brittany Spears? Irrelevant. R-Kelly? Irrelevant. Just in the same league as Jerry Springer. Jerry Springer is irrelevant. People watch his show out of morbid fascination, not social relevance.

cnredd · #7 (**permalink**) 06-16-2008, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dabateman

Again, a false statement. Of course he would choose irrelevant people because it's the people on the fringe that get attention simply because they are irrelevant. Brittany Spears? Irrelevant. R-Kelly? Irrelevant. Just in the same league as Jerry Springer. Jerry Springer is irrelevant. People watch his show out of morbid fascination, not social relevance.

I agree about the irrelevance, but that is NOT what Maher himself indicated...

Again...Notice that the first paragraph is EXACTLY the type of people you're referring to...

And then notice how he will NEVER do that again...

Quote:

Bill Maher: Since it's only a once-a-week show, we try to find three people who can talk about anything. On the old show, on 'Politically Incorrect,' we used to try to match the guest to the subject matter. We'd look at the board and say, you know Pam Anderson is probably not going to be really comfortable talking about the earned income tax credit. But she is good on animal rights issues.

When I signed on to do the new show, I said I'm never gonna do that again. I only want the A-Team on this show. I want Gore Vidal and Andrew Sullivan and the Prime Minister of Canada. They all have to know everything about everything.

Please don't attempt to tell me that Maher brings him on because he's on the A-Team, but his viewers are REALLY watching him, not out of "knowing everything about everything", but because of morbid fascination...

Sorry...the Left embraces him nomatter how much you want to distance it (Like a certain candidate to a certain pastor)...

After all, Gore Vidal hasn't been writing for Liberal sites for SUCH a long time?...

Like 4 days...

dabateman · #8 (**permalink**) 06-16-2008, 12:22 AM

Gore Vidal is like Alan Keyes... That's the point I'm trying to make. You bring them on because they are very intelligent, very political, but VERY FRINGE. You have to have them all feeding out of the same trough, and if you have watched Maher, you would know that he LOVES to have the sane and the not so much feeding at the same trough. He wants the high drama and the irreverence and you don't get that with the Prime Minister of Canada alone. This is why he states he wants Vidal. Vidal knows "everything about everything", but that doesn't make his analysis correct nor does it make him anywhere near reasonable. Vidal is as relevant as Keyes.

cnredd · #9 (**permalink**) 06-16-2008, 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dabateman

Gore Vidal is like Alan Keyes... That's the point I'm trying to make. You bring them on because they are very intelligent, very political, but VERY FRINGE. You have to have them all feeding out of the same trough, and if you have watched Maher, you would know that he LOVES to have the sane and the not so much feeding at the same trough. He wants the high drama and the irreverence and you don't get that with the Prime Minister of Canada alone. This is why he states he wants Vidal. Vidal knows "everything about everything", but that doesn't make his analysis correct nor does it make him anywhere near reasonable. Vidal is as relevant as Keyes.

Of course, the difference being NO ONE has Keyes on...

Please don't make me go across the internet to show the fawning of Vidal by the Left...I don't have 60 years...

As an appetizer, let' just go to the comments section from the article I've sourced...

Quote:

Gore Vidal has never been given a forum to speak from to all the American People because he is a threat to the “Power Elite”…….His books are read but not by the masses.

Chiclayo believes that Dennis Kucinich is a “clown” and that Gore Vidal” is a “world-class hater”. Apparently if any Americans dare to seek out the truth and to criticize the government, then they earn the wrath of chiclayo. I submit that this country needs more clowns and world-class haters like Kucinich and Vidal [and Howard Zinn and Noam Chomsky, et al] and less of Bush, Cheney and the rest of the super patriots who rule this country. Perhaps just another example of how people like chiclayo seem to relish worshiping at the altar of American militarism.

Gore Vidal is a lone voice in the wilderness. I think there are about four or five honest politicians in the entire Congress and Senate - Senator Robert Byrd, Dennis Kucinich, Barbara Lee, Barbara Boxer and a handful of others. Last year I heard former Pentagon military officer and State Dept. diplomat, Ann Wright say she spoke with John Conyers and Harry Reid and they said they caved in and will not be seeking impeachment proceedings anymore because “getting re-elected was more important to him”.

Gore Vidal - will you save a place for me at your villa in Italy? I am a 14th generation American - my ancestors emigrated from Wales in 1740, fought in Colonial Maryland Revolutionary Militia as Minute Men - but I am heartsick about the rape of the republic. Immigration is looking more like a viable prospect.

Gore, if you are out there in cyberspace somewhere - I will be your handmaiden and humble servant - I am half Italian (Friulani from Udinay) and would gladly emigrate back to my ancestral home. Aty least in Italy, they uphold and defend their republic. Here in America, we are a nation of somnabullists - sleepwalking in a societal, collective coma.

Three cheers for Gore Vidal–82 and still kicking exactly the right asses and kissing none (though what he might have done in private with consensual asses is his own business). Gore’s been my hero for twenty years now; I never tire of reading and re-reading his amazing essays and novels (right now I’m reading CREATION for the umpteenth time; it’s definitely in my top ten), and I’m always delighted to read a new piece from him.

Gore Vidal may be bitter, disillusioned old man howling his outrage at the wilderness.

But at least he is honest about it.

And he is right.

And I cheer him when he says that the collapse of American society is already underway.

I love Gore Vidal, he rocks! I still have a bumper sticker of “The Man” on my mini van, Mr. Dennis Kucinich For President. I wouldn’t vote for a Democrat other than DK if my life depended on it. Screw the God damned Democrats! I’m voting for Cynthia McKinney. Go Greens!

Gore Vidal has always been a truth teller, and he is true to form here. Anyone with sense would agree that Kucinich’s presentation of the articles of impeachment was the most important thing done on the House floor since the Bushies slimed their way into office. Anyone with a sense of history understands that if a serious attempt is not made to hold the criminals accountable, the period from 2000-2009 will be regarded, through the lens of history, as a dark period akin to the 1930’s in Germany (when it seems that the public and the government helplessly and without will let Hitler fulfill his dreams).

Gore Vidal has been an inspiration for me. When I wrote The Messenger (amazon.com), I borrowed some courage from him to say things which needed saying.
While we are taking back our republic, we ought to padlock the doors of AIPAC. June 8th was the anniversary of the the vicious attack on the USS Liberty by Zionist Jews. they killed 34 defensless American boys and crippled an additional 170, strafing them even as they were loading the wounded in life rafts. Since there’s no statute of limitation on murder, and AIPAC was (and continues to be)in league with those killers, a case might be made, a hefty fine might be applied, and voila’, no more AIPAC. Gore Vidal is a saint.

This is JUST from one 3-day-old comments section from one article on one website...

I won't believe any attempt to believe it's a minority...

dabateman · #10 (**permalink**) 06-16-2008, 12:39 AM

Nor should you automatically assume it's the majority. It's a false construct created out of your own mind to justify your own means...

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Commentary » Blog Archive » Gore Vidal Loses It	This thread	Refback	06-15-2008 04:21 PM