Welcome to the United States of Amnesia

Not Even LIkely

Let's all just lay down and die then, just to please that pompous ass. At least he's a vain egomaniac who thinks he knows everything about everything. God knows, there will never be enough such people.

ghostof'lectricity

When I was 17 and Nixon was busy subverting the constitution and there were fears he would declare martial law before allowing to be impeached/convicted and/or forced from office, I, too, thought of middle Americans as porcine oafs, the American body politic as a corrupt excrescence on its death bed, and routinely called police officers "pigs" when engaging in smirking and self-satisfied conversations with my equally self-infatuated adolescent peers. About 35 years later, I still consider myself a liberal, still mourn much of what America is and does, but have come to view things in a much more complex and ambiguous manner. I even think of Nixon as a human being with redeeming features, however flawed he was overall. In short, I stopped being 17 and grew up. Mr. Vidal, sheltered by his inherited money, his snotty mannerisms, and his easy and cowardly self-exile in his Italian redoubt (no corruption in Italian culture, society, or body politic, eh, Signore Vidal?), has continued to be the smirking and contemptuous and loathsome adolescent he has always been, even well into temporal octagenarianism. Not Even Likely, bless you.

Zack Rinderer

Yes, America has forgotten a lot...mostly that people like Gore Vidal know what they are talking about or writing about. Vidal is an elitist who still thinks people like to read his books and hear his words. I tried to read his works but the bad writing and poor stories kept getting in the way. Yes, the Russians had no bad thoughts about the missiles in Cuba and the Islamic fanantic haters really didnt mean to hit those buildings on 9/11. It was all America's fault...maybe it was America's fault that somehow we did raise Gore Vidal to the level of people who really were good and talented and accomplished.

William Esslemont

I liked that - made a refreshing change from all the self serving piffle that often results from a 'celeb' being interviewed

siamdave

- he'll be showing up at a place he'll be welcome when he crosses over - Green Island http://www.rudemacedon.ca/greenisland.html

STOPUSAGiveaway

I know the problem--is there someone out there who wants to attack those who are causing them? We know we are not under the US & States Constitions

Bill Ross

It is not just the yanks who have forgotten, it is our entire species and civilization who have forgotten how to survive and be free. The correction will not be pretty and the costs will be staggering. The sky is truly falling. Whether this is believed or not, there is no avoiding it.

The "rule of law" is a precisely defined law. It is the highest law of mankind, stated below:

“the suppression of forceful and fraudulent methods of goal seeking”

“all are treated equally by the law”. This means ALL, including king and judges

“absolute property rights”

This in turn is based on the fact that human behavior (the topic of law) is about goal seeking. In the seeking of any goal, there are only three possible methods: force, fraud and honest trade. Any transaction that is not an honest, mutually agreed trade will cause a self-defensive response (conflict) from the victim whose survival has been affected.

"The Rule of Law" is the glue that keeps all of mankind acting together in common interest, tied together by mutual dependence of trade, on an evolutionary path to excellence. Force and fraud creates conflict and destroys civilizations. Mankind is now on a devolutionary path to extinction because the co-operation once forced by "the rule of law" has been replaced by legitimizing force and fraud for those who incorrectly believe they wield power.

Rule of Law, Defined: http://www.nazisociopaths.org/modules/article/view.article.php/c1/34

Purpose of, Reasons For: http://www.nazisociopaths.org/modules/article/view.article.php/36

Mathematics of Rule (explains current economic stall):
http://www.nazisociopaths.org/modules/article/view.article.php/c1/32

Bill Ross
(Electronics Design Engineer)

Richard

I don't think Not Even Likely or ghostof'lectricity read THIS article. So thanks for bringing your preconceptions and confusing us about wtf you think of one rich old guy who's not afraid to question the official story.

Looks like you have some of Uncle Sam's salad on your face.

Its amazing that to not initiate a war has become synonymous with laying down and dying. Or that pigs are inherently respectable when in uniform.

I wish I could remember when police were helpful, and America peaceful, so I could continue to delude myself, too.

Hambledon

It's "lying down," actually, you illiterate swine.

Bob Robertson

I appreciate Vidal's caustic insights. Being woken up is not a pleasent thing. However, he directs his ire against "conservatives" while forgetting that both Truman and Wilson, who he attacks for their policies in this interview, were Democrats. FDR nationalized and socialized great swaths of American life, also a Democrat, building upon Hoover's policies of economic control, a Republican. Not Dem or Rep, Liberal or Conservative, are innocent of the crimes being committed against the Constitution. They cooperate with each other, voting for each others programs, in order for each to gain yet more power. The Constitution and Bill of Rights, if enforced, would cut Washington DC to the bone. I agree with Vidal that the lot of them should be locked up, at least, and many of them shot for treason. If the entirety of Washington DC were to vanish tomorrow, the world would be a better place. Same for London, Rome, Moscow, Madrid, and all the "hives of scum and villainy."

contrarywise

Oh, my. I'm crazy about Vidal's NON-fiction, but it can't be denied that he is and was damned bitchy and jealous as hell of the Kennedys.
But right on about the American empire.

Brian McCandliss

"Constitutional roots" mean nothing without the state sovereignty to enforce it. Ever since Lincoln, big industry and mob rule have resulted in nothing but higher taxes and fewer freedoms. To date, the "experts" up on whom the people depend for their information regarding the law, have never scrutinized the federal claim of national authority over the states. Mr. Vidal doesn't have a clue.

Cassiopeia

I like Gore Vidal. He is honest. He sees things through
different eyes; he is brilliant; well-traveled; street-wise (or elitist-wise). I do think that he sees through
hypocricy and he isn't afraid to say it like it is. I think that his childhood has left a painful scar and his rhetoric at times is rough. We all have
pain and we all express ourselves from that pain.
He is a patriot no matter what.

Oferseon

Thank god Vidal is impressed with himself................for that is all he is left with.

Max Kaye

Gore Vidal is mostly wrong and utterly irrelevant.

His bitchiness is entertaining, however. (Although he does somewhat lower his standards by shooting [sic] at easy targets like the Kennedys - who richly deserve any opprobrium heaped on them. I suppose, however, that this is a novelty coming from someone on the Left).

Anthony Ozimic

Vidal's answers reveal the true face of liberalism: rambling, evasive, unconvincing, capricious and hubristic. His books alone are proof-positive of the need for strict censorship.

peter adler

Slightly false marketing here. If Vidal did "explain *why* Bobby Kennedy was ‘the biggest son of a bitch in politics’", the interviewer regrettably does not pass it on to her readers.

laurie macdonell-sanchez

You've ALL missed a very important point: If there was a cherry in that "Scotch & soda," then he was actually having a Scotch sour--or two, or three, or--

Wilf

No fool like an old fool.

David Short

By the way, Vidal repudiated this article, saying the 'girl' got it wrong and that he didn't say many of the things she reported.