Gore Vidal: About to be Gored

I love Gore Vidal. Always have. He is an essayist at least the equal of Camus, a playwright, an actor, an amateur historian, a wit, a bon vivante, a film director and a one-time candidate for a seat in the U.S. Senate. Vidal is an intellectual in a time when intelligence in a variety of the humanities is quite rare. And he is about to get into the middle of a shitstorm from the right wing.

Matt Drudge is reporting that Vidal has said in an interview that, "Bush and Ashcroft would be 'hanged' by Founding Fathers; they are 'despots'" The story is developing but you know how this is all going to play itself out.

Once the story is out, probably later on today, right wing radio will unleash all manner of Old Testament Hell on the aging novelist. Chris Matthews will put him on to defend himself. Vidal's lacerating wit will not save him from a vivisection on Fox, on the radio and in the tabloids. Much ado will be made of the fact that he lives most of the year in Ravello, Italy and Hollywood. His patriotism will be called into question (Vidal fought in World War II).

The words "liberal elite" will interject themselves into any sentence concerning Gore Vidal. And his highly controversial statement that the Bush administration knew that the World Trade Center would be attacked ( which I don't believe for one minute) will be brought up.

Finally, Gore Vidal's sanity will be called into question and senility will be hinted at.

The Corsair had a brief phone encounter with this honorable man of letters. In 1995, while an intern at The Nation, Christopher Hitchens asked me to fax a story on Marty Peretz of the New Republic to Gore Vidal. Gore Vidal's fax was busy do I called him up to tell him it was coming through. In the background I heard voices and music, apparently Gore Vidal was having a party at his palazzo. "Pronto!" he yelled into the phone, sounding a little sloshed. I told him what was coming, he politely turned on the fax, and that was it. My brush with Vidal.

At that moment my desire to be a writer in the manner of Vidal was strengthened one hundred fold. I wanted to dash of essays Montaigne-style on Art and Politics and I wanted to enjoy life in all its rich glory.

It is unfortunate that Vidal uses such inflamatory rhetoric during this tense period in American history. The problem with Gore Vidal is that he was born rich and has lived his life where every utterance is taken as God's word, among idolizing students, servants, Presidents (Kennedy, Hillary?), and socialites (Jackie O, Eleanor Roosevelt, Joanne Woodward). He is for all intensive purposes the eccentric Southern Patriarch straight out of William Faulkner. Operating out of that kind of fawning cosmos, a person doesn't practice the necessary art of self censorship of the politically incorrect, or even socailly irresponible statement. Millionaire playboy-editor-journalist Taki is exactly the same way. Of course if you mentioned something like this to Vidal, he'd just say you're hopelessly middle class.

Older people tend to get more extreme with age as if all of their ideas past and present had crystallized into a sharp essence. For further reference, check out any talk show with callers that are seniors.

And it is very sad that Gore Vidal is on the brink of being villified at a time he should be resting on his commedable
laurels. Sadness all around. I can't bear to watch.