Gore Vidal

Peter K. peterk at enteract.com
Tue May 7 17:01:58 PDT 2002



>I wonder if he is a socialist at all. His politics are
>isolationist/anti-imperialist and he's anti-theocratic,
>but I've never seen much interest on his part in domestic
>matters, other than a fascination with power.
>
>I've always liked his writing, both novels and essays.
>He's the sharpest essayist around, IMO.
>If somebody could get him in a debate with Hitchens,
>they could sell tickets and make some money.
>
>mbs

If you remember, he defended the Clintons during the Lewinsky scandal. He argued it was payback from the insurance companies for trying to reform the health care racket.

In '98 in Berkeley, Hitchens did a public interview with Vidal in front of a huge crowd and they had a mild debate about the Lewinsky scandal. They both seemed to enjoy the event.

Here's what Hitchens wrote in No One Left to Lie To (p. 83) about Vidal's defence of the Clintons:

"Gore Vidal was perhaps more honest than Schlesinger, and certainly more accurate, when he explained that: "Boys are meant to squirt as often as possible with as many different partners as possible. Girls are designed to take nine months to lay an egg ... Clinton doesn't much care for Warm Mature Relationships with Warm Caring Women. Hence an addiction to the impersonal blowjob." When he wrote this, Mr. Vidal was emerging as a defender of the president and a friend of the First Lady. I echo the desire of my friend Geoffrey Wheatcroft to see Hillary Clinton sitting next to Vidal "nodding gravely while he says that."



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