> It was worse than that. He became a shill for the wrong side. He was
> complicated, but recognizing that shouldn't extend to giving him a pass for
> taking that side.
>
> "On 11th September 2001, a small group of terrorists crashed the planes they
> had hijacked into the twin towers of New York. Among the casualties,
> although unreported that week, was a middle-aged Nation columnist called
> Christopher Hitchens. He was never seen again. The vile replica currently on
> offer is a double."
I just don't see this. Never thought he was that great pre-2000, and his transformation never seemed all that transformative to me. It's like Arianna Huffington: I'm told politically she's radically different than she used to be, but I see some changed opinions but only microscopic actual difference.
Can't believe I'm saying this, but Lenin's Tomb's obit was pretty right on: he was shallow as a critic, decidedly un-droll as a wit, not particularly erudite as a stylist, and his aetheism was thinly disguised racism and imperialism.