> True that. He couldn't hold a candle to Orwell, and Vidal's wit was
> deeper, but I will always be grateful for his description of the
> republicans/democrats as "two cheeks of the same derriere." Always
> elicits a gasp or recognition ...
Heh. I had forgotten that. A nice phrase indeed.
The comparison with Vidal seems like the right one, and Hitch doesn't show to advantage when it's made, unfortunately.
Nobody would call Vidal a Deep Thinker, but he has done some thinking of his own, and he has things to say that are original. And his invective is better too. I remember he once wrote that Reagan managed to be 'boyish and grandmotherly at the same time', IIRC, which is more sharply observed and more telling than anything Hitch came up with.
No telling how long Vidal will continue to be read, of course, but it's a safe bet that nobody will ever read Hitch again. I don't think this would have bothered him too much. Grub Street has its own becoming modesty, and Hitch never confused himself with Milton.
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Michael J. Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
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Any proposition that seems self-evident is almost certainly false.