GORE VIDAL ON THE 2008 ELECTION

Gore Vidal is my role model as a satirist and writer. I'm, alas, neither as funny nor learned as he is but like GV, I try to work with an ax, not a stiletto. Hack, slice. Vidal is one of the last surviving World War II generation novelists. The other big cats (Mailer, Styron, Vonnegut) have been dropping like flies but at 82, GV is every inch the lion in winter.

I google Vidal every so often so see what the Master is up to and check to see if he's in good health. To my delight, I learned that he was interviewed last weekend for British teevee by Melvyn Bragg of the South Bank Show. GV is not only in good health, he's in vintage form in his comments about the election. LINK.

Vidal is the most scathing about the faux reformer/maverick John McCain: "You could beat McCain! I’ve never met anyone in America who has the slightest respect for him. He went to a private school and came bottom of his class. He smashed up his aeroplane and became a prisoner of war, which he is trying to parlay into ‘war hero’.”

In his view, McCain is “a goddamned fool. He was on television talking about mortgages, and it was quite clear he does not know what a mortgage is. His head rattles as he walks”.

Tell us how you really feel, Gore. He's come to think very highly of Barack Obama BUT, like me it took him time to warm up to the Senator from Illinois: "I liked the idea of him, but he never managed to get my interest. I was brought around by his overall intelligence – specifically when he did his speech on race and religion.”

Anyway, for more bon mots from the Master follow this link to Melvyn Bragg's article in the London Times. He also makes some typically cynical comments about Hillary Clinton, Jack Kennedy and the Bushies.

tags: politics  vidal  2008  election  obama  mccain  clinton  

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