"I told you so." > Gore Vidal

[rodeodance]

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20051107/cooper
>
> posted October 20, 2005 (November 7, 2005 issue)
> Gore Vidal, Octocontrarian
>
> Marc Cooper-The Nation
>
> Gore Vidal remains one of the more prolific contemporary American writers and certainly one of the most politically outspoken. Shortly after his recent 80th-birthday celebration, Nation contributing editor Marc Cooper interviewed him in his Hollywood home. Herewith, a condensed version of that conversation. . --The Editors

.............

> Q: In the introduction to your new book, Imperial America, you begin by saying that the four sweetest words in the American lexicon are "I told you so." What were you gloating about?
>
> A: Oh, everything. The principal bit of wisdom that I had to purvey, which I got from Thomas Jefferson and he got from Montesquieu, is that you cannot maintain a republic and empire simultaneously. The Romans couldn't do it. The Brits could only manage it up to a certain point, but then ended up going broke. The Venetians were an empire, and the United States. And in each case the republics were lost. Starting with our war against Mexico in 1846, which was to acquire California, we've been in a serious, naked grab, grab, grab imperial mood.
>
> Q: In that respect, how different is the Bush Administration? Anything new here, or part of that same historical arc?
>
> A: Well, a lot is different. The machinery is all changed. Nuclear and bacteriological weapons exist. We can kill a lot more people. But there have been things unimaginable to me and most Americans--that we would have a government that is absolutely in your face to every country on earth. We have insulted everybody.
.......

[rodeodance]

1. the junta (US)--cheney et al of course.

.......Q: If, indeed, this Administration is collapsing for lack of weight, what comes after it?

A: Martial law, that's next. Bush is like a plane of glass. You can see all the worms turning around in his head at any moment. The first giveaway of what's on his mind--or the junta's mind.

Q: The junta being...?

A: Cheney, who runs everything, I suspect. And a few other serious operators. Anyway, I first noticed this was on their mind when Bush finally woke up to the fact that the hurricanes were not going to be good PR for him. And he starts to think friends of his are going to be running in '08. So what's the first thing he does? The first thing on the mind of a dictator? He gets the National Guard away from the governors. The Guard is under the governors, but Bush is always saying, Let's turn it over to the military. This is what's on their mind. Under military control.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

2. He sure did!

Vidal's been on the back of this bastard "war" ever since Fuckface stole the first election.

He has NEVER backed down. God, I love that guy!

Read his books about this sad time in our history:

"Imperial America"

"Dreaming War: Blood For Oil And The Cheney-Bush Junta"

"Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace: How We Got To Be So Hated...."

He's a real hero, Gore Vidal. He's refused to be silenced, bless his heart and his fine mind.

[Mist]

5. Required reading to understand how we got where we are now. nt

[rodeodance]

7. umm.. he is looking for a White Knight to save us---guess I am also.

If there could be a viable opposition to the oil and gas junta that has seized power--all three branches of government, I think--it will have to be at the grassroots. Then you will have to find a way of publicizing through the Internet the White Knight--or the Black Knight, whoever comes along to save us.

[nvliberal]

10. We had one of sorts last year with John Edwards,

and the media did EXACTLY what Vidal described. They ignored him, they ridiculed him because his message was NOT what the media and the powers-that-be wanted to hear.

The Republicans feared him, and he had to go.

It'll happen the next time and the next time UNTIL we demand fair elections.

As you all know, Vidal also contends last year's election was rigged.

[bklyncowgirl]

3. God, I love Gore Vidal. nt

[motocicleta]

4. *, you might want to take a look at Gore Vidal

and see what a real man looks like.

I am so sick of *s macho posturing, smirking, overbearing, underperforming self.

We have to be ready for martial law. I have long thought that when the roof collapses on this regime they will not go quietly.

[rodeodance]

6. He smacks the US corporate media also.

Q: Are you predicting a coming military dictatorship? And that the American people would stand for that?

A: They'll stand for anything. And they will stand for nothing. I deal with a lot of European journalists who are very well versed in American politics. But they will ask me silly questions like, "So, Kerry didn't turn out very well. So who's the next leader of the opposition who can become President?" I answer, Well, first the New York Times won't interview him. He won't get on prime-time television if he looks like a winner. That's out. Or he will be made a fool of, like they did with Howard Dean when they amplified his famous cry. That was all done at CBS to make him look like a maniac. They are very resourceful! So if you have a media that is completely controlled by corporate America--or whatever phrase you want to use to describe our rulers--no information is getting through that is useful to the public. No White Knight is going to be acknowledged in the press or seen on television. He would have no way of connecting with the people. And this a permanent fact in our situation.... If there could be a viable opposition to the oil and gas junta that has seized power--all three branches of government, I think--it will have to be at the grassroots. Then you will have to find a way of publicizing through the Internet the White Knight--or the Black Knight, whoever comes along to save us.

[WhiteTara]

8. I have seriously been thinking about a megaphone, soapbox

and standing on the courthouse steps reading news from DU. I'll get a permit so I won't be arrested, but I think that Gore is right, it has to be grassroots and heartland. :shrug:

[nvliberal]

9. Anybody who thinks this regime is in free fall hasn't been paying

any attention.

They've spent 40 years trying to take over this government, and they are NOT going to give it up willingly.

[WhiteTara]

11. I agree. But I certainly am looking forward

to Fitzmas and all his helpers - Ronnie Earle in Texas, the Abramoff prosecutors, the Ney busters in Ohio, Ramsey Clark and all the Impeachers and the rest of the cast of humans to be our shining knights. So here's to the good fight and the happy outcome of the whole lot in prison, or better yet, their heads on pikes as a reminder to other traitors who might be thinking that this is okay behavior. :toast:

[struggle4progress]

13. Yes, it DOES have to be grassroots. eom

[Cha]

12. Collapsing under it's own

lack of gravitas! "Here delay gone tomorrow" :) I love this guy..he's so intelligent and such an "octacontarian"!

:yourock: Mr. Gore Vidal!