Gore Vidal: The U.S., a banana republic after the coup d'état of Sept. 11

[Say_What]

Interview with Gore Vidal...

<clips>

HAVANA -- He spent five days in Havana. He followed a dizzying schedule that took him from the University of Computer Sciences to the Latin American School of Medicine, from University Hill to the National Ballet School, from Old Havana to the park that memorializes John Lennon with a lifesize bronze statue of the Beatles' founder, sitting on a bench like a local resident's son.

The most erudite American writer of his generation and the most corrosive critic of the current Republican administration, Gore Vidal does not just talk; he interprets what he says. He changes his voice and you can hear George W. Bush, Eisenhower, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, some obscure Pentagon official and even Vidal himself, mocking them all with an irony expressed by a face that does not reflect his 81 years of age.

He would rather be remembered as a historian than as a writer of fiction. Although his works are easily three times his age -- his bibliography contains novels, tragedies, comedies, memoirs, essays, movie and TV scripts -- his obsession is singleminded: the republic has lost its way.

"The main bit of wisdom that I learned from Thomas Jefferson, and he learned it from Montesquieu, is that you cannot have a republic and an empire at the same time," he says. "Since 1846, when we went to war with Mexico, we have been rapacious imperialists."

http://www.rprogreso.com/index.php?progreso=Rosa_Miriam_Elizalde&otherweek=1166680800

[Maat]

1. Thanks for the post.

That was a great interview.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Vidal is right n/t

[ixion]

3. kicked and recommended

great interview. Vidal is spot on, as always.

[Vidar]

4. Vidal nails it.

[femrap]

5. Funny thought....

how about a Gore/Vidal '08 ticket?

I could sit and listen to Gore Vidal all damn day long.

[enough]

6. I thought the coup d'état happened when the Supreme Court installed Bush as "President."

I can't tell from the interview whether Vidal means that the actual attack on 9-11 was the coup, or if he is referring to the reaction to it by the Bush administration

snip>

... But on Sept. 11 there was a coup d'état in the United States, the first one in our history. A coup in which a group of dishonest people, an oil junta, usurped the power of the state and overthrew the Congress. It's a unique event and its details will make for a great story someday.

snip>

[Beam Me Up]

7. Two stage coup: Phase one was the installation of the puppet

Phase two was 9/11, the justification for all the policy changes the puppet would see to.

[rman]

8. First the way had to be cleared

There was this inconveniently popular and leftist president some 40-odd years ago...