Gore Vidal: We will have a dictatorship soon in the USA

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 1:37pm

Don't agree with all his views - particularly his views on sexuality and Tim McVeigh - but his take on American politics is chilling and spot-on.

Vidal originally became pro-Obama because he grew up in "a black city" (meaning Washington), as well as being impressed by Obama's intelligence. "But he (Obama) believes the generals. Even Bush knew the way to win a general was to give him another star. Obama believes the Republican Party is a party when in fact it's a mindset, like Hitler Youth, based on hatred - religious hatred, racial hatred. When you foreigners hear the word "conservative" you think of kindly old men hunting foxes. They're not, they're fascists."

Vidal now believes, as he did originally, Clinton would be the better president. "Hillary knows more about the world and what to do with the generals. History has proven when the girls get involved, they're good at it. Elizabeth I knew Raleigh would be a good man to give a ship to." The Republicans will win the next election, Vidal believes; though for him there is little difference between the parties. "Remember the coup d'etat of 2000 when the Supreme Court fixed the selection, not election, of the stupidest man in the country, Mr. Bush."





Im never surprised by bad behaviour. I expect it.

Updated On: 9/30/09 at 01:37 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 1:42pm

"History has proven when the girls get involved, they're good at it."

It takes a village and a queen!

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 1:45pm

If Hillary had won the nomination and the election, we'd all be sitting around wondering of Obama would have been a better President. There's no reason to believe that she'd be better at managing the conservative Dems, and no reason to believe that the far right would have trouble finding/fabricating 'issues' to rally their base.

To me, the most dangerous thing happening right now is the SCOTUS posturing to open the corporate political money floodgates. They seem ready to ignore a century of precedent and allow big business to throw all the money they want into politics. And no one seems to be paying much attention.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 1:48pm

Hey, corporations are people, too!

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 1:49pm

"Hey, corporations are people, too!"

Grab a black robe, and sit down with Roberts, Scalia, et al.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 1:53pm

jesus h. christ. when the gop was in control we were going to have death camps and the gays were going to be sent to the island of lost toys. now that the democrats are in control some of the same voices are worried about a civil war and a dictatorship. maybe they're more concerned with making sure that someone is listening to thema nd realize that in this day and age that the more outlandish their fear-mongering the more converage it will garner them. they're just reasonably well-spoken (and written) versions of beck coulter and company.

Updated On: 9/30/09 at 01:53 PM

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 1:55pm

madbrain: I agree that the right would whip up a similar fury towards Clinton. But I think she knows the enemy better than Obama does.

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 1:55pm

"the gays were going to be sent to the island of lost toys"

We can't let that happen. They'd never come back.

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 2:00pm

Especially if there are hard rubber toys!

Updated On: 9/30/09 at 02:00 PM

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 2:07pm

"But I think she knows the enemy better than Obama does."

But the problem here isn't the right, it's the 'conservative' Democrats. They crippled Bill Clinton's agenda, although they paid for it in the 1994 mid-terms. I don't see any evidence that she'd be any better at working with them (Conrad, Lincoln, Baucus, Nelson, etc) that Obama has been. And despite all the negative press, it's possible (probable?) that we may get meaningful healthcare reform passed this year.

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 2:19pm

I hope you are right about health care, but unfortunately it's the right-wing that has the upper-hand on this subject now.

But you are right about the conservative Dems.

Updated On: 9/30/09 at 02:19 PM

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 2:23pm

"it's the right-wing that has the upper-hand on this subject now."

It's not, and it never has been. It's the conservative Dem senators, all from small states and all who take big bucks from the healthcare lobby.

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 2:30pm

But the public doesn't know about health care from conservative Dems. They only know what the GOP media machine feeds them. The right-wing has framed public debate on the subject. Health care advocates are on the defence.

Updated On: 9/30/09 at 02:30 PM

[madbrian]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 2:39pm

OK, looks like we're getting the media and the Congress mixed up. Agree that the right is dominating the media. Any notion or myth that the media is dominated by the left has been shattered this summer. In the Congress, particularly the Senate, it's the conservative Dems that are dominating the debate. And again, they're all from small states, and they all take big bucks from the healthcare lobby. And - their states are all dominated by a single insurer, with Blue Cross/Shield having upwards of 75% of policies. In other words, their states could really benefit from a competitive public option.

[TulitaPepsi]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 2:46pm

Now we agree!