Gore Vidal: An American Icon Speaks

When the admirable Tiberius (he has had an undeserved bad press), upon becoming emperor, received a message from the Senate in which the conscript fathers assured him that whatever legislation he wanted would be automatically passed by them, he sent back word that this was outrageous. "Suppose the emperor is ill or mad or incompetent?" He returned their message. They sent it again. His response: "How eager you are to be slaves." I often think of that wise emperor when I hear Republican members of Congress extolling the wisdom of Bush. Now that he has been caught illegally wiretapping fellow citizens he has taken to snarling about his powers as "a wartime president," and so, in his own mind, he is above each and every law of the land. Oddly, no one in Congress has pointed out that he may well be a lunatic dreaming that he is another Lincoln but whatever he is or is not he is no wartime president. There is no war with any other nation...yet. There is no state called terror, an abstract noun like liar.

His masterful soliloquy covers all the major ills we are suffering in the country today, due mainly or in part to Bush and his minions' many failures and dereliction of duty.

My only objection is comparing Bush to the reluctant biblical hero Jonah. When I think of Bush, a lot of epithets come to mind; hero is not one of them.

Too bad we don't see more of Mr. Vidal (again, what liberal media?).

That is why I'm looking forward to attending an event sponsored by the U.S. Tour of Duty and co-sponsored by Progressive Talk AM 1150 and Los Angeles City Beat, where he, with former U.N. weapons inspector Mark Ritter, will make one of his rare public appearances. The event is being held tomorrow, March 4th, at the Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, California.

I will report on the event next week. Hopefully with photos, if they're permitted.

| +Save/Share | |