I Knew JFK, Says Gore Vidal, and Believe Me Obama’s the Better Leader [View All]

[IndianaGreen]

Published on Sunday, May 18, 2008 by the Times Online/UK

I Knew JFK, Says Gore Vidal, and Believe Me Obama’s the Better Leader

Gore Vidal, the writer and long-time Clinton supporter, tells why Hillary is insane to keep on fighting

by Melvyn Bragg

At 82, Gore Vidal has reached an enviable position: he is an influential man of letters, a political activist, a scion of the New World aristocracy and a friend of the powerful and famous, including the Clintons.

So what does he think of Hillary Clinton’s stated intention to fight on to the bitter end for the Democratic presidential nomination? The reply is instant and searing: “I think her strategy is more or less insane.”

He continues: “I’d always rather liked her. She’s a perfectly able lawyer . . . But this long campaign, this daily search for the grail, has driven her crazy.”

<snip>

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”.

However, in Vidal’s eyes, McCain is just a symptom of the real malaise affecting America today: the cynical subversion of the US constitution. “The Bush people”, he says, “have virtually got rid of Magna Carta and habeas corpus. In a normal republic I would probably have raised an army and overthrown them. It will take a hundred years to put it all back.”

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/18/9041/