Gore Vidal RIP (Ahem)

RIP He's With Ted Kennedy Now “ [Via Wiki] During discussions of the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests, Buckley and Vidal were arguing about freedom of speech with regard to American protesters displaying a Viet Cong flag when Vidal told Buckley to "shut up a minute" and, in response to Buckley's reference to "pro-Nazi" protesters, went on to say: "As far as I'm concerned, the only sort of pro-crypto-Nazi I can think of is yourself." The visibly livid Buckley replied, "Now listen, you queer. Stop calling me a crypto-Nazi, or I'll sock you in the goddamn face and you'll stay plastered."   Buckley later expressed regret for having called Vidal a "queer," but nonetheless described Vidal as an "evangelist for bisexuality." I would go on that year to vote for Humphrey, but near as I can remember this was my first exposure to Buckley.  I went on a binge of checking out Buckley books from the library with profound effect on my already conservative leaning self.   Hubert was the last democrat I ever voted for. Vidal didn't leave much impression on me one way or another.  Forgetting this  kerfuffle entirely,  I quite enjoyed reading  his Burr, Lincoln and to some extent 1876.  Myra Breckenridge was the last time I checked out a Vidal book. I grew to loathe the man.  Not because he was a publicly promiscuous bisexual; that goes without saying, but because he was the poster boy liberal.  Arrogant, snotty, and blamed the United States for everything.  Here's a clip from a recent  NPR paean “ The word heterosexual is an adjective, the word homosexual is an adjective. They describe an activity. Of course there's a homosexual activity; of course there's a heterosexual activity. But there's no homosexual person. There's no heterosexual person. Everybody is everything. It's like saying oh, I want you to meet Mildred, this is potato-eating Mildred. Oh my God, she eats - I'm sorry, but I don't want to be at the same table with a potato-eater. Sorry, Mildred, but some other time. Now that's - only a country that is based upon an extremely primitive religion, which is Christianity, I am a devoted enemy of monotheism in all of its forms, could have come with a categorizing of people as one thing or the other. In Europe, these distinctions are not only not known, but we're thought to be mad. Latins just roar with laughter. ... And I was actually stopped all day long by Italians, these villagers, saying what kind of country is this. And I said, well, it's a very primitive country, the United States, and it's full of superstitions, which come out of a very fundamental religious bias, which is primitive Christianity. And since they have enough votes to terrify the more sophisticated people who run the country, these are some of the bones that they get thrown - like prayer in the schools and abortion and all subjects which have nothing to do with the federal government, but they see to it that it does. No, no, we're kind of a joke. ” He's with Ted Kennedy now. ”