Hunter Thompson Nails It

[Zorro]

The big darkness descends. Hope he gets as revved up about this administration as he did when Nixon was prez.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/thompson/030722.html

[DagmarK]

1. I know who hunter thompson is!

I didn't yesterday, but you guys educated me.

He did nail it:

SNIP

It was a staggering reversal in a very short time, even shorter than it took for his equally crooked father to drop from 93 percent approval, down to as low as 43 percent and even 41 percent in the last doomed days of the first doomed Bush Administration. After that, he was Bill Clinton's punching bag.

Richard Nixon could tell us a lot about peaking too early. He was a master of it, because it beat him every time. He never learned and neither did Bush the Elder.

But wow! This goofy child president we have on our hands now. He is demonstrably a fool and a failure, and this is only the summer of '03. By the summer of 2004, he might not even be living in the White House. Gone, gone, like the snows of yesteryear.

The Rumsfield-Cheney axis has self-destructed right in front of our eyes, along with the once-proud Perle-Wolfowitz bund that is turning to wax. They somehow managed to blow it all, like a gang of kids on a looting spree, between January and July, or even less. It is genuinely incredible. The U.S. Treasury is empty, we are losing that stupid, fraudulent chickencrap War in Iraq, and every country in the world except a handful of Corrupt Brits despises us. We are losers, and that is the one unforgiveable sin in America.

Beyond that, we have lost the respect of the world and lost two disastrous wars in three years. Afghanistan is lost, Iraq is a permanent war Zone, our national Economy is crashing all around us, the Pentagon's "war strategy" has failed miserably, nobody has any money to spend, and our once-mighty U.S. America is paralyzed by Mutinies in Iraq and even Fort Bragg.

[jonnyblitz]

3. rent "fear and loating in Las Vegas" with Johnny Depp

to get an idea..

[Spirochete]

17. and/or

Where the Buffalo Roam, with Bill Murray

[RummyTheDummy]

18. You took the words right out of my mouth.

Fear and Loathing with Depp is crap. Bill Murray was infinately better in the role.

[lazarus]

22. eh

I know someone who knows Hunter. Says Depp nailed it. He lived in HST's basement for a summer. HST shaved his head, he was wearing HST's clothes in the film.

[RummyTheDummy]

25. You don't have to know someone that knows someone who knows Thopmpson

To judge a movie. Where the Buffalo Roam was much less slick than the Depp film. That's the difference in my opinion. The movie had more of a manic feel to it which is how I've always viewed Thompson. That and the fact Bill Murray is much more talented than Depp. But of course that's just one man's opinion.

On edit: It's also important to note they are two seperate movies. Depp's film was true to Thompson's book while the Murray film was more of a conglomeration of Loathing in Las Vegas and Loathing on the Campaign Trail.
I plan on renting the Depp version since so many here seem to like it. Hopefully I'll like it more the second time around.

[kysrsoze]

4. Yeah, give it another year....

OK, I don't know whether to be excited or thoroughly disgusted waiting to see what things will be like then. Either another huge terrorist attack, a new Vietnam, a rating of 40% or who knows what. It will be interesting nonetheless.

[supernova]

5. SNARF

...Mutinies in Iraq and even Fort Bragg.

This is truely funny!

[supernova]

7. Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72

This is a classic for anybody studying modern American politics.

[karlschneider]

8. HST (not Truman) is a national treasure. I've posted this before, but a

perverse sense of self-aggrandization prompts me to repeat it. In the mid 70s, I read "Fear & Loathing..." (and found it more entertaining with each passing joint...) One night a bunch of us were sitting around smoking pot (OH NO you say....Yes, I reply), we embarked upon a search for Hunter's phone number. Well, back in those days, it wasn't all that difficult to get such information. We got it. And we called him up...from the stupendous distance of about 400 miles from Muskogee, Oklahoma. Yep, the very same town jacked to fame by none other then Merle Haggard (who, the last time I saw his picture is living up to his apellation). What little I recall amounts to this: each of us, probably 5, spoke to him for a minute or two. What was said on either end has dropped into the miasma of whatever cannabis-induced bit bucket in force at the time.

But it was fun.
:D

[supernova]

9. LOL! Better be glad it was from 400 miles

away. He used to take pot shots of people who showed up in his driveway in Aspen. Don't know if that's still true or not.

[karlschneider]

12. I seem to recall he mentioned that!

:D

[Merlin]

24. Cool story.

Btw, did you notice, Haggard is actually with us on the war. He's got a new song and he's pissed about the treatment of the Dixies.

(p.s. I couldn't tell Merle Haggard from Joe Blow, but I recognize the name and remember that Okie song.)

[mitchum]

20. Screw renting movies...

and read the books (CONSIDERING THOMPSON IS A WRITER)

[Pale_Rider]

23. Recollections on the 2000 election ...

Looks like ESPN purges their HST archive every couple years ...

The fix is in ...
http://espn.go.com/page2/s/thompson/001127.html

There was one exact moment, in fact, when I knew for sure that Al Gore would Never be President of the United States, no matter what the experts were saying -- and that was when the whole Bush family suddenly appeared on TV and openly scoffed at the idea of Gore winning Florida. It was Nonsense, said the Candidate, Utter nonsense. ... Anybody who believed Bush had lost Florida was a Fool. The Media, all of them, were Liars & Dunces or treacherous whores trying to sabotage his victory.

They were strong words and people said he was Bluffing. But I knew better. Of course Bush would win Florida. Losing was out of the question. Here was the whole bloody Family laughing & hooting & sneering at the dumbness of the whole world on National TV.

The old man was the real tip-off. The leer on his face was almost frightening. It was like looking into the eyes of a tall hyena with a living sheep in its mouth. The sheep's fate was sealed, and so was Al Gore's. ... Everything since then has been political flotsam & Gibberish.

[LEW]

2. Whoa..........

No soft punches there. Great article, thanks

B-)

[Wonder]

6. yup

fear and loathing alright!

[Q]

10. "Big Darkness, soon come. Take my word for it."

- Don't need to take his word for it...many of us see it coming. One thing for sure...there won't be many 'moderates' after the darkness.

[Imalittleteapot]

11. Wow. Thanks for this post.

I love HST.

[Kat45]

13. Cool! Great to see HST on politics again.

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail 1972 was full of insights into politics; I thought it should have been assigned in my poli sci classes (but of course, it wasn't).

[ClintonTyree]

14. Just finished......................

"Kingdom of Fear" not too long ago. I haven't read an HST book since "The Great Shark Hunt". It was refreshing in a sort of manic, wall street pit trader on crystal meth sort of way. He is truly one of a kind, the stories from his youth were wonderful, insightfull. He is however a dangerous man. Not to be trifled with. I suggest "Kingdom of Fear" to every HST fan and those who wish to explore the man's inner psyche.

[midnitemoleman]

15. Gonzo and the Prez

Gonzo is da man!

[oustemnow]

16. "The entire Bush family, from Texas, should be boiled in poison oil."

That was the capper of one of his ESPN.com columns, just prior to the 2000 election. He had it pegged then, but I think the editors at ESPN convinced him to rein in the politics a bit. Good to see the good Doctor back in form.

[RummyTheDummy]

19. Poison oil....

That's one of the great things about Thompson. When he has an idea he stretches it to the furthest limits possible. For instance if you're going to boil someone in oil obviously that would be enough to kill them. But he says poison oil. Subtle yet classic.

[PaPaJohn]

21. Reign it in?

One thing is for damned sure. Hunter S. Thompson and his like do not reign it in for anyone. Reign it in? No more than Picasso woul've reigned it in for his wives.