Hunter S. Thompson gave up on the idea of talking to the opposition almost 50 years ago

[Tarc]

In a letter following JFK's assassination;

There is no human being within 500 miles to whom I can communicate anything - much less the fear and loathing that is on me after today's murder.... The killing has put me in a state of shock. The rage is trebled.... This is the end of reason, the dirtiest hour in our time. I mean to come down from the hills and enter the fray.... No more fair play. From now on it is dirty pool and judo in the clinches. The savage nuts have shattered the great myth of American decency. They can count me in - I feel ready for a dirty game....

Just as true then as it is now. To hell with bipartisanship, the "savage nuts" of the present cannot be reasoned with. Let them sputter with rage and impotence from the sidelines.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. Thank you - -

HST knew.

He was right then, and he's still right.

Thanks for the reminder.....................................

[NightWatcher]

2. the Good Doctor had the right idea

I wish he were still spitting out books, but the whole "dead" thing is hampering that.

[arcadian]

3. Oh hell yeah, the gloves should have been off a long time ago.

[stray cat]

4. And what did he accomplish politically for the rest of us?

[kayakjohnny]

5. Oh, I'm sure he shit on a parade or two

just like your trying to do now.

[Raster]

15. Thank you!

[_dynamicdems]

6. That's one hell of a quote. n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. Hunter Thompson lost miserably the one time he ran for office.

Not a good example for politics.

[Jim Warren]

12. Lost miserably?

WTF you talking about? He lost the Pitkin Co. election by 6 votes. I was there working on the campaign. Pushed it right to the edge.

[slampoet]

8. Not Quite, Hunter Thompson claimed to have conversations with Nixon often in Campaign '72.

Although he also say that He and Nixon only talked about football.


Also in the late 80's Hunter appeared on the panel of the McLaughlin Group.


He really didn't give up talking to the opposition.

[deaniac21]

9. He was one helluva shot with a 1911.

[leveymg]

18. Dr. Hunter S. Thompson on Nixon, guns, terrorism, drugs and lots of that sorta crazy shit:

http://www.fargonebooks.com/hunter.html

Question: Dr. Thompson, Is it true that you are the real Kyser Soze?

Hunter Thompson: I've been accused of that. It's a good question. Say, yes. The guy from that movie is going to play Oscar in the Vegas movie. That's a very intelligent question and I compliment the person who asked that. I like that.

Question: Looking back.....do you feel Richard Nixon was really the enemy to our generation?

Hunter Thompson: Yeah. He personified the enemy. He stood for everything that was wrong and rotten. We were lucky to get it all rolled up into one person. It was Nixon who drove a very serious spike into the American dream. Nixon was the first president to be so massively and publicly exposed as an evil bastard. A lot of people knew US Grant was a monster, or Harding -- but a lot of people in those days was 200 or 500. Now, with even a rumor --- 44,000 people know it the next morning. I think the Watergate stuff shocked people.

Bookpgsara: What do you think about Clinton? Where does he come in in the hieracrchy of bad presidents?

Hunter Thompson: Well, we still have a few years ago. Clinton already stands accused formally of worse things than Nixon would have been impeached for. I think Clinton is every bit as. . . he's not as crude as Nixon. But maybe he is. I mean: Paula Jones? "Come over here, little girl, I've got something for you" !? It's almost embarrassing to talk about Clinton as if he were important.

I'd almost prefer Nixon. I'd say Clinton is every bit as corrupt as Nixon, but a lot smoother.

SNIP

Question: Thompson, is there a drug now, or has there ever been, to which you would just say no?

HunterST97: Let's see. . . .I don't think I've ever seen a drug I wouldn't try or want anyway. Yeah. PCP, I would tend to avoid that in the future. I've always thought it's better to try things. Jimson weed: that's a bitch. Everybody should do jimson weed --- once. I only did it twice.

Bookpgsara: Do you think drugs should be legalized?

Hunter Thompson: Yeah. Across the board. It might be a little rough on some people for a while, but I think it's the only way to deal with drugs. Look at Prohibition: all it did was make a lot of criminals rich. Should be legalized for a matter of sanity.

Question: Is your legal contest with the Aspen police resolved? If not, may justice be with you.

Hunter Thompson: Almost resolved. Nothing's ever resolved. I figure I'll be under arrest for the rest of my life for one thing or another. Some of my best friends are police -- but not that many of them.

SNIP

Question: Where are the book signings going to be if any?

Hunter Thompson: Yes. I've agreed to do at least three or four. As long as they don't go weird. New York, Washington, LA, Denver. That's what they have scheduled. It's day to day with me. Sometimes, there are 2,000 people standing in line and I don't have time to sign them. . .it gets really ugly. It's difficult, but I'll do a few. A signed book will cost you $5,000. And I'll bleed for you, right into the pages. My blood is already there, anyway. A lot of blood in those letters.

Question: Can you comment on the passing of two of your friends--Allen Ginsberg and Townes Van Zandt?

Hunter Thompson: Yeah. Allen was a particular friend, one of my heroes, really. I knew him almost as long as I've been writing. I didn't know Townes that well: he's a really good friend of Lyle Lovett's. He was really good. I was once arrested with Ginsburg. He was a big help to me. He was one of the few people who read unknown writer's work. Maybe he was just hustling me. He liked to flirt, Allen. They called him a monster but he was only falling in love.

Question: How do you reconcile your liberal politics with gun ownership? Is that not a contradiction?

Hunter Thompson: I think George Washington owned guns. I've never seen any contradiction with that. I'm not a liberal, by the way. I think that's what's wrong with liberals. I believe I have every right to have guns. I just bought another huge weapon. A lot of people shouldn't own guns. I should. I have a safety record. Guns are a lot of fun out here.

Bookpgsara: As somebody who likes guns and has taken part in his share of violence and anarchism. What do you think of Timothy McVeigh?

Hunter Thompson: Oh boy. Well, if he did that --- apparently the jury has spoken --- if I were him, I'd prefer the death penalty. If he blew up that building and killed that many people, we have to accept that, just like we had to accept that OJ Simpson was declared not guilty. I'd rather be hung or shot or executed than spend my life in prison. If he did that he deserves to die. I can't conceive of doing that kind of damage.

Bookpgsara: You can't imagine that much violence?! Wow. You seem so mellow...how come you are so mellow? Have you just become an old softie?

Hunter Thompson: I was always a softie. But it always helps to win. To be right. You can afford to be a little more mellow.

[AuntPatsy]

10. He is right, the time has come...its all or nothing...we can no longer sit on the sidelines..

we need to ensure that they are there are that they stay put...

[femrap]

11. I would have thought he would have had

like-minded people to talk with. Maybe we need to start wearing a 'sign' of some sort (badge, pin, tattoo, earring, etc.) that says we are into hearing the TRUTH. Then we would have someone to talk with when things get so bad and the shit is flying.

eta: maybe a sign that says: hurtt....(truth)

[Iris]

13. "People read to know they are not alone"

Not sure where I heard that quote, but it is so true and your post drives that truth home again.

Thanks for posting this.

[Echo In Light]

16. Two of my heroes, Chomsky & Bill Hicks, spoke of and wrote about alienation

... what you're getting at w/that quote. Both realized that within such a densely propagandized social climate the dissenting, minority view tends to make people feel very isolated, and so spoke to those perceptions as a way of reaching out to those who aren't complacent.

[slay]

14. K&R for Hunter

One of the best, boldest, honest, and entertaining political commentators of his time.

[Echo In Light]

17. K&R for HT

[LanternWaste]

19. A few people can do ruthless and savag

A few people (like Thompson, Rove, Carville, etc.) can do effective ruthlessness and efficient savagery without any problems. But I think that for the most part, people who try their hands at it wind up appearing as little more than buffoons and court jesters.

I don't think anger or rage or passion in and of themselves is enough to achieve a political goal. That very same anger, rage and passion needs to be equally conjoined with both a sharp wit and a depth of wisdom to achieve the same, otherwise, we end up with cartoon characters like Michelle Bachmann-- a clown. A loud, obnoxious, ineffectual clown that people do little more than point at and laugh.

Good luck.

ed:sp