THIS interview was conducted at the Blue Metropolis Literary Festival in Montréal in April 2011. It is thus a very late interview with the late author, whose wit at 85 seems undiminished by time.
Matthew Hays: What do you make of the job Obama is doing now?
Gore Vidal: I think it’s mistaken, a lot of it. I don’t think he has many weapons with which to defend whatever positions he
feels strongly about. He keeps on learning, and that’s always a good thing. It would have been better if many of our presidents had learned as they went along, like Woodrow Wilson for example, and had not acted too precipitously, and got us into trouble.
MH: Have you met Obama?
GV: No, and I have no interest. I’ve met enough presidents, thank you.
MH: You’ve said the U.S. is headed toward a fascist dictatorship.
GV: No, I never said that! I talked about possibilities. We have to talk seriously about serious issues. So let’s talk seriously.
MH: But you did say that America was headed in a fascistic direction.
GV: Well, everybody’s headed, because we’re all going to die. This is news to Americans, and don’t tell them I said so, because I don’t want to be held responsible when they start to drop away.
MH: You’ve said that the institution of journalism in America is a train wreck.
GV: Well, of course it is. I thought everybody knew that.
MH: Are you hopeful about what the Internet will bring in terms of citizen journalism? Some argue the Internet is undermining journalism.
GV: There’s nothing wrong with some of that. But what’s left to undermine?
MH: So you feel the media haven’t done a good enough job of—
GV: When have they ever? Why should they? As Abraham Lincoln said, anyone who wants a freer press should get themselves a newspaper. I go by Mr. Lincoln’s wise words.
MH: Some have suggested that after 9/11, appeals to people’s patriotism became so overwhelming that this led to censorship, which became worse than McCarthyism.
GV: I don’t find them comparable at all. You can compare any two things. There will always be likeness in any two things that are human. And conservatives are sometimes known to be human.
MH: You’ve said there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans.
GV: You think there is? You make the case.
MH: Well, actually, if you look at Supreme Court appointments, there’s a huge difference between the choices that Bush made and Obama is making.
GV: We probably should have had, as Jefferson proposed a long time ago, a revision of the Constitution. This wasn’t a perfect constitution by any means; in fact it’s not a very good one. That’s why we’re having these problems. Things should be rectified. It would be up to a [constitutional]congress to do it, to bring us up to whatever century we feel we belong in.
MH: You once said that Bush was the stupidest man in America—
GV: I didn’t say that. I said he was the stupidest president. We have many other stupid Americans.
MH: What do you make of Sarah Palin?
GV: I don’t make anything of her. She’s from wild Alaska. I spent many of the war years in Alaska. I don’t say I went away admiring a proto-state. It seemed a real mess up there.
MH: Do you think she could become president?
GV: Well, you know, Rome fell. Anything of a cataclysmic nature is always possible.
MH: Have you been following the battles for legal recognition of same-sex marriage?
GV: I couldn’t care less. What difference does it make if you want to be called “misses” or “mister” or “count me out.” I find it very hard to be interested in the
subject.
MH: What do you read when you get your political news?
GV: I don’t read much of the popular press, because it’s always loaded. I know what Mr. Hearst will say, what Mr. Murdoch will say.
MH: Do you read The Guardian? What newspapers do you read?
GV: I used to read a lot of the British papers, in particular when one of our wars was going on. I have to see how stupid it is, and it’ll be very nice to read The Guardian on the subject.
MH: Do you watch Jon Stewart?
GV: Who doesn’t watch Jon Stewart? I have an antenna up for that one.
MH: We’re in the middle of an election right now in Canada. Do you follow our politics at all?
GV: No, but I love Mackenzie King’s musings on religion.
MH: Are you on Facebook?
GV: Good god, no! I’m not eleven years old!
MH: What advice do you have for young writers?
GV: Learn how to read.
MH: You’ve said you don’t identify as gay, that there are homosexual acts, not homosexual people.
GV: I think that’s so beautifully said, you must keep saying it.
MH: You called Timothy McVeigh a patriot. Do you ever regret that remark?
GV: I don’t regret anything I’ve said. I think before I speak. Did you know that? I mean, I’m an American, but I do my best.
