Gore Vidal on "Little Bush"

I just started reading Gore Vidal's 1967 novel Washington D.C. a couple of days ago. I read slowly and, most often, while soaking in the tub. So it takes me a while to get through a book. And, of course, when you're reading something by Gore Vidal, you want to ensure that you catch every turn of phrase, every nuance in order to honour a man of such great talent. I enjoy living with a story for a time, so it ought to be something brilliant.

Anyway, Mr Vidal has a few things to say about the state of his home country and he shares those thoughts with a reporter from The Independent, tucked in between his memories of his second home, Italy.

"We have been deprived of our franchise," he says. "The election was stolen in both 2000 and 2004, because of electronic voting machinery which can be easily fixed. We've had two illegitimate elections in a row ...

"Little Bush says we are at war, but we are not at war because to be at war Congress has to vote for it. He says we are at war on terror, but that is a metaphor, though I doubt if he knows what that means. It's like having a war on dandruff, it's endless and pointless. We are in a dictatorship that has been totally militarised, everyone is spied on by the government itself. All three arms of the government are in the hands of this junta.

"Whatever you are," he goes on, "they say you are the reverse. The men behind the war in Iraq are cowards who did not fight in Vietnam - but they spent millions of dollars proving that John Kerry, who was a genuine war hero whatever you think of his politics, was a coward.

"This is what happens when you have control of the media, and I have never known the media more vicious, stupid and corrupt than they are now."

No nuance there and certainly none is needed. And he definitely didn't pull any punches back in 2002 when he wrote these stinging words about the neocons' plans.

We still have much to learn about the times we are living in as events occur much faster than we seem capable of absorbing. And we have a duty to search for the truth because, as Vidal identifies the current status of the popular media and as the Bush administration fights attempts made to expose its secrets at every turn, all we know is that we actually know very little.