Gore: Well. Every nightmare has come true.

Besides harshing everyone's buzz, this somewhat dramatic introduction indicated that the key topic of the conversation would be Gore's latest political works, which from about Š oh say Š Septemberish of 2001 have been a series of essay collections and pamphlets addressing the American empire, imperialism, and the misdeeds of what Gore delightfully calls the "Cheney-Bush Junta."

Since the release in 2002 of Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace or How We Came To Be So Hated, Gore Vidal has re-emerged as a public figure, popping up just about everywhere to discuss the implicit expansionist agenda of the Bush administration (they had plans for the invasion of Afghanistan before the attacks of Sept 11th, he asserts), NORAD's purported delay in mobilizing fighter airplanes to intercept the hijacked airliners on Sept. 11th (he goes as far as saying that the Bush administration "let it happen"), and the "coup d'etat" that was the 2001 election, among other things.

Whether you agree with him or not, Gore's ability to wage these debates on public forum with other celebrity writer types is formidable and a recent highlight had him on the now-cancelled CNN Crossfire show referring to a hostile Tucker Carlson as "Mr. Bow Tie." This was the man, after all, who had compelled William F. Buckley Jr. to utter during an ABC-televised 1972 debate, his most often quoted sentence: "Now listen, you queer. Stop calling me a crypto Nazi, or I'll sock you in the goddamn face and you'll stay plastered."

At his Shanghai Lit fest session, Gore had nothing but righteous wrath for the Bush administration, although the form of his attack took a more juvenile approach (in a good way). He referred to Bush as "the little man on the TV" and also did some rather fine impressions of him before coming right out and admitting that Bush's antics made him want to "kill him." This jovial chastising of Bush was met with chortling on the part of the audience. After all, there's Gore Vidal up there saying what we're all thinking: Bush is a bad president.

Well, I suppose he's saying we're all already thinking and saying ourselves to all our friends, families, co-workers, acquaintances, and anyone else who will listen. The laughter then takes an understandably harsher tone after realizing this fact. It seems more spiteful and forced. Like the kind of laughter that fills the studio at a taping of a John Stewart show. Righteous laughter with the touch of frustration and exasperation. The jokes are old and the reality of the situation isn't really all that funny at all but you laugh anyways because it's all you can do.

After a good twenty minutes of stock Bush bashing, Bob managed to set Gore off on a meandering revisiting of a lifetime of literary highlights and moments of interest. For the next 40 minutes Gore discussed his greatest "non-fiction" works, 1876 (1976), Burr (1973), and Empire (1987), along with his seminal work of satire, Myra Breckinridge (1968) and pretty much whatever else he wanted: the apogee of American culture (post World War II), causes for the decline of American culture (the invention of television), and his own political aspirations (after much prodding, he offered that 1976 would have been his year to run for president, if he had his choice).

Incidentally, Bob did quite a good job as steward of the talk. He was able to find his footing quickly and adapt to Gore's, at times, random and idiosyncratic commentary. Prodding him slightly in one direction or the next, Bob managed to bring up an issue and get out of the way, keeping the intellectual cock-blocking to a minimum. We were there, after all, to see Mr. Vidal. Gore, of course, was always engaging because he spoke as if he were quoting himself, and was planning on being quoted by others later on.

Bob's moment came at the very closing moments of the talk, when a question afforded him the opportunity to blast the Howard government and their spineless cow-toeing to the interests of the Bush administration. He really pounced: Mr. Bush this and Mr. Howard that! When you are especially angry with a public figure, attaching a sardonic "Mister" to their surname is quite effective. Of course, he knew this from being a member of the Australian parliament and, as right as he was, during his rant I expected someone from the back of the audience to shout out, "Will the fiery MP of Wogga Wogga, Queensland please be seated!"

The Q&A period was populated with several questions about China, a subject Gore knew little about, which was refreshing. When questioned very specifically about the current US-China relationship he made the go-to reference to Confusions before reframing the question as within the praxis of an East vs. West religious debate. When another question again veered into a discussion about China, he put a stop to that shit right away: "I don't know China. I know America." He did, however, declare numerous times that the 21st century was the century of China and the "mandate of heaven had return home." Well, that's fine. Gore backs China for the 21 century. I suppose, but who else is he going to say? Chad? Hungary? Honduras?

Gore was charming and disarming in a grandmotherly kind of way and he had the room in his hand. Although we gave it to him outright. Take it Gore! He is a talented orator, inflecting his speech with dramatic rhythms and tones, interjecting jokes and anecdotes liberally, and even the odd impression or two (or three: Bush Jr., Regan, and Churchill to be exact). Gore Vidal is just about three hundred years old by now and his familial pedigree (grandson to a U.S. senator and cousin to Jimmy Carter) has enabled him an arsenal of anecdotes from almost 3 centuries of American lore and this was when Gore was really able to shine: telling stories about famous historical figures in a way that connected the most personal aspects and peccadilloes of their daily lives (Washington's egoism, Jefferson's self interest, Jackson's megalomania) to a larger historical narrative which they helped shape.

-Morgan Short


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