journalism ...Bushes ...
This interview took place in early March 2003, shortly after the publication of Kingdom of Fear.
(To Answering Machine) I had an interview scheduled with Hunter Thompson--
(Explosion of music over the telephone.)
Hey hey hey hi. Sorry, this thing is just dragging on longer than I thought. I'll call you, I'd imagine in like ten minutes.
OK. Sure.
(TWENTY MINUTES LATER.) Hello?
I got caught up in some goddamn weird old English romance of some kind.
Was it something you were writing or reading?
I was watching a movie. (Yelling to someone in the room.) Sense and Sensibility, I think. I couldn't believe it, I was wrapped up in this ancient goddamned thing.
Jane Austin, right?
Yes it is.
I've never seen it, I think I've read the book, though.
Goddamn, I must be in a unique mood of some kind because I got completely into it.
Really. I wouldn't think you'd like that.
I wouldn't either. I've never been into Jane Austin, particularly. But that was well done. A nicely done movie.
OK, then. What is the state of the American dream today?
Oh, god. That's a pretty pre-thought out, written on a list kind of question. Not very good. Yeah I would say not. The American Dream ran out with the American century. I'm still figuring it out. That's a pretty strong statement. I'm still putting the pieces together right now.
What do you think Horatio Alger would do if he was alive today?
He'd probably be a terrorist.
Do you think its possible for a man to be free in present day America?
Well, it depends on who it is. I'm doing pretty well. I don't know about you. I have a feeling it's going to be more of a struggle than its been for a while.
Why's that?
Look around you. The military state we're being sort of formed into--shit, I wrote about this last night, I forgot what I said. The military structure--did you read the book I just wrote?
Yeah. Kingdom of Fear. I thought it was a very apt title.
Yeah, more so than I realized when I came up with it.
What do you think the think of how the Bush Administration is cracking down on civil rights?
The Bush administration is a heap of Nazi shit. Bullshit. Yeah, you can put it that way. I don't know what your audience is ready for. What kind of target.
In the seventies you had a meeting with Richard Nixon and you talked about college football. What would you say if you had the same face time with GW Bush?
Oh, ahhh. To put this on realistic lines. I was the only person in the press corp who could talk about football, and Nixon wanted to talk about football. I don't know. I don't think Bush would want to talk to me. I'm a journalist, of course I would talk to him.
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