Hunter S. Thompson tells jocks the truth

[RainDog]

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/thompson/030722.html

Welcome to the Big Darkness
By Hunter S. Thompson

"...But wow! This goofy child president we have on our hands now. He is demonstrably a fool and a failure, and this is only the summer of '03. By the summer of 2004, he might not even be living in the White House. Gone, gone, like the snows of yesteryear.

The Rumsfield-Cheney axis has self-destructed right in front of our eyes, along with the once-proud Perle-Wolfowitz bund that is turning to wax. They somehow managed to blow it all, like a gang of kids on a looting spree, between January and July, or even less. It is genuinely incredible. The U.S. Treasury is empty, we are losing that stupid, fraudulent chickencrap War in Iraq, and every country in the world except a handful of Corrupt Brits despises us. We are losers, and that is the one unforgiveable sin in America.
()
The American nation is in the worst condition I can remember in my lifetime, and our prospects for the immediate future are even worse. I am surprised and embarrassed to be a part of the first American generation to leave the country in far worse shape than it was when we first came into it. Our highway system is crumbling, our police are dishonest, our children are poor, our vaunted Social Security, once the envy of the world, has been looted and neglected and destroyed by the same gang of ignorant greed-crazed bastards who brought us Vietnam, Afghanistan, the disastrous Gaza Strip and ignominious defeat all over the world.

The Stock Market will never come back, our Armies will never again be No. 1, and our children will drink filthy water for the rest of our lives.

The Bush family must be very proud of themselves today, but I am not. Big Darkness, soon come. Take my word for it."

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Confidence is high...

That The Good Doctor wrote this while under the influence of Ibogaine and Cane Toad Sweat, with an Ether Margarita with a Cocaine crust on the rim, to knock it back. Having said that, he still speaks The Real Juju. The man is amazing.

Just don't be around him when he has a gun in his hand.

[Demobrat]

2. I never really liked his writing.

I like this though.

[Syrinx]

3. Hunter's the best

I wish he could express himself as well on tv as in the written word. I would love to see him on Crossfire or somthing like that.

[bahrbearian]

4. Fear and Lothing in the U.S.A.

Sounds like a new book?

[Syrinx]

5. Call Hunter at the Woody Creek Tavern and suggest it!

Sounds most excellent.

[oustemnow]

19. He published Fear and Loathing in America a couple of years back

but it was a collection of letters. Still good reading, though, for the Hunter-phile.

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Syrinx]

7. I don't think anyone ever called Thompson a crybaby

except his attorney.

[thebigidea]

8. snicker

The Friends of Paul Wolfowitz Society thank you for your support. Your free Feith-Fan Tote Bag is on the way.

HST has been through decades of crazed rants exposing these bastards before most were in short and/or long pants... hilarious to see someone say that he did anything BUT call out the hypocrites...

unless its a joke, and my humor is shot from squinting at a monitor for far too long.

[RainDog]

9. Whatever you think about him...

is not the point here for me, or why I posted this.

the important thing, to me, is that he is on the espn website writing this.

...not on some democratic site.

....not on c-span.

That's what matters to me about this, and I'm glad to see he's telling the truth to the high testosterone crowd.

as a femme bot, I know guys who will read this and take notice, so I'm soooo happy to see his column.

[Alfalfa T. Coleridge]

12. Hunter Thompson

Hunter's latest is appearing in a number of places - even good ol' truthout.org. What bugs me about Hunter, is that his street cred is low outside the small crowd who remembers his good stuff - like Fear and Loathing. A reputation for drugs and booze will do that for you.

The last time I saw Hunter on TV, he was almost unintelligible, couldn't put two sentences together. Now, there is nothing unique about his views on the state of the nation. You can find the same sentiments expressed much more effectively in any number of places.

on that note, what exactly is a "democratic site?"

ATC

[RainDog]

13. think what you want

like I said, I'm glad it's there for the sports fans.

as far as Thompson only being relevant for his older fans, I would have to disagree since he is one of the most shoplifted authors where I work, and I live in a college town and have lots of male customers who also buy his books, too.

not only that, but the Fear and Loathing movie with Johnny Depp is a huge favorite among guys I know who are under thirty.

so, I guess we just know different people.

by a democratic site, I meant one that like this one, or others which exist for the purpose of promoting democrats.

[Alfalfa T. Coleridge]

14. Big D Democrats and little d democrats

"by a democratic site, I meant one that like this one, or others which exist for the purpose of promoting democrats."

Ah, I'm new to DU, but I was under the impression that the word "Democratic" in Democratic Underground was capitalized only becuase it was a proper name, and not because the site was affiliated with the Democratic Party or the DNC, etc. There is a considerable amount of non-Democrat content on the site. Anti-Bush does not equal Democrat.

I thought anyone who would post here would know the difference: a big D Democrat belongs to the Democratic Party. The word that defines someone who advocates democracy is "democratic" with a lower-case "d"

I still contend alcoholics and druggies are a net minus on the balance sheet to unseat Bush. Your mileage obviously varies.

ATC

[RainDog]

15. btw, welcome to DU

I didn't capitalize democratic cause I was lazy and because I assumed that someone of your obvious wit and sophistication knew what I meant.

this site was started in response to the soft coup of 2000. for that reason, I suppose you could say it's here to promote democrats.

by your post count, it would guess you weren't here for the mid-term elections...if you had been, you would assume this site was here to promote democrats.

your assumption that anyone who buys Thompson is a drug addict is funny, sort of in the same way that the church lady was funny on Saturday Night Live.

or are you just so narrow minded you think anyone who has been honest about his past shouldn't be allowed to have an opinion..does that make him or her automatically "unclean?"

I, for one, find "blow-dried democrats" annoying in the extreme, but I recognize their usefulness to mall moms and office park dads.

I know many others who feel the same way, but they don't tell middle class middle management to shut up because they'll alienate the literary crowd, or the nascar crowd, or the unemployed, who have far worse problems to deal with than whether or not Johnny is challenged in his suburban school.

your assumption that only the "pure" are a benefit to democrats makes me wonder why you would support a party which takes the words on the Statue of Liberty to heart after those people are citizens, after they've or we have left the womb, and after they've and we made our contributions to society.

but that's just me.

obviously your mileage may vary.

[Alfalfa T. Coleridge]

16. DU

your assumption that anyone who buys Thompson is a drug addict is funny, sort of in the same way that the church lady was funny on Saturday Night Live.

I didn't mean to suggest that at all. I just don't think Hunter Thompson has a lot of credibility because of his reputation as a druggie/alcoholic. If you'd seen his appearance on the Letterman show, I think you'd see what I mean. Like Mike Tyson or Ozzy Osbourn, he's a colorful guy, but he's not the kind of guy you want bearing your moral standards.

Of course he's allowed to have an opinion, I just don't think he's the pundit with the ethos to put the morally challenged Bush admin in its proper place - the unemployment line.

Democrats don't have a lock on the moral high ground. Torricelli and Traficante have stepped on their privates recently. Here in Texas, Dan Morales and the Texas Tobacco Lawyers have displayed such greed and arrogance that we'll probably never have another Democrat governor, no matter how corrupt Bush is revealed to be.

There is no doubt that Bush should be impeached, but Bush's guilt does not excuse the Democrats moral and ethical shortcomings. Don't forget that 99% of congressional Democrats gave Bush carte blanche in Iraq

ATC

[thebigidea]

23. like Mike Tyson?

I always anticipated Hunter Thompson's Punch Out! for the NES, but it never saw wide distribution.

Morals?

I'll take the Doctor quoting Revelations in a DMT delirium over Bill Bennett huffing and/or Falwell puffing.

Meanwhile, I'm going to take to the streets at night with a lantern, looking for the Last Honest Pundit With The Ineffable Ethos.

(if not Thompson... perhaps that great journalist Howard Fineman...)

[KoKo]

18. Sounds good to me "Raindog." Good that it's on ESPN! N/T

:-)'s

[oneighty]

10. Have you hugged your Albatross today?

Your thoughts are interesting as is your prose!

Welcome to DU, I think.

180

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Hunter's not the only one who snorted his brain away,

years ago. At least he's not the pResident.

[KoKo]

17. Like your reply "Alfalfa" but I never get why DU'ers trash Thompson as an

addict.....and to be discounted. I'm not a devoted reader of his.....but whatever gets linked on DU I read....and he hasn't come up short ffor me. But, then, I only know his writings from folks on this site.....so some of his "watchers" know more about his shortcomings.

But, I really agree with you about this starting long ago. I take it past Reagan though....back to Nixon.

It needed to be "cleaned out." But, Gerry Ford & the "powers" decided the country couldn't take a "Nixon Impeachment," so we are living with the consequences.

[Alfalfa T. Coleridge]

21. "I never get why DU'ers trash Thompson..."

Ask yourself this question: Why do DUers trash Bush and neoconservative policies? Does it have ANYTHING to do with morality or ethics? Or is it just because Bush is on the other team, the Republicans? Has the American political system been reduced to the status of a Super Bowl where we root for the blue jerseys and boo the white jerseys?

Sadly, I fear that it has. If only it were as simple as the Virtuous Democrats vs the Evil Republicans, it would make it so much easier for those of us who tend to see in shades of grey instead of back and white. The truth of the matter is, that Democrats ON AVERAGE are just as venal and corrupt as Republicans.

It might be enlightening to start another thread where we list and rate partisan scandal and personalities, comparing the relative merits of the Gulf of Tonkin vs Watergate, or Kennedy vs Reagan but the current reality is that of the 40-some-odd percent of American voters who bother to vote, most voted for the Republican team, and now it's up to the Democrats to defeat the other team and reclaim the executive and legislative branches.

I guess if the election came down to winning the alcoholic/coke-head vote, Hunter Thompson might just be the man for the job.

[alfredo]

22. HST is like so many writers,

totally fucked up. Sanity is not what art is about. His drugs and alcohol is self medication, a way to bring himself to a point where he can cope.

Is Hunter as he writes, or is it a character? Are the wild incidents real, or a drug induced reality? To the reader it shouldn't matter. I don't give a shit if he is a drugged out alkie or clean and sober. I enjoy the insane, funny, and horrific worlds he creates.

I enjoy his rants, but I do not see him a spokesman.

[TacticalPeek]

24. uh, minor correction...

"of the 40-some-odd percent of American voters who bother to vote, most voted for the Republican team"

I realize this is technical and has "no controlling authority" (too bad),
but actually MOST voted for the Democratic team, by over half a million votes.

(Assuming from Tonkin/Watergate and Kennedy/Reagan that you are talking Presidential election.)

[Democat]

20. Hunter seems to have made you mad

Not enough Bush lovin' for you?