Gore Vidal's version of the SOTUS. Not to be missed.

[Cleita]

Coming up on the "Ring of Fire" on AAR with Bobby Kennedy, Jr. and Mike Pappantonio.

[saltpoint]

1. Gore Vidal is a national treasure. Love 'im. / nt

[Cleita]

2. This ought to be good. He holds * in the highest disdain.

:-)

[saltpoint]

4. Yes. That's right. I doubt if he even considers Bush an adult. / nt

[H2O Man]

3. I'm reading his

book "Imperial America" now. I've always enjoyed reading his works. I must say it's interesting that he's going to be on with Robert, though. Older DUers will recall his conflict with RFK, Sr. Nothing huge, just something from the "trivial pursuit" of the older generation.

[Cleita]

5. I have to catch up on my reading of his books.

Although I keep up with his essays, the last book of his that I read was "Creation".

[Glorfindel]

6. That was a family thing, right?

Wasn't Jackie Kennedy his stepsister? (Or half-sister; I can never keep these things straight.)

[H2O Man]

7. I believe that

at different times, they each had the same person for a step-father.

[Smarmie Doofus]

9. No blood connection to Jackie but a not very distant....

cousin to the Gores.

[H2O Man]

11. "He andJacqueline Kennedy

both had had, in successive periods, Hugh D. Auchincloss as a stepfather. .... As John English, a New Deal Democratic leader, later told the story, 'Vidal got very uptight about it. And Kennedy was embarrassed because (Vidal) was related to Jackie....'." From Schlesinger's classic "RFK." Not blood, but there is a connection.

[Smarmie Doofus]

8. It was touched off when Vidal was running for Congress....

in '60 in upstate NY.... the same year RFK was managing JFK's nat'l campaign. At a joint appearance Vidal had failed to mention JFK and was taken aside by RFK who asked why he had not mentioned candidate Kennedy.

Vidal replied, "Because I want to *win*". Things went downhill from there.

This according to Vidal's memoir.... Palimpsest. It *was* pretty huge, BTW. Vidal started something called 'Democrats for Keating'( GOP incumbent) in 1964 when RFK ran successfully for US SENATE.

[PBass]

10. Starting right now (eom)