The Doctor Weighs In

Hunter
Thompson has long been one of our literary heroes and role models, ever
since Fear and Loathing in Las
Vegas ripped the vinyl horsehide off of "objective journalism" and showed
what could be accomplished by diving headfirst into the moshpit miasma
of modern America and completely erasing the line between coverer and
covered.

That being said, it pains us to note that the Good Doctor
seems to be losing his edge.  Whether this be from skills eroded
by decades of alternately hard and indulgent living or the simple spiraling
of the situation beyond even the ability of one of the greatest satirists
of our age to capture in prose, is not for this humble observer to say,
his commentary in Rolling Stone on the current electoral cycle pales
in comparison to his trailblazing coverage of the Nixon campaigns in
68 and 72, in that same publication.

But then who among us is the same man we were in the late
60’s and early 70’s?  Many of us were never men, then nor now, and
many were not even born 30 odd years ago. Lord knows, if we could afford
the quantities and quality of intoxicants available to Thompson, we would
have degenerated into incoherence long ago.

Still, some of his observations are sharp and some of his
similes still make us smile, and there are flashes of the old fire. Plus,
it’s always worth reading a report from a true master who’s been there,
and done it all:

Presidential politics is a vicious business, even for
rich white men, and anybody who gets into it should be prepared to
grapple with the
meanest of the mean. The White House has never been seized by timid
warriors. There are no rules, and the roadside is littered with wreckage.
That is why they call it the passing lane. Just ask any candidate
who ever ran against George Bush — Al Gore, Ann Richards, John McCain
— all of them ambushed and vanquished by lies and dirty tricks.
And
all of them still whining about it.

from Rolling
Stone