It's telling that The New York Times black-listed Gore Vidal in the late 1940's because he wrote a novel, The City & The Pillar, that was the first in American history to deal with the subject of homosexuality with *nonchalance.* Two all-American jocks sexually attracted to each other; one develops an intense devotion to the other, the other doesn't feel as strongly, all this within a culture cluelessly alarmist about the utterly human albeit minority reality of same-sex sexual attraction, and the story ends badly. (Vidal re-writes the ending years later so it ends a bit less badly). Some detractors actually stated that such a relationship was impossible since such types of men could not be gay. Forget that Alexander the Great might not agree with the detractors; I simply note that in our own day and age, last I checked, NYC's gay rugby team the Gotham Knights has bested the NYPD rugby team in pretty much every match-up they've had.

Now, come on. What happened to Vidal was the late 19-@#$%ing-40's! I'd like to think we've moved beyond that, but the father Mr. Tennis is replying to demonstrates that we still have a way to go. Anita Bryant's refrain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_Bryant), "Save the Children" has become "'Save MY Children,' but if they're not my own, then maybe they don't need 'saving.'" That's progress . . . sort of.

At the end of the day, given the totality of each individual's personhood and life, and also given the totality of "issues" in the world, same-sex sexual attraction should be about as cosmically important as hair color or left-handedness. I applaud Mr. Tennis for apparently getting that, and for reminding readers that it's a good idea for parents to love and accept their children.

I think if Matthews had reacted to his own error, at the pause immediately following it, with a quick, simple, no-emotion "excuse me," and moved on, this clip would not have even attracted Video Dog's attention. It's Matthew's reaction, not the error itself, which--to me--seems somehow slipshod and unprofessional. What is more, this incident, as trivial as it is, only reinforces my dislike of his unmodulated, blaring delivery and awkwardly combative style. In general, Matthews is very off-putting.

Deer Saloon:

I aplaud ur brayv deesihshun 2 show How gramma and spelling dont mater. Shirley, wee awl no its/it's know reflexion on top of Saloon.

Write?

Rite?

I doubt that the Dems can stop the surge from happening, which would render this scenario moot, but if no surge occurs, it might give those who support a surge--including Sen. John McCain who is expected to run for President--ammunition against Democrats in the near future. The foiling of the president's ambition for a surge could allow pro-surge politicians (and commentators) to later retort, "If the Democrats had only backed the surge as I recommended! They lost the war in Iraq for us," etc.

Of course, such rhetoric would for partisanship's sake ignore the fact that many Republicans, military leaders and military experts are also on record as not approving of a surge. Yet, all spin--successful or not--ignores certain facts, and a "Democrats cost us Iraq" argument, like the "Democrats cost us Vietnam" arguement, could prove viable. Who knows?

In fact, given that Republican partisanship is so virulent and so extreme within the ranks of both conservative commentators--to the point of some even wallowing in eliminationist rhetoric about Democrats and "liberals" needing to be shot--I would suspect that a "Democrats cost us Iraq" meme is already forming, and will exist whether there is a surge or not. The question will only be how widely accepted it will be as a viewpoint later.

Not primarily a review of "Point to Point," Mr. Bara’s "Too Much Gore" seems mostly to be a bizarre screed. Born of something other than calm observation, it misleads. For instance, it is true that Vidal references himself in his published works, except, of course, when he does not. As is painfully obvious to those familiar with Vidal's works, Vidal does not reference himself in most of his writing. After all, virtually all of his "Narratives of Empire" novels concern US history of generations ago, and novels such as "Julian" and "Creation" concern Antiquity. Thus, Mr. Barra offers to those unfamiliar with Vidal,

a hit piece that strenuously avoids basic facts, such as that Vidal's novels, and even his Broadway play, "The Best Man," have entertained and informed many thousands of readers with incisive depictions or dramatizations of the workings of the powerful in imperial settings, and that those depictions and dramatizations are well-crafted and still relevant today.

Larry McMurtry's review of "Point to Point" ("The Lives of Gore") in a recent issue of The New York Review of Books knowledgeably describes and analyzes Vidal's memoir and places it in the context of our times and Vidal's collected works. This review is available on the NY Review of Books' website.