“Bush is a fool. He’s put us all in danger.”

“Is Kerry any better? ”

“No,” he states flatly.”Is he less dangerous?”

“You can’t tell, but I don’t see him rushing around doing preemptive strikes against countries that displease him.”

I tell Vidal about a speech given in Toronto by one of America’s leading liberals, Bill Moyers. Moyers said that in the U.S., there is a merger taking place between big corporations, monopoly media, and three branches of government controlled by the hard right. According to Moyers, they are leading toward a one-party state.

Vidal’s eyes focus; his voice becomes passionate. “This could be the last election. If the ‘yellow rose’ [Bush] is re-elected, he might make it so that it’s too dangerous to hold another election. Terrorists will strike us time and again, and they will postpone it. Four more years of Bush and we will have the first fascist court — openly fascist — in which the lower classes are kept in a pen. Building prisons is already the number-one growth industry in the Californian building trades.”

After the barrage of criticism he’s come under the last couple of years, and the emotional loss of his companion, I wonder if Vidal is ready to stick his neck out again.

“I feel particularly committed to sticking my neck out this time. If Bush is elected, there will be another war.”

I push again: why not just enjoy a retirement?

There is fire in his eyes. He sits upright and cocks his head defiantly. Here is Vidal the destroyer.