William Buckley Interviews Norman Mailer on Firing Line (1968) Part 3

[mrdarcyme]

They both get along so well because they're so different. Both write better than they talk, especially Mailer, who never comes off well in these interviews..

[MetrazolElectricity]

@mrdarcyme No, Buckley spoke better than he wrote... His books are lightweights, from God and Man to Miles Gone By...all more or less passed by without any major detection. Whereas, Mailer was a two-time pulitzer prize winner. That's no joke. With that said, Buckley was a class A debater. Same with Hitchens, his books aren't really scholarly or very interesting but he is a stage character.

[Asskicker32294]

1968 was the real turning point...the so called "60's" spanned the LSD craze of 1965-1967, to the obscenity of the Chicago police attacking and beating the Vietnam War protesters effectually illustrating the state of democracy or rather the lack thereof in this benighted land...

[seedofvision]

Notice how loose the conversation is? Maybe it's the 1968 thing, but look at Buckley--leaning back, scratching his head with a pencil, winking like a madman at Mailer. It's all relaxed and allowed to be what it is. They're on the opposite side politically but you can see they enjoy each other, even respect each other. Life in general, especially talk shows, seems a lot more boring and predictable. I wish guys like these were still around.

[nilan3000]

Gore Vidal disliked this video.

[xtrmsprts]

"Your point is that the political left takes its politics so seriously that it understands the necessity of abiding by the law?" .... that was a shrewd devious polemical mutation of mailer's point. Mailer : "No, sir" ...with a short smile. He knew Bill was up to his old tricks.

[jhop9898]

Buckley is better at taking a conversation about nothing and making it interesting & enjoyable than anyone I've ever seen.

[thespaceshipmartini]

Great interview. I love getting drunk in public.

[johnbourbon]

despite his assertion to the contrary, regarding criminality and ideology, i'm pretty sure the lefty mailer either punched people or was punched by people far more than the righty buckley.

[nickwade1]

never seen George W.Bush sound so lucid

[lanser87]

@nickwade1 HAHA

[johnbourbon]

@nickwade1 never seen obama so interesting

[WhenLilacsLast]

Judging only academically,I believe an unforgivable trait of Firing Line was that the audience was unsavorily partisan in favor of the host. For instance,it's a rarity that they applaud or acknowledge the many witticisms that mailer births. This creates a hostile milieu for the guest and a neutral viewer,like myself, would inevitably put off by this t.v. production mishap. Then again, you'd have to be an obstinate right-extremist to show up for a shooting of firing line.

[JTHSanDiego]

@WhenLilacsLast

Some things never change, eh? Audiences for Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, Chris Matthews, et al are certainly "fair and balanced" huh! One can often see Maher cringe at the sycophantic chimps in his audience.  Nobody seems to have an exclusive right to partizanship.

[LastOfSixMusic]

i think CaptPoco has the right perspective in viewpoint... This a an extraordinary video and Buckley is intelligent enough to realize Mailer can marginalize his intellect had the drop of a word.

Both have something truly to say in the exchange, and their intellect towers above most modern talk show hosts and guests(i.e...think Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Oprah, etc....)...

[THEFRANKLINFILM]

that wouldn't be hard.

[Conail23]

liberals have more propriey in their private lives? hehehe I don't see that at all.

[LanceBeckman]

@Conail23 Yeah, I think Mailer puzzled everyone with that claim.

[THEFRANKLINFILM]

I don't think he always thought about what he was said, just liked the sound of his own voice.

[septip123]

What the F is with the doorbell? Couldn't the poor guy just get an off-camera hand signal?????!!!!

[septip123]

you can't have interviews like this anymore because nobody could stay awake half-way thru a Buckley question.

"why do you find that, in a sense, you were, to that which you have said in the Time interview, notwithstanding a self-depricating laugh -- onto which you have said yourself -- that you have said these things about yourself, your own writing?"

Response: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz­z!

[CaptPoco]

English grammar alone is not enough to guide you through to understanding a Buckley question: you have to pay attention to smiles, widening eyes for emphasis, and, of course, the monster pauses. It isn't easy, but at the end of the day you're a better person for it. I wish either of them were still with us...

[davidavraham2008]

speaking of boring...couldn't you perhaps,as it were,from the tenor and manner of your questions and comments,find some other subject to exhibit your lack of intellectual fortitude? It is unbecoming of someone who can apparently read at some level above an elementary education,to reveal such paucity of historic perspective vis a vis television during the late 1960's, and an inabilty to put your ADD on hold long enough to figure out what is being discussed.

You are dismissed.

[MattCich]

i love that they have completely different political views and they still seem to be having a fun time, i wish Buckley was still around

[Jbeal666]

@MattCich Fun yes, but they aren't at ease, both respectful of the others ability to drown them should they step outside the boundaries of decorum