William Buckley Interviews Norman Mailer on Firing Line (1968) Part 6

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[jaygatsby12]

Thanks for posting this. I think Mailer was right about 1950s Cuba. Not that a country going from a grade of a "F" to "D+" is all that impressive but it is progress of an uninspired kind.

You don't have a copy of a Firing Line with Christopher Hitchens, do you?

[CEHitchens33]

No, I wish but you can find transcripts of the shows he was on online.

[dnggitg]

Mailer's voluble flow clearly evinced his genius, but I was impressed with Buckley's ability to patiently and open-mindedly (apparently) listen to Mailer and wait for an opportunity to make a telling point. Unlike the televised pundits of today (the few I've seen, at any rate), Buckley conveyed the impression of being eminently reasonable and civilized.

[tabber87]

I love the look of subtle exasperation on Buckley's face a minute in.

[slapdashhumanist]

mailer is just talking shit! castro a great man? oswald didnt do it? orgies of killing releasing postive emotions? most conservatives are horse jumpers? this is nonsense. he seems so impressed with castro's rebellion, and it's just not that unusual or impressive. and that crap about boldness and men like him and buckley sort it out afterwards... don't admire any change or revolution, admire the ones that make things better. i know guys on crack that make more sense that mailer does here

[jamespowell1969]

@jaygatsby12 You are right - slavery went from F to D+ too - doesn't make it right. The mistake some on the left made was to back the Cuban State. The Left were supposed to be anti- state and pro democracy. Castro did rule a state.

[mrdarcyme]

Well,.. at least he didn't threaten to smash him in the g#d#mmed face...

[OneBigRetard]

The ending is perfect.

Buckley has that grin showing that he knows he has squeezed out a perfectly contained quotable sentence in which to end on and Mailer has that laugh indicating that he is aware that he has just provided it and recognises that Buckley is satisfied with it. The professional host and the professional guest.

Wondrous episode of a wondrous show. What happened to US TV? (not Drama which is obviously in the latter stages of the ultimate golden era)

[OneBigRetard]

'We don't know Oswald...'

Easiest way to see wishful thinking in somebody. The JFK case is about as simple an open and shut case could be. Yet those on the left NEED the myth that something else killed him. It is a great example of one of those things which reveals the lack of serious reading and the abundance of a desire for the world to fit ones views rather than the reverse.

[scottyboi76]

Mailer Proves he was wrong when he said we couldn't beat Communism.....One word........Reagan.....

[loggats]

@xtrmsprts Mailer fans are scary.

[xtrmsprts]

Not Mailer's best day. He kinda looks a little sick, sleep-deprived. Still he did a good job, Buckley ambushed him on his show with his partisan audience and crypto-nazi gaurds ;P

[pumkinpi2]

Good to see these two brilliant men cliffhanging each other's ideas, with more than just conviction, tot intellectual honesty as well.

[Myndir]

@bapyou Buckley, Friedman, Buchanan and so on were part of a generation of conservative intellectuals who, while I think they were wrong on many things, were very thoughtful and were keen to debate with the left, perhaps because they knew- as we all should know- that there is always a possibility that they were wrong.