MartiniPundit

A Raging End of an Era

Hunter Thompson has killed himself.

I wish I could say the news was a surprise, but I’m amazed he lasted this long. As with many, I first discovered Thompson in college - long after my acquaintance with his fictional alter ego Uncle Duke - and devoured the various fear and loathing tales. My roommate was a much bigger fan than I was, and indeed, I tired early of the rage and narcissism which more properly characterized Thompson’s style. Naturally the substance abuse was exaggerated, but given the depth of abuse chronicled in his books, Thompson was clearly an expert witness to his own familiarity. That his self-inflicted end came from a gunshot rather than a different kind of shot is only marginally strange.

In recent years he descended into greater weirdness, and I confess I’ve read none of his later work due to lack of interest. Nevertheless, he was a uniquely American voice, and we are all diminished by his silence.

Update

Michelle Malkin is collecting links.

Update II

Soxblog notes that the moonbats (predictably) are blaming Bush.

1. It is terribly sad. The man had his demons and his excesses, but I believe that was all a part of his genius.

   Even when he was strange, he was interesting and hard to look away from.

   Posted by  on  02/21  at  11:25 AM

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