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"There
are so many qualities that make up a human being...by
the time I get through the things I really admire about
people, what they do with their private parts is probably so
low on the list that it is irrelevant".
— Paul
Newman


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Lord
of the Lumpens
"B-1" Bob
Dornan is running for Congress again…
and it's time to cash in. A self-serving interview with Nathan
Callahan,
author of "Shut Up, Fag!" Quotations
from the Files of Congressman Bob Dornan.
In 1993, Nathan
Callahan and Mike Kaspar wrote, edited and published the paperback "Shut
Up, Fag!” With its unsettling title and contemptible subject
matter, the book became a second-tier cult success. TV and radio
interviews followed. The New York Times, Los Angeles Times,
The Chicago Tribune, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN — nearly every
member of what Dornan called the "dominant liberal media culture" kept
copies of “Fag” on their desks, and with good reason.
The
book is thoroughly documented, with sources, page references
and dates. For example: On October 19, 1990, Dornan is
quoted from The Congressional Record —"You
can get elected by proclaiming you are a sodomite and
engage in anal sex all the time." Callahan noted, "It
is a measure of Bob Dornan's own high principles that
he has not yet taken this easy pathway to even higher
public office."
“Fag’s” success
helped dethrone Dornan. With Callahan and Kaspar sniping
and snapping at his heels, the nine-term congressman
was run out of office in 1996.
Now,
Dornan is back again, challenging Congressman Dana Rohrbacher
for his seat in the upcoming GOP primary.
Callahan
is back again, too. He was upbeat and charming when I
interviewed him aboard his yacht, “The Lesbian
Spearchucker II.”
Nathan
Callahan: As a political performance artist
and author of the definitive book on Bob Dornan how does
the ex-congressman’s re-entry into politics effect
you?
Nathan
Callahan: I’m ecstatic. Dornan’s
been money in my pocket from day one. Since his announcement
last week, “Shut Up, Fag!” sales
have skyrocketed and I’ve received tens of thousands
of additional hits on my website. With each sale I say, “Thanks
Bob. You may be one crazy motherfucker, but I love you.”
Nathan
Callahan: Are you serious?
Nathan
Callahan: …as a heart attack.
Nathan
Callahan: But doesn’t that make you a
crass opportunist?
Nathan
Callahan: Yes, of course. But a crass opportunist
with a cause.
Nathan
Callahan: What’s your fascination with
Dornan?
Nathan
Callahan: He’s one of a kind — a
walking encyclopedia. His head is filled with facts and
numbers that he can regurgitate at will — birth
dates, bomb poundages, regiment numbers, cargo carrying
capacities. But unfortunately, the facts and numbers
come out of his mouth irrationally. He’s a man
of lucid incoherence. It’s tragic.
Nathan
Callahan: How did he ever get elected?
Nathan
Callahan: He had Hollywood connections and right-wing
money. And to exist in the political world, he created
enemies and conflicts. Without them he's just a well-connected
lumpen. Surrounded by make-believe threats, however,
he’s Lord of the Lumpens.
Here’s
an example: Back in 1995, Bob gave a speech to the House
of Representatives accusing President Clinton of giving “aid
and comfort to the enemy during the Vietnam War." I’m
not kidding. Dornan was stripped of his floor privileges
and expelled. The late Sonny Bono, who was a Congressman
at the time, asked Dornan why he did it.
“I’ll
be on C-Span every hour. Who cares?” Dornan said.
Bono
said later of Dornan, “He doesn’t care when
you talk to him, what you’re saying, why you are
saying it, or even if you’re there. I’ve never
seen anything like it.”
Dornan
is unique. I’ve never seen anything like it either.
Nathan
Callahan: What’s your proudest Dornan-related
moment?
Nathan
Callahan: That would be in 1994, when Colorado
Congresswoman Pat Schroeder took the Speaker’s
Chair in the House of Representatives and read from “Shut
Up, Fag!” There were shrieks of laughter.
You can’t beat that.
— Nathan Callahan,
December 5, 2003
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