Hunter S. Thompson: The Playboy Interview (50 Years of the Playboy Interview) by Playboy & Thompson Hunter S

Author:Playboy & Thompson, Hunter S. [Thompson, Hunter S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Playboy
Published: 2012-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Playboy: You changed the pitch toward the end, toned it down, didn’t you?

Thompson: Yeah, I became a creature of my own campaign. I was really surprised at the energy we could whip up for that kind of thing, latent political energy just sitting around.

Playboy: What did your platform finally evolve into?

Thompson: I said I was going to function as an ombudsman, create a new office—unsalaried—then turn my sheriff’s salary over to a good experienced lawman and let him do the job. I figured once you got control of the sheriff’s office, you could let somebody else carry the badge and gun—under your control, of course. It almost worked.

Playboy: What was the final vote?

Thompson: Well, there were six precincts that mattered and I won the three in town, broke even in number four and then got stomped brutally in the two precincts where most of the real-estate developers and subdividers live.

Playboy: Are you sorry you lost?

Thompson: Well, I felt sorry for the people who worked so hard on the campaign. But I don’t miss the job. For a while, I thought I was going to win, and it scared me.

Playboy: There’s been talk of your running for the Senate from Colorado. Is that a joke?

Thompson: No. I considered it for a while, but this past year has killed my appetite for politics. I might reconsider after I get away from it for a while. Somebody has to change politics in this country.

Playboy: Would you run for the Senate the same way you ran for sheriff?

Thompson: Well, I might have to drop the mescaline issue, I don’t think there’d be any need for that—promising to eat mescaline on the Senate floor. I found out last time you can push people too far. The backlash is brutal.

Playboy: What if the unthinkable happened and Hunter Thompson went to Washington as a senator from Colorado? Do you think you could do any good?

Thompson: Not much, but you always do some good by setting an example—you know, just by proving it can be done.

Playboy: Don’t you think there would be a strong reaction in Washington to some of the things you’ve written about the politicians there?

Thompson: Of course. They’d come after me like wolverines. I’d have no choice but to haul out my secret files—all that raw swill Ed Hoover gave me just before he died. We were good friends. I used to go to the track with him a lot.

Playboy: You’re laughing again, but that raises a legitimate question: Are you trying to say you know things about Washington people that you haven’t written?

Thompson: Yeah, to some extent. When I went to Washington to write Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail ’72, I went with the same attitude I take anywhere as a journalist: hammer and tongs—and God’s mercy on anybody who gets in the way. Nothing is off the record, that kind of thing. But I finally realized that some things have to be off the record. I don’t know where the line is, even now.

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