GORE VIDAL probably isn’t out of bed yet, but his column in the Observer today has already been Fisked.

UPDATE: Damian Penny has a roundup of responses, and observes:

Vidal’s pathetic conspiracy theorizing is yet another example of the moral quandary in which the ultra-left finds itself. The one and only guiding principle for the fringe left is that the United States is the most evil, oppressive country the world has ever known, period. And when an “alternative” like Islamofascism – a movement completely opposed to every stated goal of the far left, including women’s rights and acceptance of homosexuality – comes along, the left is left with three choices: acknowledge that the Yanks and their allies are the lesser of two evils (as Christopher Hitchens has done); pretend to be “neutral” in the conflict, on the basis that (American) military action can never, ever be justified; or, in the case of Vidal and the IndyMidiots, assume that the Americans – especially the Republican president and his inner circle – must be in the wrong, because they simply cannot comprehend them ever being right. When the third option is chosen, wild conspiracy theorizing is what you get.

Yep. On a related front, the Angry Clam has a collection of links to Wellstone-related conspiracy theories.