Hitchens: "I Might Orgasm In My Trousers" Over Fall Of Bill Clinton

The famously acid-tongued and brutally insightful Christopher Hitchens proclaimed himself near "orgasm" on Wednesday over the much maligned conduct and exit of Bill Clinton from presidential politics.

"The ex-president revealed to a crucial number of people something that many of us already knew: he is a raging psycho," said the Vanity Fair writer. "It's very gratifying to see more people catching up to that now."

Explaining that Sen. Clinton's loss was due in large part to her husband's behavior on the trail, Hitchens, a troublesome grin appearing on his face, concluded: "That pleases me more than I can say. In fact, I think I might orgasm in my trousers."

A controversial literary figure, Hitchens has long been a fierce critic of Clinton. He devoted an entire book to the former president's propensity to bend truths and tendency to use divisive racial politics. And during the current campaign he has chimed in, every now and then, with perverse pleasure over the poor-reviews Bill Clinton was receiving.

"He is completely out of control," he told the Hugh Hewitt show. "In other words, he has a lot of good friends who keep telling him, 'Bill, you must stop with this. You can't just ramble and rant on in this mad way like some tenth rate huckster instead of behaving like a former president and chief executive of the United States.' And he knows that they're right, but he can't not help himself. And it's the same with everything else."

Speaking at National Journal and Google's "21st Century Campaign" symposium, Hitchens said that he did not believe Bill Clinton was acting in a Schadenfreude attempt to undermine his wife's campaign -- an effort, of sorts, to remain the couple's most accomplished pol. "I don't think he subconsciously wanted her to lose because [her win] would mean that he was, in some way, back," he said. "Lackluster it wasn't. It was ugly, it was nasty."

And yet, lest one think Hitchens was an supporter of Barack Obama, he had some choice critiques for the Illinois Democrat as well. On the Senator's highly praised speech on race that he gave in Philadelphia during the crest of the Jeremiah Wright scandal, the Vanity Fair writer challenged members of the audience to recited a single line.

"You can't," he proclaimed, a bit excited that his prophecy had turned true. "It was one of the most boring speeches ever made."

Hitchens also poked fun at Obama's recent address in Minneapolis in which it was officially announced that he was the presumptive Democratic nominee. Pronouncing Obama a "megalomaniac" who had the self-delusion to suggest that his primary victory would be looked back upon as the day water levels started to recede, Hitchens mockingly declared: "Just by gathering the delegate count he has arrested the climate crisis."

Comments

[Xspackle]

I'll admit, I laughed at the "orgasm in my trousers..." line. Hitchens has the talent to pull this off every now and then.

But ol' Christopher, lest we forget, was also a rabid -- dare I say, evangelical?--apologist for invading Iraq. Then his book on religion was a largely successful appeal to anti-religion types on the left so they'll forget that he's a neocon idiot.

He's a pamphleteer, at best, and an opportunist. Man's gotta eat, after all, and the war thing didn't work out so well. I don't find his observations all that insightful. Provative? Yeah. But that's Ann Coulter's schtick, too.

Meh.

[HansMoleman]

"...his book on religion was a largely successful appeal to anti-religion types on the left so they'll forget that he's a neocon idiot."

Isn't it interesting how the right got atheist all of a sudden? Now liberal organs like the Guardian in the UK are full of thoughtful comments by liberal, leftish Christians, Muslims, and Jews, while the right - formerly a haven for Christianity in its ugliest guise - seems to have thown off religious faith entirely in favour of smug touting of supposedly 'Enlightenment' (meaning 'American') values. Of course, neo-conservatism was always a bit uncomfortable with the Bible-bashers it had to drag along for the ride, but this arrangement now seems to have irrevocably broken apart. Hitchens is the new neo-conservative: not merely godless, but openly contemptuous towards religion and all religious cultures. It is interesting to see where the evangelical right will go. In the US, the Republicans now seem to offer them little consolation. Maybe they'll withdraw from political engagement altogether? Meanwhile, the left - in the UK at least - seems to be reconciling itself to religious faith. Interesting times.

[leftcoastliberal]

Most pundits simply choose sides, but Hitchens actually analyzes each issue on its own merits and makes up his own mind. This drives the Group Thinkers crazy, which is delightful to watch. Unfortunately, Hitchens is also arrogantly dismissive - even insulting - of anyone who disagrees with him, which is tedious.

[Bulbul]

Hmm...an armchair intellectual...

He called Mother Teressa a crazy nun, when she worked relentlessly to heal the sick...it takes a crazy nun of course to do that..

Now the same intellectual is calling our two term President out of wack.....when gasoline was a dollar, no deficit in the National Budget.....how we long for that !

[prettychicago]

It's interesting how much I enjoy watching him speak., though I most always disagree with him. He has a way of saying things that captures my attention. That said, I can't ever remember anything Hitchens has said. So he and Obama must have something in common...

(I do love Obama.)

[rainey]

This is a news story? I always assumed he did it on a regular basis. More when he's drinking than when he isn't. ...assuming, of course, that there are times when he doesn't.

[Yellowcat]

Oh, how humorous to hear Christopher Hitchens accuse ANYONE of being 'out of control'. There was a time when I considered Mr. Hitchens worth listening to. Now it seems he's become a parody of himself. It's as though he is on some weird trajectory with no brakes, fueled by his own hot air to ever-increasing velocities of absurdity.

[ynp7]

It's so bizarre how he can be almost 100% right on the topic of religion and COMPLETELY wrong on damn near everything else. Though I guess there has to be a balance somewhere to all the people who are 100% wrong on religion and almost completely right on everything else, which happens all the time.

[Lex10]

Old Blighty calls you, Christopher! Go to her!

[erichitchmo]

I can't help but wonder what the Obamabots would be saying about Hitchens if he was not an Obama-hater. Would his comments be regarded as "right on point"? But because he is attacking both the Clintons and the Obamas...what a quandry! The guy is a jerk...he just spews out hate from every pore. He could easily re-enact the very final scene from "Animal Farm," playing all the pig-people characters.

[HansMoleman]

Er, no thanks. We have enough problems of our own.

[S1m0n]

He's not "acid-tongued", he's "alcohol-tongued". Acid-tongued was Hunter Thompson.

[devanate]

I'll feel the same when Bush is gone!

Hitchens is an alcoholic hack!

[dac253]

There's a thousand Hitchens haters comments here, but not one of them has said anything as interesting as Christopher's most mundane observation.

The only problem I have with being a liberal democrat is being associated with such close-minded partisans.

[cynicalidealist]

Let me try my hand:
I'm a great fan of Hitchens' rhetorical skills - used to remarkable effect in God Is Not Good. But my revailing carryaway is that he is all about generating heat, not light. The pull quote, "I Might Orgasm..." is a perfect example, as a foil v. the Obama speech on race. The former's line is memorable, but the latter's is meaningful. - CI.

[mapleman]

i hear you re: partisanship, but the fact is, yes, i - and almost anyone i know - can remember a key line from that so-called 'boring' speech' right off the top of my head.

Now I certainly paraphrase but it goes something like this: 'I can no more disown him (Wright) than I can my own white grandmother who's said a few racial slurs that made me cringe'. It was a a brilliant opening salvo to a sensitively observed speech that spoke to the average person still confused about race issues in this country.

It wasn't hard to forget, and I'm sorry I find but Hitchens is mostly just an attention-seeking pugilist looking for a reaction, like some twelve year old kid kicking your shins and waiting for the throat punch. He bores me. But who was this 'audience' of Hitchens -- a community of Alzheimer's victims?

[LisainNYC]

Well put.

[dartagnan]

I wonder how many people could recite lines from the Gettysburg Address verbatim a few weeks after its first delivery.

[BatedBreath]

It's nice that you are so open minded.

[smayhew]

Amen - it's a particularly dumb group.

[BatedBreath]

Is that and olde treasured Brit saying?

[applespider]

Yeah, right. They're so much classier than we are over here, you know. And they love telling us that all the time.

Just remind them of Benny Hill when they get up on thier high horse.

[thebeerdoctor]

At one time Chris Hitchens described his politics as "hard left" before he became a war enthusiast, Not I guess he is just "hard,"

[AggravationKills]

This guy makes me want to punch him everytime I hear him speak.

[Quotidien]

He is annoyingly full of himself.

[jhoughton1]

Clearly Hitch plans to do his part to keep the climate of divisiveness and rancor alive as we move into the Obama presidency. And even if his friends tell him, "Chris, you really shouldn't be doing this, the man is trying to bring us together and heal the country," Hitchens won't be able to stop himself. It's what he does. Just like Bill.

[Stella1]

Bill Clinton is doing just fine and will continue to do so. Hitchens is disgusting and pathetic.

[smayhew]

Right ... go overseas and one of the first things you'll hear is how much whomever you talk to loves Bill Clinton ... there's a real current of sexual jealousy in his critics barbs... which is particularly present in anything Chris ever says (though he's often too soused to be articulate).