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Lord
of the Lumpen Loons: B-1" 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?
Nathn
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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