The son of Hunter S. Thompson says the author shot himself to death at his Aspen-area home.

[HAL9000]

AP News Alert

ASPEN, Colo. (AP) -- The son of Hunter S. Thompson says the author shot himself to death at his Aspen-area home.

[freedom44]

He was a great American, just because you disagree with some of his views doesn't make him any less of an American.

[Darkwolf377]

I think he was a very GOOD gonzo journalist in the 70's, but Tom Wolfe mastered the "self referential journalism" thing. Thompson's stuff is exciting but there is a sameness about much of it because it's all about him eventually, whereas Wolfe plowed deeper into the actual subject of the stories.

Don't get me wrong, F&LinLVegas is one of the most enjoyable books I've read, but he had little insight into the subject matter after the late-60's and was into this "personal journalism" crap which made the writer the center of the story.

[Central Scrutiniser]

Damn, one of my favorites.

[RayChuang88]

He may definitely act weird at times and his politics don't jive with what most everyone here on Free Republic thinks, but you have to admit Hunter S. Thompson was a true one of a kind character.

He will be missed, that's to be sure.

[jjbrouwer]

I always thought it a little odd that the person who turned me on to this book in college was the absolutely most conservative guy I knew on campus.

It's not so odd. You don't have to like pompous hotel keepers to find Basil Fawlty funny.

I find it more odd that when a person dies, people will say things like "good riddance" just because the man was a Liberal. I remember the high-fiving going on after Christopher Reeve passed away. Actually, that's more than odd. It's perverse.

[Loyalist]

His sense of adventure gave rise to his best writing, which had a manly vigour about it. That's a quality you just don't find in the effete metrosexuals who call themselves liberal journalists today.

Rest in peace, Hunter.

[Mr. Blonde]

I believe he was suffering from depression through the 80s. This is a shame. Even as a flaming liberal he was still very funny. There will never be anyone like him again.

"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die. "

[huac]

Ugly, Tasteless, Terrifying and Wild... Count Me In!
He's been America's most unorthodox political commentator for more than 30 years. But for Dr Hunter S Thompson the Bush presidency is evil beyond belief - and judgment is nigh

"That is why George W Bush is President of the United States, and Al Gore is not. Bush simply wanted it more, and he was willing to demolish anything that got in his way, including the US Supreme Court. It is not by accident that the Bush White House (read: Dick Cheney & Halliburton Inc) controls all three branches of our federal government today. They are powerful thugs who would far rather die than lose the election in November.

The Republican establishment is haunted by painful memories of what happened to Old Man Bush in 1992. He peaked too early, and he had no response to "It's the economy, stupid." Which has always been the case. Every GOP administration since 1952 has let the Military-Industrial Complex loot the Treasury and plunge the nation into debt on the excuse of a wartime economic emergency. Richard Nixon comes quickly to mind, along with Ronald Reagan and his ridiculous "trickle-down" theory of US economic policy. If the rich get richer, the theory goes, before long their pots will overflow and somehow "trickle down" to the poor, who would rather eat scraps off the Bush family plates than eat nothing at all. Republicans have never approved of democracy, and they never will. It goes back to pre-industrial America, when only white male property owners could vote."

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1028-29.htm

[drt1]

If that is for real it is really weird.

[JesseJane]

Welllllll, we'll just have to disagree on both points.

[Dysfunctional]

Ugh...

Hemingway
Faulkner
Whitman
....no

Twain
Joyce
Wordsworth
....yes

[Friend of thunder]

He had a hell of a sense of humor

Yes he did; and I regret the fact that anyone with that sense of humor could have lost hope.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thompson's books include "Hell's Angels," "The Proud Highway" and his most recent effort, "Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and The Downward Spiral of Dumbness."

Wow! He accomplished his objective.

[Wormwood]

LOL. I haveread it. Both works are worthwhile in their own right. Soony's because it's a true recolection of the history of the Angels, and Thompson's because of its revealing, evocative prose.

[deepFR]

Just thinking that liberal MSM will blame it on PEST

[Scenic Sounds]

Oh, I'm sorry to hear this - gifted writer!!

[California Patriot]

The left wing's hysteria kills one of its own.

[mad_as_he$$]

Yea I was trying to place the time. It must have been the mid eighties. I was in the city alot then and somebody told me he was there, maybe looking for material, I went and if it wasn't him the did a great act.

[Polonius]

RIP

[freedom44]