So much for the Golden Age of Civility in America – but at least it was said with a little smile and the ensuing debate had some substance…
Note: A reader suggests in our comments that Buckley was jokingly alluding here to a previous confrontational moment with Gore Vidal, and it sounds about right. (“I’ll sock you in the goddamn face and you’ll stay plastered.”)
I may be wrong, but I think Buckley is jokingly alluding to a prior incident during a tense debate he had with Gore Vidal about the same subject
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYymnxoQnf8
The comment above is quite right: Buckley tosses off the “threat” with no provocation. It was a ham-handed attempt to make light of his genuine rage on live television at Vidal. Chomsky, though, doesn’t get the joke and looks disturbed. So much for trying to be clever once too often.
The real measure of all three of these men is that despite the emotional outbursts (real or feigned), not one actual blow resulted. The surprise and the substance were quickly processed. Personal civilization triumphed. If America and Vietnam had clashed so successfully, we might have arrived at the present relationship without bloodshed.