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{{Cquote|His frequent public forums - in which Hitchens' British-style debating skills were presented as a sort of miracle as well as a freak of nature, as if he were a more biting Rumpole - had become a significant and profitable part of his career. He had a cast of agents and hucksters who would organise and promote these events in cheap venues, reserving him a cut of the door.

{{Cquote|His frequent public forums - in which Hitchens' British-style debating skills were presented as a sort of miracle as well as a freak of nature, as if he were a more biting Rumpole - had become a significant and profitable part of his career. He had a cast of agents and hucksters who would organise and promote these events in cheap venues, reserving him a cut of the door.

In American media culture, he took a place last occupied by the conservative pundit [[William F. Buckley]], Jr who regularly wowed middle America with his hauteur and erudition on his talk show,

In American media culture, he took a place last occupied by the conservative pundit [[William F. Buckley]], Jr who regularly wowed middle America with his hauteur and erudition on his talk show, Firing Line. Of note, Hitchens seemed almost invariably to be matched in his debates with lesser lights - it was Hitchens among the stupids.

 

Firing Line. Of note, Hitchens seemed almost invariably to be matched in his debates with lesser lights - it was Hitchens among the stupids.

I was always on reasonable terms with Hitchens - or certainly had the younger man's good grace to mostly shut up while he talked - and once, at the height of the Iraq war, he asked me to moderate one of these encounters.

I was always on reasonable terms with Hitchens - or certainly had the younger man's good grace to mostly shut up while he talked - and once, at the height of the Iraq war, he asked me to moderate one of these encounters.