Time & Perspective Quote by Gore Vidal

Vidal’s line lands like a cocktail-party quip and a felony accusation in the same breath. “Presidential material” sounds like a compliment until he exposes it as a manufacturing label: not character discovered, but product vetted. The genius is in the timeline. “By the time” implies corruption isn’t a scandalous detour; it’s the curriculum. You don’t arrive at the presidency pure and then face temptation. You survive the pipeline only by being convertible into other people’s interests.

“Bought ten times over” is hyperbole with a ledger-book sting. He’s not describing one fat bribe in a smoky room; he’s describing the repetitive, routinized transactions of American politics: donors, lobbyists, consultants, media gatekeepers, party bosses. Ten times suggests diversification. A candidate isn’t owned by one master but sliced into obligations, each purchase leaving a faint mortgage on future decisions. Vidal’s cynicism is structural, not personal. The problem isn’t that politicians are uniquely weak; it’s that the system selects for those who can be purchased without looking purchased.

Context matters: Vidal came of age watching the Cold War security state expand, the television presidency solidify, and money’s role in campaigns metastasize. His broader project was to puncture the civic romance Americans tell themselves about leaders as independent stewards. The subtext is almost taunting: if you still believe the presidency is where ideals go to govern, you’re confusing theater for power. The line works because it turns “electability” into evidence of capture, making the usual selling point read like a warning label.