P.J. O’Rourke was America’s greatest
satirist and coolest conservative
New York Post,
by
John Podhoretz
Original Article
Posted By: Ribicon,
2/15/2022 7:09:55 PM
P.J. O’Rourke, who has died at the age of 74, once hosted a small New Year’s party at his apartment in Washington. The year was 1990. He’d just returned from Germany, where he had covered the fall of the Berlin Wall. I expressed my sorrow that I hadn’t been there to see it. He went into his bedroom and returned with a small tin of mints. He’d emptied it—and he’d put a shard of the wall he’d pickaxed himself with his own hands inside it. “Happy New Year,” he said.(Snip)It isn’t an exaggeration to say that P.J. was, for a long time, the only cool conservative writer
Reply 1 - Posted by:
Aud 2/15/2022 7:25:26 PM (No. 1073037)
What a shock, and what a loss.
23 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
winmag 2/15/2022 7:35:14 PM (No. 1073044)
He went off the rails in his latter years, even voting for the Pig in a Pants Suit.
19 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
jimincalif 2/15/2022 7:41:06 PM (No. 1073051)
I really enjoyed his writing in Car and Driver magazine in the late 70s, absolutely hilarious. Google "High Speed Performance
Characteristics of Pickup Trucks" if you want a laugh.
RIP
17 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
GustoGrabber 2/15/2022 7:42:45 PM (No. 1073053)
Based my liife on teachings from bachelor home companion
I hope there is a surge in his popularity, The kind of sophisticated humor and intellect that escapes the grasp of once promising writers tangentially associated with this Salon.
16 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
49 Ford 2/15/2022 7:44:03 PM (No. 1073054)
Sad news, and a real loss. Often delightful, sometimes confounding and a world class talent. RIP.
19 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
JayD 2/15/2022 7:46:13 PM (No. 1073057)
I enjoyed his humor, but he was not a cool conservative if he voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton.
15 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
WV.Hillbilly 2/15/2022 7:47:03 PM (No. 1073061)
I always admired his writing and this response to a lecturing Euro-weenie.
“...Back in London, I was having dinner in the Groucho Club - this week's in-spot for what's left of Britain's lit glitz and nouveau rock riche - when one more person started in on the Stars and Stripes. Eventually he got, as the Europeans always do, to the part about "Your country's never been invaded." (This fellow had been two during the Blitz, you see.) 'You don't know the horror, the suffering. You think war is...'
I snapped:
'A John Wayne movie,' I said. 'That's what you were going to say, wasn't it?'
We think war is a John Wayne movie. We think life is a John Wayne movie - with good guys and bad guys, as simple as that. Well, you know something, Mister Limey Poofter? You're right. And let me tell you who those bad guys are. They're us . WE BE BAD.
We're the baddest-assed SOBs that ever jogged in Reeboks. We're three-quarters grizzly bear and two-thirds car wreck and descended from a stock market crash on our mother's side. You take your Germany, France and Spain, roll them all together and it won't give us room to park our cars. We're the big boys, Jack, the original, giant, economy-sized, new and improved butt kickers of all time. When we snort coke in Houston, people lose their hats in Cape d'Antibes. And we've got an American Express card credit limit higher than your p--s-ant metric numbers go."
"You say our country's never been invaded? You're right, little buddy. Because I'd like to see the needle-d--k foreigners who'd have the guts to try. We drink napalm to get our hearts started in the morning. A rape and a mugging is our way of saying ‘Cheerio'. Hell can't hold our sock-hops. We walk taller, talk louder, spit further, f--- longer and buy more things than you know the names of.
I'd rather be a junkie in a New York City jail than king, queen and jack of all you Europeans.
We eat little countries like this for breakfast and s--- them out before lunch."
A conservative in a sea of liberalism.
RIP P.J.
21 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Ribicon 2/15/2022 7:55:19 PM (No. 1073072)
Didn't know that #2, perhaps that's why he dropped off my radar in latter years. I will remember him as he was.
14 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 2/15/2022 8:02:46 PM (No. 1073078)
Loved his early writing, but he went full NeverTrump along with Bill Kristol et al in 2016. I lost track of him after that. Nonetheless, I loved his early books.
Condolences to his family. RIP PJ.
19 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Terry_tr6 2/15/2022 8:06:44 PM (No. 1073080)
for some good fun, read his books. "A Parliament of Whores" or "Give War a Chance" are two of the best. Remember it was PJ who gave us "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys"
21 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
wilarrbie 2/15/2022 8:08:53 PM (No. 1073082)
Doggone this makes me sad. Read 7 or 8 of his books, have one unread on a shelf somewhere I'll make the effort to find now, and thanks for the Car &^ Driver reminder #3. They were a hoot. Eh, people change their minds, who knows why he chose Hilary. Would he in view of recent revelations? I doubt it.
12 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
WhamDBambam 2/15/2022 8:13:55 PM (No. 1073086)
Very sad to hear of this.
8 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
Italiano 2/15/2022 8:52:21 PM (No. 1073106)
His readers know what a rare talent he was. RIP.
13 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
downnout 2/15/2022 9:02:00 PM (No. 1073109)
Truly sad. I have a number of his books and they’re still laugh out loud funny. He started turning a bit leftward in his later years (I think he actually voted for Hillary…gasp) but all in all he was a witty observer of the political swamp that is Washington.
12 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
JHHolliday 2/15/2022 9:25:52 PM (No. 1073120)
Well, #7. The Euros can sneer about never being invaded. I guess that have no sense of history about the War of 1812 when the Brits torched Washington. I will also guarantee that Southerners remember Lincoln invading the South and starting a bloody war that cost 600,00 soldier’s lives and countless civilians. Never been invaded? I am constantly appalled at the lack of knowledge about US history while the left is trying to rewrite it.
14 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Paintman 2/15/2022 9:41:13 PM (No. 1073127)
PJ had Mark Twain levels of talent. He made going to college in the 80s a lot of fun.
12 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
Italiano 2/15/2022 9:48:50 PM (No. 1073134)
Hell, we're being invaded right now.
17 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
Bogasso 2/15/2022 10:00:10 PM (No. 1073139)
I’m sad, but 74 years isn’t too bad, when you consider what his liver went through.
9 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
marlon 2/15/2022 10:29:20 PM (No. 1073148)
Completely lost track of him for probably 20 years. I used to love his writing. Pretty sure I read one or two of his books
5 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
caljeepgirl 2/15/2022 10:30:40 PM (No. 1073149)
Always a fan. It really 'sucks'.....seems like they're all dropping like flies now....
7 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
ussjimmycarter 2/15/2022 10:31:22 PM (No. 1073150)
Wow! My all time favorite writer! A happy conservative able to pound political opposites with a smile and grace! Will truly be missed! Funniest writer of comedy for 50 years!!!
8 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
Newtsche 2/15/2022 11:42:11 PM (No. 1073188)
Like many here, I'd noted PJ was missing in action for many years.
Maybe even a sense of humor as sharp as his couldn't find much to laugh about as our country conspicuously lost the plot.
5 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
udanja99 2/16/2022 9:12:41 AM (No. 1073464)
Wow. I didn’t know about him voting for The Beast. How disappointing. My favorite quote…
“At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child — miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.”
RIP, PJ
4 people like this.
Reply 24 - Posted by:
zoidberg 2/16/2022 9:26:36 AM (No. 1073479)
I got to see him at a lecture this past November. In person, he stammered a lot, but still was quite witty. The last question of his Q&A was "you titled your book about the government 'Parliament of Whores.' Don't you think you owe whores an apology for that comparison?" P.J. readily agreed and apologized to all sex workers anywhere.
5 people like this.
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Thats' a shame. Really enjoyed his work at National Lampoon and beyond. Lots of passing on after short illnesses lately, often a cancer that returns.