"Get a pro-life friend drunk to the truth-telling stage and ask him what happens if his 14-year-old gets knocked up."

P.J. O'Rourke's brand of cranky conservatism aims to outrage nearly everybody.

Comments

[Ron]

Aw, PJ's fine...He's just your boozy old uncle who's upset that he's reached that point in life where filling his bag gives him greater pleasure than eyeballing his nurse, and he's takin' it out on the rest of us...

[Meade]

Funny how the truth hurts.

[Pastor_Jeff]

Honest, I couldn't make heads nor tails out of that O'Rourke feller. I never even heared of that "bortion" stuff he was on about. When cousin Susie got in the family way, as they say, we got married proper. Preacher even let me handle the snake at the evenin meetin.

But seein as how that O'Rourke's in the paper and all, I reckon he must know what he's talkin bout.

[Tom Strong]

Satirists are always funnier when they're mocking that other guy.

[Pastor_Jeff]

Satire can be enjoyable and humorous. Here are some good examples. O'Rourke's piece was just angry, hateful, and bigoted.

But it was aimed at the right people, so that makes it okay! -- because there's nothing wrong with stereotyping social conservatives as self-righteous, inbred, sheet-wearing, racist snake-handlers.

[PatHMV]

And get the average attendee at an Al Gore "Save the Earth!" rally drunk and see what happens when you try to take away the key to his gas-hogging, tricked-out BMW SUV.

That some people cannot, perhaps, live up to the courage of their convictions when they impact them on a more personal and emotional level does not mean that those convictions are invalid, just that people aren't perfect.

Take his argument and try it in another area. "Get a liberal drunk to the point of truth-telling and ask him what he'd do if somebody raped and murdered his daughter." The fact that the liberal would, when drunk, profess a desire to execute, if not dismember, the SOB would not render his general opposition to the death penalty invalid.

[Tom Strong]

I didn't intend to single you out PJ - I've just noticed a lot of conservatives denouncing the O'Rourke piece, many of whom loved him when his daggers were aimed at liberals.

Satire can be enjoyable and humorous.

I wouldn't describe the link you offered as satire, but rather as parody. Satire is meaner and more sarcastic than parody. O'Rourke's piece is satire laced with invective.

[Pastor_Jeff]

Tom,

I agree that we all tend to like satire that's aimed at other people.

I guess all the easy and self-righeous accusations of racism made against conservatives and anyone who opposed Obama have made me over-sensitive.

[michael Reynolds]

O'Rourke was telling the truth. The GOP is in a ditch, splintered and lost. Since he's part of the Money! wing of the GOP he's blaming the Jesus! wing. Big surprise. There's never been any genuine affection between these two groups.

Here's a thought experiment. Sit a pony-tailed Berkeley sociology professor at one end of a bar. Put a pompadoured Alabama evangelical preacher at the other end. No, cure investment banker who finds only two stools available, one near the prof, one near the preacher. Where does he sit?

The point is not that he'd want to be next to the professor. It's that we all know he'd want nothing to do with the preacher.

[RW Rogers]

Once again, I agree with you, Tom. That said, I'm wondering if anyone else thought the writing resembled more a rough draft than the polished prose O'Rourke is known to produce.

[amba]

Sadly, O'Rourke has cancer. Maybe that's one reason why he's indiscriminately angry in all directions, like a fragmentation bomb.

[michael Reynolds]

He's no different than he usually is. He's just goring your ox.

[karen]

Fine by me. I'll sit next to PJ, Michael.