P. J. O’Rourke (b.1947,) fully Patrick Jake O’Rourke, is an American journalist, political satirist, and essayist. He’s recognized for his political humor in books such as Give War a Chance: Eyewitness Accounts of Mankind’s Struggle Against Tyranny, Injustice, and Alcohol-Free Beer (1992) and Peace Kills: America’s Fun New Imperialism (2004.)
Born in Toledo, Ohio, O’Rourke had a conservative rearing. He began his writing life in the 1960s as a “left-leaning hippie” and “went from being a Republican to being a Maoist, then back to being a Republican.”
O’Rourke is now a leading libertarian satirist and journalist. He initially wrote for underground newspapers, moving in 1972 to the National Lampoon, where he was editor in chief 1978–81. O’Rourke has also written for The Atlantic Monthly, The American Spectator, The Weekly Standard, and The Daily Beast.
O’Rourke is the author of Republican Party Reptile (1987,) Parliament of Whores: A Lone Humorist Attempts to Explain the Entire U.S. Government (1991,) Give War a Chance (1992,) and How the Hell Did This Happen? The Election of 2016 (2017.)
All the Trouble in the World (1994) examines current political concerns such as global warming and famine from a libertarian perspective. Holidays in Hell (1989) is a collection of travel writing in which O’Rourke visited war zones and other trouble spots around the world. Its sequel, Holidays in Heck (2011,) chronicles his travels to places like Galapagos and Disneyland.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by P. J. O’Rourke
Maybe a nation that consumes as much booze and dope as we do and has our kind of divorce statistics should pipe down about “character issues.” Either that or just go ahead and determine the presidency with three-legged races and pie-eating contests. It would make better TV.
—P. J. O’Rourke
Topics: Elections
I like to think of my behavior in the sixties as a “learning experience.” Then again, I like to think of anything stupid I’ve done as a “learning experience.” It makes me feel less stupid.
—P. J. O’Rourke
Topics: Twentieth Century
A very quiet and tasteful way to be famous is to have a famous relative. Then you can not only be nothing, you can do nothing too.
—P. J. O’Rourke
Newsmen believe that news is a tacitly acknowledged fourth branch of the federal system. This is why most news about government sounds as if it were federally mandated—serious, bulky and blandly worthwhile, like a high-fiber diet set in type.
—P. J. O’Rourke
Topics: News
Some people are better imagined in one’s bed than found there in the morning.
—P. J. O’Rourke
Topics: Sex
The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop.
—P. J. O’Rourke
Topics: Government
Golf combines two favorite American pastimes: taking long walks and hitting things with a stick
—P. J. O’Rourke
Topics: Golf
Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
—P. J. O’Rourke
Topics: Reading, Books
People are all exactly alike. There’s no such thing as a race and barely such a thing as an ethnic group. If we were dogs, we’d be the same breed. George Bush and an Australian Aborigine have fewer differences than a Lhasa apso and a toy fox terrier. A Japanese raised in Riyadh would be an Arab. A Zulu raised in New Rochelle would be an orthodontist. People are all the same, though their circumstances differ terribly.
—P. J. O’Rourke
Topics: People
One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it’s remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver’s license.
—P. J. O’Rourke
Topics: Responsibility
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