Posted 11:58 AM by magnu231
Reintroducing Satire

I think, and it was clear to me after watching some clips of O'Reilly on with Colbert, and vice versa, that one of the problems of parts of the conservative movement is a sort of portentous pretentiousness, a trait that of course still exists in liberalism, but used to be less noticeable in conservatism. Men like WF Buckley and others took joy in being not only intelligent, erudite, and intellectual giants, but also in being somewhat quirky and entertaining, symbolized by the bow-tie, which has since been so misapplied that it too stands for pretension. Here's someone who the conservative desperate needs to keep hearing from, in my opinion. PJ O'Rourke has been less in the public eye than when he was a young libertarian madman, touting drugs and dangerous sexual behaviors. However, I think he's matured into a funny and yet thoughtful writer. Here he is in Radar online talking about where the conservative movement has gone wrong.

Ah, there is a simple answer to that. We took power. You see, it's pretty easy to be smart and reasonable and far-sighted and to have great perspective on the past when you don't have any power, when you don't have to do anything.

Even though we had Reagan in, the conservatives had not yet taken over the reign of government. I mean, the whole story of the Reagan Administration is the fight for the conservatives to actually get power. And then we get George H.W. Bush, the senior, who's kind of a weak sister. His heart's in the right place and stuff, but I mean, he really should have been president of the country club, not of the country. And so the whole thing doesn't really bear fruit until we take over Congress in 1994, and then the problems begin ... and now it's payback time.

(I completely agree).

1 comments