Well, P. J. O'Rourke, satirist and NPR panelist, has died. O'Rourke was always on the Libertarian, even Libertine, side of the right-wing cadre, and while he usually punched down, like all conservatives, he didn't do so all of the time, and could even engage in actual, pointed satire to criticize the powerful. That being said, he DID have a naïf view of liberalism, like this claptrap from 2007's Give War a Chance:
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.
Yeah, I'm a sniveling brat for wanting every member of my society, indeed everyone on the planet, to have a shot at being able to sustain himself or herself, to have basic needs met so loftier goals can be achieved- isn't that what every spoiled brat wants?
The earlier O'Rourke wasn't lazy like this, and actually could engage in self-deprecation, such as this dig at himself in a piece written for Car and Driver about driving a Ferrari from NYC to LA:
And I had some other problems, too. I have a daytime job where I'm editor of the National Lampoon and I had fallen grievously behind in potty jokes, racial slurs, and comments that demean women. Deadlines loomed, the art department was in a pet, and down at the printing plant they were snarling in their cages. I had no business taking off just then to go do something silly in a rolling red expense account.
Even later in life, he could produce a solid line, such as his reluctant endorsement of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election:
"I am endorsing Hillary, and all her lies and all her empty promises. It's the second-worst thing that can happen to this country, but she's way behind in second place. She's wrong about absolutely everything, but she's wrong within normal parameters."
For the most part, though, late era O'Rourke's body of work was a typical farrago of right-wing talking points, lazy and repetitive. I would say that, as he got more conservative, he got less funny.
That being said, O'Rourke wrote one of my all-time favorite lines: It's better to spend money like there's no tomorrow than to spend tonight like there's no money.
It's been a while since I've used that in conversation, but it is a motto I've spouted on numerous occasions while younger and less well-remunerated. For that line alone, I tip my hat to the last funny conservative.
