After reading this book, don't know if the message in the title percolates through. Immensely funny though.

After reading this book, don't know if the message in the title percolates through. Immensely funny though.

P.J. O'Rourke is my favorite humor/satire writer, and I absolutely loved his earlier works, so I suppose my expectations were too high going in. My hopes rose high in the beginning of the book (kill/f--k/marry is just as sharp and hilarious as I remember P.J. being). There is also a lot of very interesting and useful information, from history of this county's founding to a great explanation of why US infant mortality rates are higher than in Europe (the answer will break your heart). Towards the last 1/3, though, it gets less funny as well as less accurate. When he blames "conservatives" for subprime mortgages, No Child Left Behind and over-spending, I'm not sure if he wants to establish his credibility as being "impartial" or if he's just really that misinformed. By the time he gets to making fun of Limbaugh's drug addiction, there's nothing to do but hope that section of the audiobook will be over soon. What I felt was almost an embarrassment for someone I really like and respect (and paid $100 to hear live at a Cato Institute speech). I've heard from others he's been getting mellow after having kids at a late age. Maybe that's it. Sigh. ( )

PJ O'Rourke in some of his finest form - some of what he writes makes sense regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum and I loved his summation of fairness in the world to his daughter:
“How will politics be able to make everything fair for everybody? This may be a valid concern, but I am immune to it because I have a 12-year-old daughter and it’s all I hear. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. My friend has an iPad. It’s not fair. All my friends have iPads. You let my little sister do this. It’s not fair. One day I just blew up and I said to her, ‘Honey, you’re cute. That’s not fair. Your family’s pretty well-off. That’s not fair. You were born in the United States of America. That’s not fair. Darling, you had better get down on your knees and pray to God that things don’t start getting fair.’”

He also does a very interesting analysis of the problems of the right which I wish Abbot would read and take notice of.

My big problem with O'Rourke is he is dismissive of what he does not understand - given he is a self-confessed Liberal Art Major the way he treats Science annoys me. ( )

I read this as comic relief to the circus that is the 2010 mid-term elections. It served it's purpose with distinction. Laugh out loud book that calls it like it sees it. Recommended to anyone who just wants politicians to get over themselves. Argh, me matey (in reference to the last chapter). ( )