In June, Reason.tv’s Ted Balaker sat down with O’Rourke at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Topics include: bailouts, who ruined the U.S. auto industry, politicians’ love affair with trains, how easy women made O’Rourke a youthful socialist and how getting a paycheck turned him into a libertarian.
According to Reason, “P.J. O’Rourke is a 21st-century H.L. Mencken — a libertarian satirist and quote-machine who’s deeply suspicious of most any office-holder (”Politics is the attempt to achieve power and prestige without merit”).”
P.J. O’Rourke is also a Republican.
You can view the interview HERE.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
On July 8th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Little story:
It was 1987. I was stuck in a shitbag motel somewheres in western Nebraska working for the NE Libertarian Party, getting them on the ballot.
O’Rourke’s Republican Party Reptile just came out, and I had bought it, hearing the rumors that he leaned libertarian.
I stayed up all night and couldn’t put it down. Next day, I decided to officially make the switch from LP to GOP, and the rest is history…
Thus, in a way, you could say PJ was the inspiration for the eventual founding of the Republican Liberty Caucus.
On July 12th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Eric, I thought you told me that PJ inspired you with his tales of getting BJs while behind the wheel of a car. You told me before that moment you never knew that there were cool people like him in the Republican Party.
On July 13th, 2009 at 8:13 am
If you want to read all the automotive BJ stories you need, check out PJ’s new book Driving Like Crazy which takes all his automotive essays, updates them and adds some new material. Finished it a week ago and it was a lot of fun, especially the sections on driving in India and Baja.
On July 20th, 2009 at 2:02 am
Yeah, that too Dan.
And btw, I got more Nebraska chics that trip than you could shake a stick at. All inspired by PJ.
On July 20th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
So you’re saying that Nebraska is actually a cooler place than advertised? Well, the unemployment rate is low so maybe I should check it out!
On January 25th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Daniel, I’m sure you could talk to Warren Buffett about a job.