Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
This week, a guest we’ve been chasing a long time finally makes his Ricochet Podcast debut: the great P.J. O’Rourke stops by to discuss on the health care debacle, improving the GOP’s message, making a living as writer, Lou Reed, and New York City in the (so-called) Golden Age. Also, the return of Rob Long and Dave Carter reminisces on (what he can actually remember of) the now legendary Vegas meet-up.
Note: we apologize for the lack of a live stream of this week’s show. We’ll figure out what went screwy and have it fixed in time for next week’s show.
Music from this week’s episode:
Sweet Jane by The Velvet Underground
The Ricochet Podcast opening theme was composed and produced by James Lileks.
Technical support courtesy of EJHill.
Help Ricochet by supporting our advertisers!
This podcast is brought to you by our good friends at Encounter Books. This week’s featured title is The Black Book of the American Left: The Collected Conservative Writings of David Horowitz by David Horowitz. Get an additional 15% by using the code RICOCHET at checkout.
Subscribe to The Ricochet Podcast in Apple Podcasts (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in Apple Podcasts or by RSS feed.
Thanks BY.
Yippee!!!! Day made.
Woohoo, thanks Mr Yeti!
I haven’t listened to it yet but I want to say Thanks for getting PJ!
What to get Rob & Company for Christmas:
This is how you get things done at Ricochet… with your Yeti Catcher.
Israel – you are, of course, right. It’s a wonder this doesn’t happen more; brain doesn’t get working at all until 11 AM or so.
The first P.J. O’Rourke article I can remember reading was his Rolling Stone coverage of the 1986 Philippines elections pitting strongman Ferdinand Marcos against the reformer Cori Aquino, in which O’Rourke skewered both John Kerry and Richard Lugar, part of a congressional delegation, for sitting by and doing nothing to stop the obvious fraud and threatening tactics being used by the Marcos side. I know he would not put it that way, but in that piece, O’Rourke really did speak truth to power.
Wonderful. Wonderful. Wonderful.
PJ O’Rourke’s CD on The Wealth of Nations, Adam smith, is terrific and explains many of the more famous points made by Adam Smith. I like PJ on Bill Maher.
Looking forward to listening.
On the Wealth of Nations is a required text at my daughter’s school (obvs private school). :)))
For those who have only read O’Rourke in passing, where would one start reading him? Which book/essays would you recommend for a newbie?
I was a college student living in Baltimore in the early 70s, and have a specific memory of sitting in a park reading the local underground paper, Harry. P. J.’s article about the (hoped for) radicalization of juvenile delinquents was titled “Jets and Sharks Drop Acid, Read Marcuse.” I don’t recall the entire contents of the article (a short excerpt is included in a collection published a while back) but I’ve since wondered if the title reported a tragic waste of perfectly good LSD, or if it suggested the only way in which one could profitably ( or at least enjoyably) read Marcuse. He wrote this in 1970; he couldn’t today compose a better caricature of this period’s rhetoric
I’ve enjoyed all of his books but my favorites are Driving Like Crazy and Holidays in Hell.
Great podcast. PJ is a treasure. A point I would make (that others have made) is that both the Left and the Right are better, rhetorically, when in the opposition.
PJ was a great balloon popper during the Left’s Ascendary. I would suggest, however, that nobody on the Left reached PJ’s status during our Ascendancy.
Does anyone have nominations for a PJ for the 2010s?
Ooops I forgot to mention: great choice of Sweet Jane, Yeti, at the end. There must be some great Lou Reed retrospectives happening on Radio around the country? Anyone have a podcast to recommend re: the There She Goes guy?
I grew up 6 miles from P.J. He’s about 5 years older than me but his early life experiences are so close to mine that I have always felt when reading him that he’s my slightly older, much smarter, infinitely more clever brother.
To hear him talk of Detroit and Toledo so correctly and succinctly gave me a shiver.
My education at the school that is the rival of his alma mater cost $2,100/ year rather than his $2,000 per though. Inflation.
Thanks for talking him into a podcast. I hope he comes back often.
My favorite is Parliament of Whores. A bit dated, but still relevant (things have only gotten worse). All The Trouble In The World is also very entertaining. The very first book I read of his was “Give War A Chance”, which got me hooked.
My little brother and I differ mightily on all things political. After a week in CO, with much debate, we finally made a deal that we each had to provide the other a book, which we would read. While he’s not converted (I have high hopes that Obamacare crashing and burning will provide a solid argument) I have heard him quote from Parliament of Whores.
Brother never provided me a book, BTW. He’s the only college-educated sibling in the family and ironically the worse read.
Am I the only one who was at least a little disappointed in the conversation with PJ? Seemed like there was a lot of talking over each other and interrupting each others points.
Not that it wasn’t entertaining, but it just seemed a little disjointed.
James in particular seemed kind of deflated after the Disneyland all-access card story got truncated.
Uhh, yeah, I totally noticed that, too.
Not that it wasn’t entertaining, but it just seemed a little disjointed.
James in particular seemed kind of deflated after the Disneyland all-access card story got truncated. ·7 minutes ago
I agree. I have a physical reaction whenever people get interrupted on the podcasts. I thoroughly enjoy Lileks and Podhoretz but when they (in an honest effort to fulfill hosting duties) trample all over someone’s story, argument, or joke, I just want to scream.
But I also diagram sentences heard in podcasts and recently gave an editorial comment to “avoid dependent clauses” so maybe that’s just me.
Eric, I’m very conscious about NOT trampling on people’s stories – I turn off my mike for the most part, waiting until there seems to be the right moment to step in and goose the talk, or add something. If I knocked anyone off course in this podcast, well, shame on me.
The 1964 High School Yearbook parody is one of my top P. J. O’Rourke favorites. I actually have an autographed copy. Right up there with The Gallery of Regrettable Food by Lileks. Enjoyed both of those books immensely before there ever was a Ricochet.com.
James, I was the one who made the original comment, and it was you who got stomped on, not the other way around.
I don’t keep score overall, it just seemed like there was a lot more talking over each other on this podcast than is typical.
James, I was the one who made the original comment, and it was you who got stomped on, not the other way around.
I don’t keep score overall, it just seemed like there was a lot more talking over each other on this podcast than is typical. ·51 minutes ago
Because James Lileks and PJ O’Rourke are both super quick and witty. I noticed the overlap, too, but Lileks appropriately gave up the space to O’Rourke. I really liked this episode.
Father Sirico of the Acton Institute (mentioned in this podcast) would be a great guest for the podcast (again?) to discuss his book “Defending the Free Market“.
Yaron Brook, who has the same message regarding lifting the poor boats (but without the Christianity part) would also be a great guest for the podcast to discuss his book “Free Market Revolution“.
Even better, have them both on to compare and contrast.
James, James – “Return to Normalcy” was Harding, not Hoover.
Actually – you’re right. Now I can’t think of any recent example of my complaint so my comment was unfair, I apologize.
For what it’s worth, I meant to agree with MWM’s comment about James getting run over and obviously got carried away generalizing.
No need to apologize! As Dennis Prager says, generalizations have a core of truth. Or at least that’s what he was going to say; I changed the subject.
The version of Sweet Jane from 1969 Live is the one you should have used – so much better.
I like that version too, but in general, I tend to not play live versions songs (I think the crowd noises tend to take you out of the podcast).
The Velvet’s original version of the song with that flowery intro is my personal favorite, though. Very Warhol-esque (he produced it).