Source: Washington Post
by Mitch Daniels
“On Feb. 15, 2022, America lost one of its most brilliant and hilarious writers. Our culture lost one of its most perceptive critics. Me, I lost a friend, and a good stiff drink. Patrick Jake ‘P.J.’ O’Rourke — even the name said ‘Irish wise guy’ — had millions of us laughing aloud in 1974 with a high school yearbook parody for National Lampoon, and thinking anew when he reported for Rolling Stone on foreign affairs. But his long suit and legacy were as the heir to H.L. Mencken and Will Rogers as the foremost fun-poker at the American political scene and the people who inhabit it. … his shillelagh swung in both directions. ‘The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.'” (02/13/25)