P.J. O'Rourke on the Talk Show that Might Have Been

Political satirist P.J. O'Rourke visited The Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco today (September 30, 2010). He was in town to discuss his new book, Don't Vote: It Just Encourages the Bastards. Following his speech and audience question-and-answer session, he sat down with The Club's editor for an interview.

You'll be able to read portions of the interview in The Commonwealth magazine later this year, and in The Club's column in the November issue of Northside San Francisco. The interview ended with one videotaped question and answer. O'Rourke – a popular guest on such programs as Real Time with Bill Maher and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me – was asked if he had ever been approached about having his own radio or television program.

In his answer, we learn that there was such an idea being hatched by O'Rourke and his friend Christopher Buckley at one point, but alcohol intervened.

The video:


We'll post the complete video of O'Rourke's Commonwealth Club speech and Q&A as soon as it is available.

Christopher Buckley Won't Back Down

Christopher Buckley, the Republican apostate and conservative scion of the late William F. Buckley, is harboring little remorse after endorsing Sen. Barack Obama earlier this month.

In a humorous attempt to write Sen. John McCain’s concession speech in today’s Financial Times, Buckley continues to not back down from conservative critics who believed he shattered, as Ronald Reagan once said, the eleventh commandment, “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republicans.”

Buckley, who spoke at the Commonwealth Club, Sept. 18, uses the satirical essay to illustrate the possible talking points Republicans might use for why McCain lost the election.

Among them, his early decision to cozy up to the religious right, the role of the media, and concerns about his health

On age, Buckley writes: “Looking on the bright side, it looks like I’ll get to go to bed a little earlier than I’d hoped to tonight.”

Choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate: “So let me thank Governor Palin for ... all that she did to me. For me, I mean. Little Freudian thing, there.”

On the same day of his appearance at the Commonwealth Club last month, Buckley seemed to telegraph his intention to vote for Obama at the Hoover Institute at Stanford three weeks before his infamous column in The Daily Beast, wishing him good luck, while adding, “give me a call if I can help.”