Late 70s philosopher David Byrne once posed the question, "self, how did I get here?" I got a sad reminder this week.
Pontificators like myself don't just grow on trees. As a matter of fact, we're bad for trees.
It takes years of breaking, beating, molding, adjusting, re-adjusting, and maladjusting to become a highly paid column-tater like myself. That ain't no commentater.
But what it really takes, whether you're a legend in your own mind like me or someone with real talent, is a lot of reading. You should read everything you can by everyone you can.
From the first article I wrote in junior high school around 1970, I started reading all the newspapers and magazines I could in addition to my regular diet of Mad Magazine. I began appreciating certain writers I'd read in the Courier Journal and the Herald Leader and Sports Illustrated.
Although sports writers first really got my attention, I gravitated more to opinion and humor writers in high school. Dave Barry and Dave Kindred were my two biggest journalistic influences in those years as I wrote for the ECHO, our school paper.
Then Larry Webster came along in Pikeville and he got my attention immediately. Shout out to Red Dog.
Once I got to college, I quickly caught up on Hunter Thompson, but he'd done all of his great work by then. A new friend turned me on to National Lampoon and I was introduced to P.J. O'Rourke, among other skallywags.
I mean that in the most respectful way possible. Mr. O'Rourke passed away last week, the sad reminder of how did I get here.
O'Rourke went from zany counter-culture comedy writer to zany conservative political commentator in what seemed like a month's time, but by the time I left college he seemed to be in every publication I read. National Lampoon. Rolling Stone. The Atlantic.
What attracted me to him was although I usually disagreed with most of what he said, he always entertained me. He was funny. He made laser pointed observations that might enrage but sometimes I might embarrassingly agree with.
Maybe the best thing about O'Rourke, that I try to remember even today, is he was never shy about skewering himself or his "team". Here's one for you:
"Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it."
That's not a compliment in case you were wondering. P.J. O'Rourke's writing isn't for the squeamish. It can challenge you no matter what side of the political fence you think you sit on.
He could be everything liberals distrust and he could be everything modern conservatives despise: a free spirited intellectual. Which is why he saw straight through Trump.
So in P.J.'s honor, I leave you with Russia who is not our friend. They've disrupted our elections and are the primary source of worldwide misinformation. They are the Joker to our Batman.
Will Putin invade Ukraine? More importantly, is there anything the American public can do about it? Not likely.
But Uncle Joe sounds like chicken little in a snowstorm. Imminent invasion loses its urgency after the third week. Providing the drumbeat for somebody else's war is a bad rhythm to be in.