![]() Buckley did not even have to make up the actual Alexandre Ledru-Rollin quotation (from the 1848 French revolution ): “There go the people. Buckley gets to synopsize a presidential TV drama called “Potus,” after all.) And there is occasional deeper resonance to the book’s jokiness about great political wisdom. The convergence of government and popular culture provides its share of predictable merriment. Buckley does always makes good company, even if this book’s bright moments are sparse. When a novel’s better quips reference the Book of Revelation and the courtroom cry of “oyez!” it may simply be rolling the wrong subject matter uphill. Board of Education, a gambit that affords no comic possibilities whatsoever. It’s hard to imagine him firing on all cylinders while writing a line like: “Do you really think I’d put myself through all this if I had a whole catacomb of skeletons doing the cha-cha in my closet?” And his minimal mischief with names (he concocts Senators Pebblemacher, Murfledorken, Ezratty and Harmookian) beats his forced efforts at Texas locutions (“more confused than a cow on Astroturf”).Īlso, for every outright gag (“Re- cu-use me”) there is apt to be a footnote about something like Brown v. Buckley’s usual verbal agility is not much in evidence. Why isn’t this funnier? Partly because Mr. Soon Buddy concocts a show that resembles “The West Wing,” but comes “without all the hand-wringing,” and the formerly fatuous Dexter begins looking presidential to the nation. This guy may not be electable, but he is telegenic enough for Buddy, Pepper’s husband and a television producer, to want to give Dexter his own show. Buckley also creates another character in whom government and entertainment converge: a failed perennial presidential candidate named Senator Dexter Mitchell. True, her presence is enough to make the most curmudgeonly justice say, “Pray God nothing critical comes before us in the next, say, 30 years.” But her quick study of American judicial history, along with her bona-fide horse sense, are enough to land her the job.īecause that isn’t nearly enough plotting to sustain a whole book, Mr. (“Whoa, nice figure there, cookie,” one of them observes.) And she makes it onto the court with surprising ease. Pepper is babe enough to dazzle the old boys in Washington. ![]() “Justices look solemn in their formal black robes, but every so often they like to have a little fun by taking on a strange case, or overturning a presidential election, that sort of thing.” Parts of this book would be more amusing if they seemed less true.Ĭhristopher Buckley Credit. “Generally, the court accepts only cases that it finds interesting but sometimes a ‘what the hell’ element seems to come into play,” he writes. ![]() Incontinental Airlines”), get creative with legalese Latin (“per res sciatica”) and opine about the Supreme Court’s recent track record. Buckley ample opportunity to cook up laughable case names (“Miskimin v. “Supreme Courtship” does, after all, posit a Supreme Court nominee who is rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee for having opined, at the age of 12, that parts of the movie “To Kill a Mockingbird” were “boring.” And it offers Mr. This is that rare occasion when Washington’s wickedest wit takes aim at a humor-squelching comedic target. Buckley on his way to the “Supreme Courtship”: nothing funny occurred to him. An anomalously funny thing happened to Mr. But he usually writes satirically, while his new book is a broad farce. Christopher Buckley’s usual weapon of choice is a rapier, not a blunt instrument.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |