Politics & Power Quote by P. J. O'Rourke

O'Rourke weaponizes arithmetic the way other writers use a raised eyebrow: crisp numbers, escalating offenses, then the punchline that democracy itself is just the final, socially acceptable form of political violence. The line works because it treats American civic life like a crime blotter, compressing centuries of reverence for the presidency into a rap sheet. You can hear the tabloid cadence in "shot", "worried", "impeached", "hounded" - verbs that turn institutional conflict into bodily harm.

The intent isn't to argue that elections are literally murderous. It's to mock the sanctimony that pretends our politics are uniquely civilized. By the time he lands on "assassinate their character", he's reframed campaigns as the continuation of force by other means: still punitive, still personal, just laundered through ballots and broadcast studios. The subtext is that Americans fetishize the office while practicing a national hobby of tearing down whoever holds it. Our mythology needs a hero; our media ecosystem needs a villain; the president is convenient inventory for both.

Context matters: O'Rourke is a journalist-satirist with a contrarian streak, writing in an era when political scandal became a permanent industry and "character" turned into a proxy battleground for policy fights nobody wanted to have plainly. His cynicism isn't neutral; it's diagnostic. If the presidency is the nation's altar, he suggests, we keep proving how much we enjoy the sacrifice.