''Republican Party Reptile'', subtitled ''The Confessions, Adventures, Essays and (Other) Outrages of P. J. O'Rourke'' is a 1987 collection of essays by American satirical writer

P. J. O'Rourke Patrick Jake O'Rourke (November 14, 1947 – February 15, 2022) was an American libertarian political satirist and journalist. O'Rourke was the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute and a regular correspondent for ''Th ...

. Some of the works were previously published in House & Garden and Harper's. O'Rourke planned to promote the book at the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...

. Though he described himself as a conservative

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, this was not allowed, reportedly because the GOP did not appreciate O'Rourke's sense of humor. In the essay that gives its title to the collection O'Rourke describes a "Republican Party Reptile":

We are in favor of: guns, drugs, fast cars, free love (if our wives don't find out), a sound dollar, and a strong military with spiffy uniforms. There are thousands of people in America who feel this way, especially after three or four drinks. If all of us would unite and work together, we could give this country. . . well, a real bad hangover."

The collection includes the article "How to Drive Fast on Drugs While Getting Your Wing-Wang Squeezed and Not Spill Your Drink" which had previously been published in '' National Lampoon'' in 1979, and was later included in the collection ''

Driving Like Crazy Driving Like Crazy: Thirty Years of Vehicular Hell-Bending, Celebrating America the Way It’s Supposed to Be -- With an Oil Well in Every Backyard, a Cadillac Escalade in Every Carport, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Mowing Our Lawn is a ...

''. The essay is the inspiration and namesake of the 1991

Big Country Big Country are a Scottish rock band formed in Dunfermline, Fife, in 1981. The height of the band's popularity was in the early to mid 1980s, although it has retained a cult following for many years since. The band's music incorporated Scot ...

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

References

{{P.J. O'Rourke 1987 books American political satire Political satire books Atlantic Monthly Press books