#SUPREME COURTSHIP BUCKLEY TV#

People in DC are so inside the beltway they don’t even realize that other cities HAVE beltways. **That’s Washington, DC, for those of us outside the beltway. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that Buckley was raised on this stuff, and can be funny about it. I probably wouldn’t agree with either man on anything, including day of the week, just on principle. Buckley, Jr., which makes him a true American political scion. *Yes, Christopher Buckley’s work stands on its own, but it’s hard to separate his political sensibility from the fact that his father was William F. This counts for the Book Blogger Abroad 2011 Challenge, as it was recommended by yours truly! So thanks to Judith at leeswammes for hosting! A solid 3 out of 5 stars – probably 4 if you’re the kind of person who actually enjoys watching 24-hour news channels when there’s no particular disaster to follow. It just wasn’t as sharp as Thank You for Smoking, or as gut-wrenchingly funny as Boomsday, but it does represent a broadening of social themes for Buckley, which I enjoyed. If you like Buckley’s other books, you definitely will not be disappointed with Supreme Courtship, as I wasn’t. But then, this is a novel about the Supreme Court, where things change at a glacial pace. At times it seemed like a long time between laughs. And Latina bombshell Ramona Alvilar represented a very nasty and hackneyed stereotype. The romantic angle of the novel was weak – so weak it made me squirm a bit. Unfortunately, not all of the book hangs together that well. I actually hope Buckley gets back to Santamaria in another book – the character deserved more time! First-timers appearing before the Court for oral argument had been known to wet their pants and even faint under his withering questions and commentary (p. Didn’t nitpick-disemboweled you and flossed his teeth with your intestines.

Silvio Santamaria didn’t take yes for an answer. He was brilliant, with a wit as caustic as drain cleaner good company if you were in his camp and look out if you weren’t.

And Silvio Santamaria, clearly a send-up of the most despicable justice with whom I share an alma mater – Antonin Scalia – is a brilliant tribute to excess: There’s one exchange among justices made up almost entirely of Latin legalese that had me laughing out loud in the library. There’s something here for everyone, especially news junkies.

#SUPREME COURTSHIP BUCKLEY TV#

Throwing caution to the wind for once, he nominates TV judge Pepper Cartwright, a wisecracking, gun-toting, Prada-wearing Texas icon to the Court.*** Along with the arcane nature of Constitutional law, Buckley also expounds on reality TV, populism, and the nature of marriage.

President Vanderkamp, a terribly earnest and therefore thoroughly disliked Ohioan, becomes miffed when two of the finest jurists of the age are turned down for a seat on the Supreme Court because Dexter Miller, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wants the job himself. And maybe that’s all you can expect from political satire. the US Supreme Court – seem hilarious! Well, at least hilarious some of the time. Christopher Buckley, ultimate Washington insider,* really understands life “inside the beltway.”** Which is why he manages to make “nine old farts sending footnotes to each other” –a.k.a. You have to really understand a culture to crystallize the humor in it. Humor is about the hardest thing to translate.

Supreme courtship buckley