How many times had those awful words - "I know what I'm doing" - been uttered throughout history as prelude to disaster? Christopher Buckley More Quotes by Christopher Buckley More Quotes From Christopher Buckley I remember dawn coming up over the Strait of Malacca; ragamuffin kids on the dock in Sumatra laughing as they pelted us with bananas; collecting dead flying fish off the deck and bringing them to our sweet, fat, toothless Danish cook to fry up for breakfast. Christopher Buckley fat fish sweet breakfast How many Republicans does it take to change a light bulb? Three. One to mix the martinis, one to change the light bulb, and one to reminisce about how good the old one was. Christopher Buckley good three light change Lobbyists didn't descend from a spaceship. They evolved organically from the way we do business. Christopher Buckley spaceship lobbyists business way I'd worked at the White House for two years, and I'd read a bunch of White House memoirs because everybody who works at the White House, even for five minutes, writes a memoir usually not less than 600 pages long - and never without the word 'power' in the title. Christopher Buckley never power white long I hope when I'm on my deathbed, people forgive me, because there is a lot to forgive. Christopher Buckley forgive me hope people I certainly wish I were as good-looking as Aaron Eckhart. Christopher Buckley good-looking certainly were wish I'm accused of, and perhaps rightly so, of not being mean enough. I've been taken to task in many a book review; a good satirist has to, you know, has to kill. Christopher Buckley good know you book I spent, whether consciously or unconsciously, most of my career trying to be something other than William F. Buckley's son. Christopher Buckley career something trying son We make our public servants jump through quite a few hoops, you know. We get hysterical if they accept a $50 lunch from a lobbyist. We get hysterical if they accept a ride on some corporate jet. Christopher Buckley ride know you lunch I was an only child who had every advantage, every blessing, absolutely. Christopher Buckley only who child blessing It's odd to think of yourself as an orphan at 55. Christopher Buckley yourself think orphan odd Necessity is the mother of bipartisanship. Christopher Buckley necessity bipartisanship mother You live vicariously through your characters. Christopher Buckley live your through you You can't tell what's aboard a container ship. We carried every kind of cargo, all of it on view: a police car, penicillin, Johnnie Walker Red, toilets, handguns, lumber, Ping-Pong balls, and IBM data cards. Christopher Buckley you red car police Try, if you will, to imagine Dwight Eisenhower or JFK or Lyndon Johnson or, for that matter, Ronald Reagan chin-wagging with Jack Paar or Johnny Carson. Richard Nixon did, famously, go on 'Laugh In' in 1968, but as a candidate; and to his credit, he rued the day and hated every second of it. Christopher Buckley laugh day you matter I had some adventures at the White House, but hardly enough to fill a full memoir. Christopher Buckley some enough white house It was a mistake to think that my views would have been taken on their own terms. It was a mistake to think that my last name wouldn't be a factor. Christopher Buckley name own think mistake As for the financial world - I've been working in the Forbes building for eight years. You soak up a little bit of ambient stuff about all this - I know what a gold straddle is, what the Lombard rate is. Christopher Buckley you building gold world The first novel I wrote, 'The White House Mess,' was a comic novel. It came out in 1986. It was a parody in the form of a White House memoir. Christopher Buckley first mess white house I had worked for George Bush as a speechwriter, and I read a lot of White House memoirs. They all have two themes: 'It Wasn't My Fault' and 'It Would Have Been Much Worse if I Hadn't Been There.' Christopher Buckley fault white house two
