Monday, November 28, 2005

US News & World Report Releases Cat from Bag

Well, I can give you the link, or I can just reprint the blurb from the Washington Whispers section of US News & World Report:
Learning How the Other Half Lives
There's at least one liberal who wants to know how the other half lives. Seattle public-radio-show host John Moe spent a month immersed in conservative culture--forgoing the New York Times, resetting his radio from NPR to Rush Limbaugh, and making pilgrimages to the Reagan and Nixon libraries. He chronicles the ideological adventure in Conservatize Me, to be published by William Morrow next year. The hardest part? Listening to patriotic country and western songs. "Liberals have better music," he insists. But Moe also found conservatives to be funnier. "To be funny you have to have confidence," he says. "And you develop confidence when you rule the world."


As you know all too well if you've read this blog, I'm writing a book. Turning in the manuscript on Thursday, in fact. And the wave of publicity is on.

The idea of the book is that I took a month this summer to try to become a conservative. I met with pundits/celebrities Rich Lowry, Jonah Goldberg, William Kristol, and "Jeff Gannon", and had them attempt to convert me. I walked among the College Republicans at the College Republican National Convention and had an opportunity to stand a few feet from Tom DeLay and scream at full volume. I made pilgrimages to the Reagan, Nixon, and Quayle(!) museums and had varying levels of resonance. I spent 4th of July in a rural Idaho county that voted for Bush at a national record 92%. I went to a Toby Keith concert, fired guns, test drove an Escalade, and listened to a whole lot of conservative talk radio. I also endured a whole lot of Lee Greenwood music and ate more beef jerky than is prudent.

It was interesting. I went a little insane after a while, to be perfectly honest with you. I feel better now.

The book will be out next October, I believe.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

There's a Quayle library? Who knew?

john said...

There sure is! Here's a report on it from the talented Harriet Baskas: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4458752

John said...

This is hilarious, because it strikes me as an anthropologist spending time amongst the apes and monkey tribes to 'learn their ways'...and I just noticed that the writer of this blog and I have the same blogger name...I'll sign all comments henceforth as different john, or something like that.

Anonymous said...

you have truly outdone yourself this time. I am impressed. Rick

bonnie said...

Sounds like fun. I will have to remember to tell my favorite local liberal/socialist/anarchist coffeehouse & bookshop to buy a few.

ps scott chicken sent me!