Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

"The worst thing about conservatives qua conservatives is the same as the worst thing about liberals qua liberals. These are in-groups, they define themseleves primarily in terms of being different from members of other in-groups; they recognize and declare each other in the language of buzzwords and stock phrases. Principles and actual deep beliefs are secondary at best. The strongest signs of this unfortunate behavior in 'Give War a Chance' are the frequent pot-shots that O'Rourke takes at various people and groups.

"One particularly telling target is Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. Now in fact Ben & Jerry's is a private-sector entrepreneurial company, selling the public a politically-incorrect good (extra-fat ice cream) for which there is a large demand, making sums of money at this, and voluntarily giving some of that money to various charities. If there were actual principles involved here, conservatives should like this, as it is exactly the picture of How People Should Live and How Charity Should Work that they always paint when trying to cut government aid programs. But since Ben & Jerry's wear liberal-looking clothes, and give their donations to groups with liberal buzzwords ('Peace', 'Community' and so on) in their names, they are on the conservative OK-to-attack list; and O'Rourke attacks them at random several times, just to remind us that he's a conservative."

-- David Chess, in a review of P. J. O'Rourke's Give War a Chance