Thank You for Smoking.

• Author: Murray, Alan

The reason good Washington satire is so rare is that Washington does such a good job of satirizing itself. All you need to enjoy the performance is a television, a cable hook-up, and a remote control.

Click back a few days and there's First Lady Hillary Clinton, on "Larry King Live," having an intimate conversation with Second Lady Tipper Gore, who just happened to call in.

I love working with you so much, says Tipper. And I really love working with you, says Hillary. You've done so much to address the problems in the health care system, coos Tipper. Well it was you who did so much to advance the cause of mental health, gushes Hillary. This from a woman who a few days earlier was talking about protecting her "zone of privacy."

Click back to May 1 and there's Wayne LaPierre, head of the National Rifle Association, on "Meet the Press," inviting President Clinton, Treasury Secretary Bentsen, host Tim Russert and anyone else who's interested to come with him to the Fairfax Rod and Gun Club on Wednesday so he can show them graphically how the 19 assault weapons that Congress wants to ban don't make any bigger holes than those that wouldn't be banned. Just what that would prove is unclear, but Mr. LaPierre knows that persistence wins over logic in Washington. "Well, let's go to the range on Wednesday," he tells Senator Dianne Feinstein, who was also on the show. "Will you come to the range?" Senator Feinstein refuses to accept the invitation, leaving viewers to wonder--or so Mr. LaPierre hopes-- what it is she's hiding from.

Now click back two months to "Nightline," where Linda Jenckes of the Health Insurance Association of America attempts to don a servant girl smile and tells millions of Americans: "You know, we actually support more in the president's proposal than probably any organization. We want health care reform." This after her organization just spent $10 million on the "Harry & Louise" ads that pilloried the Clinton plan.

But for anyone who fails to see the absurdities of life here, Christopher Buckley's Thank You for Smoking is a brilliant antidote. In this tale of a newsman-turned-tobacco-flack, Buckley shows himself to have an unmatched eye for the culture of Washington politics, media, and media manipulators.

The hero of this odd story is Nick Naylor, whose career as a TV newsman comes to an end on the day he happens to overhear a radio report that "Rover," the Secret Service's codename for the president, has choked to death on a...