How John Kennedy, a G.O.P. Senator, Became a Best-Selling Book Author

Politics|How a G.O.P. Senator Quietly Became a Best-Selling Author

Senator John Kennedy, Republican of Louisiana, has long been known for his zany turns of phrase.

Despite being an Oxford-educated lawyer, his folksy quips, delivered with a lively twang, are so common that he was once the subject of a quiz: Readers were invited to guess whether a given quotation was uttered by him or Foghorn Leghorn, the loudmouthed, Southern-accented Looney Tunes rooster. Mr. Kennedy is perhaps most famous for a political advertisement in which he suggested that critics of law enforcement “call a crackhead” the next time they found themselves in danger.

Now, somewhat improbably, he is one of the best-selling authors in the country.

“How to Test Negative for Stupid: And Why Washington Never Will,” may be one of the least buzzy books in Washington. Yet the witticism-laden journey through the absurdities of life at the Capitol has quietly sat atop The New York Times’s top 10 best-seller list for 13 weeks, with three consecutive weeks in the top slot. Mr. Kennedy has sold close to half a million copies.

The senator has excelled beyond much bigger political names. President Trump’s son Don Jr.’s first book, for example, lasted eight weeks on the list, and was accompanied by the dreaded dagger symbol, indicating that bulk purchases of the book — in this case from the Republican National Committee — had boosted its ranking.

Mr. Kennedy has also outpaced the book sales of a long line of senators with White House aspirations who have routinely released staid, policy-heavy tomes to lay the foundation for presidential runs, only to see them flop.

Mr. Kennedy’s book has a decidedly different flavor; it is neither an angry conservative screed (though he has his moments) nor the soaring “Profiles in Courage” written by the former senator and late president with whom he shares a name. Now in his second term in the Senate, Mr. Kennedy happily presents himself as Virgil in a Washington-style inferno, guiding readers through the Capitol’s nine circles of quirks and dysfunction.

“This is not a place,” Mr. Kennedy observes of Congress, “where you’re supposed to say the quiet part out loud.”