National Review Cruise Unintentionally Hilarious

[Lemur]

Full article here.

The whole article is worth a read, but here are some quotes from the wingnut cruise of the year:

On minority outreach:

Rasmussen offered some friendly advice about approaching minorities. “You show them that you really care, you talk to them as grown-ups on a range of issues, you get them involved,” he suggested, “and you accept the fact that it’s a long-term investment. And you accept that you can learn as much from them as you can teach them.”

This was harsh medicine to reluctant patients, and afterward some of them made their discomfort known. “That depressed me!” one woman said. To my right, a man snapped, “That’s bullshit!”

On dissent:

Duane said the only way out of the current quagmire is a “revolution,” citing the famous Thomas Jefferson line about watering the tree of liberty with blood from “time to time.”

What kind of revolution did he have in mind?

Duane’s eyes crinkled into a big smile. “You ever heard of guns?”

His wife sat up: “How do you like the veal?”

“It’s awful,” Duane growled, poking at it. “I can’t hardly chew it.”

On dissent 2:

During a discussion of Iran, a tall, jovial foreign-policy columnist named John Thomson was shouted down by everyone at the table for calling Barack Obama “an intelligent man.” “He’s not with us,” whispered a woman named Nancy from Key Biscayne.

On fear:

Dorothy lamented the misfortunes of her oldest son, who she said was stolen from her by “the seventies,” which was her code for drugs. She had grown up in the early fifties and was utterly bewildered by the sixties, ill-equipped to navigate the cultural upheaval. At 58, her son was now divorced and unemployed, living in various campsites, and she didn’t know who to blame. I saw tears on her cheeks and I put my hand on her shoulder. “I’m afraid,” she told me. “Write that. We’re scared to death.”

Indeed, that sense of fear was everywhere on the ship, fear of an impending debt crisis that would crush all fortunes, fear that the Anglo majority was now marginal for the first time in their adult lives, fear that the country the cruisers once knew had fully given way to something more … diverse, foreign, incomprehensible.

[Ronin]

and alas, there is never an iceberg around when you need it.

[drone]

The Yoo quote about Lord of the Flies made me lol.

[Ronin]

it reads like "Fear and loathing at the nursing home".

we were somewhere around Guantanamo, on the edge of the continent, when the rogaine began to take hold.

[rory_20_uk]

Going on a cruise says it all. Distancing themselves to continue to live in a bubble. Bitter racist bigots to complain that they are the righteous and deny that they are stuck with rose tinted spectacles at a better era where one could segregate oneself from "lesser" races and so on.

Hopefully as this lot dies less sclerotic minds might be able to take the good bits and dump a fair bit of the baggage.

[Lemur]

The Yoo quote about Lord of the Flies made me lol.

Indeed, where's Jay Bybee when you need him?

[ICantSpellDawg]

Remember how tempered and cool discussions about George Bush were? Discussing nuanced moderation with hardline, ideological individuals tends to be frustrating, no matter which side you are on.

[Papewaio]

It's more frustrating when they are supposedly on the same side as yourself. It's funny when you see the other sides, embarrassing when it's yours.

One thing about humans regardless of creed, race or religion. Some of them are always a bit cringeworthy.

I'm pretty sure the moderates of any mainstream party have more in common with other parties moderates then they do with extremists from their own party.

[ICantSpellDawg]

I'm pretty sure the moderates of any mainstream party have more in common with other parties moderates then they do with extremists from their own party.

That is usually true.

[naut]

“Pardon me, madam, but I have been in your country of Australia for ten days and the only Aborigines I’ve seen have been drunk on the street, and at least if we were in my country they would be serving the drinks at this conference!”

Um... where do these hokey-cokey old ladies appear from.

[Ironside]

“Pardon me, madam, but I have been in your country of Australia for ten days and the only Aborigines I’ve seen have been drunk on the street, and at least if we were in my country they would be serving the drinks at this conference!”

Um... where do these hokey-cokey old ladies appear from.

The "good" old days. They grew up during those (as rich upper class) and never left them.

[Greyblades]

I'm pretty sure the moderates of any mainstream party have more in common with other parties moderates then they do with extremists from their own party.

With the republicans it seems like the exteremists are in the majority, even taking account of how much more vocal exteremists are compared to moderates.

America's "Good old party" scares me.

[PanzerJaeger]

A New York Magazine reporter is sent on a conservative cruise and returns with a critical assessment of the event. Have you considered that the hilarity may have actually been entirely intentional?

[Idaho]

A New York Magazine reporter is sent on a conservative cruise and returns with a critical assessment of the event. Have you considered that the hilarity may have actually been entirely intentional?

You gotta be in it to win it.

[Greyblades]

A New York Magazine reporter is sent on a conservative cruise and returns with a critical assessment of the event. Have you considered that the hilarity may have actually been entirely intentional?

Well, yeah. You dont generally become so offensively repulsive unintentionally.

...Wait, are you talking about the reporter?

[lars573]

A New York Magazine reporter is sent on a conservative cruise and returns with a critical assessment of the event. Have you considered that the hilarity may have actually been entirely intentional?

I found it to be a fine piece of gonzo journalism. So yes it probably was.