Politics Required Reading: The National Review Cruise
posted by on June 26 at 14:05 PM
Johann Hari is at sea—with the editors, writers, and readers of National Review.
The next morning, I warily wander into the Vista Lounge—a Vegas-style showroom—for the first of the trip’s seminars…. There is something strange about this discussion, and it takes me a few moments to realize exactly what it is. All the tropes conservatives usually deny in public—that Iraq is another Vietnam, that Bush is fighting a class war on behalf of the rich—are embraced on this shining ship in the middle of the ocean. Yes, they concede, we are fighting another Vietnam; and this time we won’t let the weak-kneed liberals lose it….Then, with a judder, the panel runs momentarily aground. Rich Lowry, the preppy, handsome 38-year-old editor of National Review, announces, “The American public isn’t concluding we’re losing in Iraq for any irrational reason. They’re looking at the cold, hard facts.” The Vista Lounge is, as one, perplexed. Lowry continues, “I wish it was true that, because we’re a superpower, we can’t lose. But it’s not.”
No one argues with him. They just look away, in the same manner that people avoid glancing at a crazy person yelling at a bus stop. Then they return to hyperbole and accusations of treachery against people like their editor. The aging historian Bernard Lewis declares, “The election in the U.S. is being seen by [the bin Ladenists] as a victory on a par with the collapse of the Soviet Union. We should be prepared for whatever comes next.” This is why the guests paid up to $6,000. This is what they came for. They give him a wheezing, stooping ovation and break for coffee.
Via Sullivan.
If they love Iraq so much, they should be living there, outside the Green Zone.
Well?
Registration required reading.
The aging historian Bernard Lewis declares, "The election in the U.S. is being seen by [the bin Ladenists] as a victory on a par with the collapse of the Soviet Union."
Is he talking about the 2004 election? 'Cause Bush and his Republican cronies have done more damage to this country than any Al Qaeda agent possibly could. It'll take a generation for us to recover.
Ha! I used to work for Holland America Line responding to complaints, and that's the ship I was responsible for, and I have such tremendous pity for my successor. Salon.com arranged a partial charter, just like National Review did, and the letters I received were hilarious, with people who probably have subscriptions to National Review complaining about militant liberals taking over the ship. This will be the anti-matter version of that, with people complaining about insane fascists taking over the ship. The poor fucks who thought they were in for a week of luxury spent their time being denied access to facilities and getting buttonholed by ideologues.
Ah, that job was hell, but damn did it give me some great stories. FYI, Boat Trip, the movie where the poonhounds end up on the gay cruise? It happened when a family from Kentucky accidentally ended up on an Olivia cruise, which caters to lesbians.
Lewis is only partly correct: it's not the election that is being seen as a victory, it's the VICTORY that's being seen as a victory. The victory by the Islamicist forces over the US. They've driven another Western beast out of their land. Leaving aside the question of WHO, exactly, drove out whom -- it's not just Al Qaeda, but a combination of thirty different forces, most of who are still fighting each other and will continue to do so after we leave -- this is a correct analysis.
I don't think it has anything to do with our elections; I don't think Al Qaeda or Sadr's guys or any of these people have any real understanding or interest in the minutiae of American electoral politics. Bin Laden probably couldn't tell you three things about either party; and he doesn't care. Our parties -- both of them -- exist in the modern world, the bad evil world.
Bernard Lewis is a very, very smart man, and it's sad to see his career end like this: tied to ahistorical nitwits and torturers. But tied to them he is.
This cruise closely resembles my conception of hell, except that in hell the alcohol won't get you drunk. You'll be forced to listen.
Dan, thanks for posting this. I, too, am sad to see someone like Bernard Lewis end his career and his days surrounded by deadender neocons, but that is his choice, I guess.
Bin Laden sees no difference between the Republicans and the Democratic Party. We are all infidels and are de facto enemies of his god, as declared by his "prophet" and written in his holy book. All of the noise from the right about how Democrats and liberals are in league with Al Qaeda is hogwash - a jihadist would slit Dick Cheney's throat just as quickly as he'd slaughter Dennis Kucinich. We are no different in their eyes. We're all the enemies of their religion - not becuase we necessarily oppose them but because of the teachings they've had shoved at them their whole lives.
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