Neocons on a Cruise: What Conservatives Say When They Think We Aren't Listening

Nice to see the designs they have for us. Kill the liberals, no? So many of the neocon dreams and solutions for problems in that article seem to revolve around doling out hypothetical death to anyone who challenges their worldview. No empathy allowed on this cruise.

And the shocking hubris! The emphasis is entirely on winning this, that and the other thing - no compromises - betraying the inherent ethical deterioration in a competition-based society instead of a cooperative one. That "winner/loser" false dichotomy is such awful semantics anyway. Where do they get this? Is it the warfare worship, transforming life into their own little sporting event? Maybe one day they will see that there are entirely variable standards of success and failure in life. These folks fail at being human beings, for example. But one is left with the impression that with people who think that money, property, victory, and power are the only things in the world worth thinking about, the concept of multivalued orientation skyrockets over their heads. Sad.

Buckley was the only one who sounded even remotely like a mensch; his progeny turned out to be some batch of horrid thalidomide babies. And one gets the feeling he's not entirely happy about it, despite winning "his" war.

Speaking of babies, the Hitlerian "Lebensborn Experiment" baby-making advice at the end was beyond creepy. What planet is this anyway?

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The economy is booming for the top three percent. The rest are just getting by or worse.

Greatest period of prosperity in world history? According to who? Big corporations again. Who do you work for (or own) ? Exxon?

More people have been lifted out of poverty-not true. There are more people IN poverty than ever-and mostly children.

Change your screen name from Bobsays to Bushsays.

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Why don't these guys get it??!!

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Actually bob, our country *always* booms with and just after a war. It's how it's set up, dumbass.

Sure, we're in the greatest (learn to spell, monkey) period of prosperity in world history, but not for America. Checked the stats on the trade levels, my friend? We're going to owe China our souls very soon, and it has nothing to do with the shittyass war.

Give us links to your stats about poverty. Really. Find *one* that proves we have less people living in poverty than before.

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Hmm. You are an odd one, Bobsays, but you sure can churn out the platitudes, I'll give you that. You could probably make a career out of blowing blue sky up people's shorts at business seminars.

"- most people have not been affected"

I guess that depends on what you mean by 'affected.' There's a ripple effect to soldiers coming home dead and damaged. To their families, to their friends, to their communities, to our country. There are the opportunities that are lost with all the money, resources, and attention squandered on this war. That affects us all. There's the loss of face in the world. That affects us all (even the socially stunted, though they don't realize it, Bob). There's the permanent damage that's been done to America's system of checks and balances. There's a renewed and vigorous cynicism about our government. And of course there are the people in Iraq, Bobsays, who to people like you are just abstractions.

Stop romanticizing the blather of crusty old farts and grow up goddammit.

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According to studies I have read recently, the number of people in the US living in poverty has increased under the Bush Administration, and as a percentage of US population over all, is higher than it has been for many years. So people are not being lifted out of poverty, more people are being reduced to poverty level status due to Bush Adminstration's economic policies.

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Let me take a deep breath first.

....inhale...

...

exhale...

Okay, I'm ready.

Others have poked holes in your "war truths," so I'll take on the first batch. They were:

1. "hey, 9/11 was a good thing and I kind of wish it would have happened more often" Please find me an example of a dreaded American liberal saying "Woo hoo, just LOVED that 9/11." Please. One. Admittedly, you should probably wait until the "I love 9/11" parade, as there you'll find all of us in one place.

2. "why can't we just give in to Osama and fundamentalists." "Giving in," of course, must mean NOT bombing the whole of the Middle East and sending our troops to "secure" Iraq's oil. We must keep bombing, torturing, and raiding Iraqi homes. Iraqis surely admire our resolve on that score. After all, we're so dedicated to bringing them freedom and stopping the growth of terrorism that we've deprived them of fresh water, electricity, and basic security. They will be so grateful to us, for decades to come.

This would also be the point to reference Bush's ties to the Saudi royal family. Ya know, Saudia Arabia: that bastion of freedom.

3. "when's the next international meeting so we can provoke a riot." Ya know, as a leftie-activist, I just can't keep straight which riot I'm heading to next.

If you were to actually research any global-wide protest against the WTO or the IMF, you'd actually find that the police instigate and carry out the violence, and do so against a peaceful majority.

4. "let's make a marriage of convenience with islamic fundamentalism because it hates Bush and capitalism as much as we. Consider that reality has more than 2 sides (one absolutely good, the other absolutely evil). Find me ANY anti-war American who wants Americans to convert to Islamic fundamentalism. We anti-war folks are scared enough by the batshit Christian sects in the U.S.

A final, and equally scary, thought: This list of yours basically boils down to the whole "We have to fight 'em over there so we don't have to fight 'em over here," a sentiment I still can't think on without giggling. But, anyway, considering that you're distraught that Americans aren't affected enough by the war to understand its implications, is it possible that you--in your darkest moments--hope for another domestic terrorist attack to prove you right and rally the fearful to your cause? Thus, aren't YOU the one who secretly loves 9/11? Be sure to invite me to the parade.

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What the Left ( sane ) really say behind closed doors...

Hmm I better get a gun and learn how to use it.

What's the status of my application of citizenship in the EU, Australia, NZ, Canada?

How am I going to protect my children from this madness?

Is this conversation being monitored?

Ron Paul is on to something.

Hillary??? Puhlease!!!

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I'd say that 9/11 and Osama have been a blessing for the right. Allows them to take away civil rights from those nasty Liberals and Lefties. How dare they have an opinion that contradicts the right. Democracy and freedom are whatever the right says it is and those who disagree should be shot and buried, like the traitors they are. The right must look on with envy at what countries like China can get away with. That's the kind of freedom and democracy they embrace.

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... I feel the need to point out that, mainly, neoconservatives don't make up silly things like this, as Bobsays has listed. They actually get these "talking points" from the various "conservative" media sources and merely repeats them.

Works like a charm... until the message becomes familiar and repeated, if in different forms. People begin to see it's not in line with reality. The one around them.

Of course no one, ever, wished for another 9/11... except Dick Cheney and Osama Bin Laden (what a pair). But neoliars like Bobsays have no problem declaring any American who disagrees with him a traitor. Someone deserving of torture, rape, and slow death.

It's sickening. What if Bobsays was a cop? He could ruin your life in one night.

Personally, I'm all for figuring out who he is (there are ways) and having a little "chat" with Bobsays in his driveway. You know the one Bob? The one with the garage out in the suburbs Bob.

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Bobsays nonsense! Any evidence one way or the other for the points that you raise? Or is your post supposed to be somehow ironic being that you have (I assume) just read an article about where old, tired neo-cons go to be amongst their own kind?

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Bob, you really should try a different brand of scotch.

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You must not have read your history book - you know, the part about WWI, Korea, and Viet Nam.

Your "war truths" fit them all nicely.

You are just a typical right wing dullard. Go back under your rock.

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Forgive then Father, they don't have any idea as to what they are doing.

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WOW! Can you even imagine it? Taking a summer cruise with the creme de la creme of America's half-witted right wing! Think of the possibilities of some serious mischief! This really gives me some serious ideas!

Can you imagine the damage one could do by infiltrating one of those excursions??? You could really fuck with their minds in serious, traumatizing ways - without even shedding a drop of blood and without ever even blowing your cover! Subtle, psychcologocal warfare can, indeed, be a devistating thing. Two or three agent provocatuers, working the room in a low key way could pull off some really funny pranks!

It boggles the mind!

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
"The Rant" by Tom Degan

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for anyone to hear, anytime.

This article is bunk.

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Must have been so hard to avoid screaming at them. Great article. Would be interesting to get them onto the subject of abstinence-only education programs and all that stuff.

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I couldn't stop reading. The only thing you would have to do to make it believable is change it to a science fiction film.

No one would think this kind of delusion could be possible. I remember "Ship of Fools."

Don't do Black and White this time. The film should use garish computer generated colors - - like the red dresses and lipsticks of neo-con molls.

Ed Graham

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And that this article is part of its insidious propaganda. But unfortunately I know a number of these folks. Like the relative (by marriage) who traces all of America's ills back to the [gasp!] ACLU!

But most of the folks I know are middle-of-the-road conservative boobies, the kind who forward you emails about our gallant boys (sometimes girls) in Iraq, or pictures of the World Trade Center with the flag fluttering behind it.

Oh lord, this is so depressing. Makes me want to just find a rock (in a more advanced society) and crawl under it.

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During the Spanish civil war, the pro-Franco military commander said: "We have four columns of infantry ready to attack Madrid and one fifth column already inside the city."
These neo-cons - right wingers or whatever you want to call them are our ever so dangerous fifth column. How many of them are there? 28% ? I meet them just about every day.
Yes, they are supposedly friends, neighbors, co-workers and the guy on the street. What can we do about this? I certainly don't have a great idea. But if we ever want some world peace, we have to combat them and absolutely not let them get away with their absurd spouting.

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Brilliant! Now that's journalism. Too bad he wasn't muslim, too. The Yes Men oughta infiltrate such a ship.
My parents also cling tenaciously to this conviction that the muslims will be taking over the world soon. Is that one of the preachings of Fox Noise? Because they watch that constantly....

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I think these people are so nutty-right that they still have a problem dealing with the fact that the slaves were freed.

I hate to think of these people having kids---it could be considered child abuse.

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You've just outlined the plot for a fantastic new sit-com, Ship of Fascists. I couldn't stop reading because the list of supposed intellectuals kept pulling me through the predictable quotes from the airhead paying passengers. If these people had no money and no power, I could laugh a little harder. But then, who would care?

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There ought to be a fund set up to Rehab these folks.

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I think this would make a great movie. Actually a Horror movie.
One broad minded thinking guy trapped out at sea with a ship full of rich white right-wing conservative people. It's rich with possibilities. The profits can go to education low income voter. ADL

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The most important sentence in Johann Hari’s entertaining article concerned the husband of National Review cruise guest commentator, Kate O'Beirne.

Wrote Hari, “As I enter the onboard restaurant she is sitting among adoring Reviewers with her husband Jim, who announces that he is Donald Rumsfeld's personnel director.”

My curiosity tweaked, I googled “Jim O'Beirne” and ran across a Washington Post article headlined, “Ties to GOP Trumped Know-How Among Staff Sent to Rebuild Iraq,” written by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, author of Imperial Life in the Emerald City.

Published on September 17, 2006, the opening paragraphs mentioned Jim O'Beirne this way:

After the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, the opportunity to participate in the U.S.-led effort to reconstruct Iraq attracted all manner of Americans -- restless professionals, Arabic-speaking academics, development specialists and war-zone adventurers. But before they could go to Baghdad, they had to get past Jim O'Beirne's office in the Pentagon.

To pass muster with O'Beirne, a political appointee who screens prospective political appointees for Defense Department posts, applicants didn't need to be experts in the Middle East or in post-conflict reconstruction. What seemed most important was loyalty to the Bush administration.

O'Beirne's staff posed blunt questions to some candidates about domestic politics: Did you vote for George W. Bush in 2000? Do you support the way the president is fighting the war on terror? Two people who sought jobs with the U.S. occupation authority said they were even asked their views on Roe v. Wade.

Many of those chosen by O'Beirne's office to work for the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ran Iraq's government from April 2003 to June 2004, lacked vital skills and experience. A 24-year-old who had never worked in finance -- but had applied for a White House job -- was sent to reopen Baghdad's stock exchange. The daughter of a prominent neoconservative commentator and a recent graduate from an evangelical university for home-schooled children were tapped to manage Iraq's $13 billion budget, even though they didn't have a background in accounting.

End of extract.

The remainder of Chandrasekaran’s dynamite disclosure is over 5,000 words. I urge all AlterNet users who oppose Bush’s unjustified war of choice to read the entire article by googling, “Chandrasekaran Washington Post September 17, 2006.”

Hugh E. Scott, Vietnam vet and editor of the nonprofit investigative website, King-George.biz, which features 50 cartoons, photos and other Bushwhacking illustrations plus the only hardcopy proof of White House corruption ever found on the Internet.

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Which is that oppression is still a FEASIBLE way for the U.S. to deal with challenges to it's imperial dominance. No one on the right considers the possibility that even with all the liberals controlled or disappeared, with Rumsfields and Cheneys fully in charge, a Clash of Civilizations based foreign policy might no longer constitute good strategy, much less decency.

Unfortunately, the Left isn't asking this question either. Unfortunately, in a world in which it seems reasonable to many people to join the side of the stronger, this question must be examined.

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The proverbial 'fly on the wall'. I'm not surprised he got to wondering how long it would take him to drown. Thanks to the author for sharing his memorable time with us. It's a classic piece. They all believe every word of what they say. They must represent Bush's remaining -30% approval people. Which would explain why they don't laugh much. It certainly tells us alot about the people running the show. Thanks, ANNA

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First let me say that I was drawn to this article after seeing it on one of the news aggregators (Reddit.com) and found the title interesting. Upon reading it, I'm glad I did. This stuff is not all new and I knew there were many out there that felt this way, it's just hard to picture them in the light you described. I would have assumed these people were toothless and living in trailers in middle America. It is frightening to hear polarized viewpoints from people, be they conservative or liberal. I still listen, since I like to get both sides of the story, in order to decide for myself what I think. Excellent article and interesting that a cruise like this exists. I guess everyone needs a vacation, and what they do on vacation is, of course, their perrogative.

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The quality of an immigrant is inversely proportional to the distance travelled to get to the United States

In other words latinos suck.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I suspect D'Sousa might have said directly proportional, or have meant to. Inversely proportional yields the axioms 'great distance, low quality' and 'short distance, great quality'.

In other words, latinos are the best. Those from India the worst.

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there is no underestimating the intelligence of the American public-especially in red states.

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You said:

"President Bush described today's American conservatives as "Bill's children". I ask him ( Bill Buckley) if he feels like a parent whose kids grew up to be serial killers. He smiles slightly, and his blue eyes appear to twinkle. Then he sighs, "The answer is no. Because what animated the conservative core for 40 years was the Soviet menace, plus the rise of dogmatic socialism. That's pretty well gone."

Does Mr. Buckley not realize that the present threat is even more insidious that the former Soviet threat? This present threat can unintentionally, or be used internally to intentionally change the very Founding Father, Jeffersonian character of the US and other Western democracies?

And what is this threat? We may say its outward face is Islamo- (extremist)-fascism. We (at this internet site and others) tend to know that there/these are also permutations on behind the scene conspiracies that are going on.

But Mr. Buckley is a very smart, intelligent man. I am sure he knows all this, but failed to say so? To some this is quite telling, or just more conformation of the now obvious.

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A "genteel" woman posing a suicide bombing as a solution to ANYTHING just boggles the mind. I didn't read about her volunteering for the job.I wonder why. Have you ever met anybody so stupid and ignorant you wonder how they've survived as long as they have? The fact that many of these nuts occupy socially prominent positions is what's so scary, and doesn't speak that well for the rest of us, either, because, after all, we enable them to affect the rest of us.

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I am not the first to say it but it bears repeating... Just because you have money does not prove you are, in any way, intelligent. It just means you have money. And for some of these idiots, it is most likely the only way they can survive!

It's scary, really, to think that a) money buys action and b) these are the lunatics with money! I mean...

Further example: My mate plays music in retirement communities. Just after the devastating tsunami of Indonesia one of the blue-haired (and ludicrously weathy) residents commented thusly, "Did you hear about that flood in Indonesia? That's terrible! Why, our clothing prices are going to go right through the roof!"

What the fuck is one to say or think in the face of such self-absorbed ignorance and stupidity?

It's a good thing for them they have money. On the other hand... when they spend so lavishly on themselves, they are leaving less to their inbred progeny!

They and their ilk are proof that evolution is not a one-way street. They also give evidence that some species' variations are dead-end branches of the tree of evolution. See. Nature DOES make mistakes. It just takes a while to make them extinct!

I say, let us hurry on, privatise space colonization, and load this ship of fools onto another kind of ship. One that is ready to go where no fools have gone before!

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Or a convenient iceberg...

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Self-styled conservatives are better understood as regressives. They are typically fairly incompetent and their position is based on some wealthy ancestor who left them buckets of cash. They wish for a situation in which they can enjoy their inherited wealth without having to share with the peasants or the colored folks or the uppity women.

In short, they want a return to the 18th century, pre-American Revolution style of business and government. They've reinstated the Crown Corporation system that was the major enemy of the colonies (British East India, Hudson Bay, etc. - it was a revolution against corporate rule). WHo was the main shareholder in these corporations? Why, the King of England!

The neoliberal agenda is pretty much the same thing. The main difference is that neoliberals believe in global imperialism carried out through backdoor economic invasions such as NAFTA - the typical IMF-World Bank approach. The neoconservatives instead believe in global imperialism carried out through military means - essentially, they are simply copying Hitler's aggressive expansionist tendencies.

They're all a bunch of drunken fools on a cruise ship heading for a big, mean reef - which they can't even see coming. Ever see the Titanic? Remember to head for the lifeboats before you get locked below decks, everyone... though in this case, it seems that the entire planet is the Titanic. You have nowhere to run to!

As far as immigrants, the best immigration law that we have is the one that says that anyone who wishes to become a US citizen must renounce all aristocratic titles - so does that mean that we get to kick King George and Emperor Cheney out of the country?

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...you really can fool some of the people all of the time!

plur

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These Conservative Repubs were not the hard core Religious Right....so called God Fearing.....no alcohol....group..

They were on the "other " cruise ship..singing and worshipping GWB. Their talk "we are the real patriotic Americans. The ACLU, the gays the abortionists need redemption, we have true family values..

On the "religious" cruise there would be sermons about.... "Right now, Islamics are preparing for a final jihad, to 'take over the world" for Allah, Islamic training camps are rising up worldwide with a message of hate, characterized by merciless beheadings." [message taken from a sermon]

The National Review crew, mostly upper class BUT not the real "old money" group might share GWB in common but put them together, on a ship, and the Buckley group would be asking 'How long will it take me to drown'???

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Scary aren’t they?

‘the last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope’

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Wow, she discovered that conservatives are serial killer racists. I'm sure if she went on a Move On cruise she'd "discover" that liberals were Ghandi, Mother Teresa, and Johnny Appleseed all rolled up.

This heavy handed opinion piece didn't change one mind, so what is the point -- just venting?

Here is what you'd learn on a Move On cruise, (and most mainstream liberals would admit it)

1) Bush is worse than Hitler
2) Haliburton brought down the towers to feed the military-industrial complex
3) Manmade Global Warming is decided science (just like Ehrlich's Population Bomb, heterosexual Aids, and the coming ice age)
4) Free speach should be allowed in some areas (but not on the radio)
5) But of course, conservative speakers shouldn't be allowed on college campuses.
6) Airline pilots must attend re-programming camps if they request that a suspicious middle-eastern passenger be removed from a plane.

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I believe this article is entirely made to “prove” a point or opinion. Please, enough of this eh? Did the Johann Hari even go on this cruise and if so, did he find the thirty nutballs out of 3000 normals and miss attribute quotes incessantly?

>>”"The Muslims are breeding. Soon, they'll have the whole of Europe."
>>”" Of course, we need to execute some of these people,"”

Come on, if any of this is true, they certainly aren’t representative of the average conservative person, why do you let yourself get sucked into this stuff?


This is just more of the same crap that we have all been force-fed for the last few years.

I am a conservative (wow)
I guess I don’t have to describe myself to all of you, you can just assume that I am:

1. An evil puppy dog kicker
2. An loser who inherited millions.
3. A bigot
4. An immigrant hater
5. Stupid

Or just gather your latest insult and start hurling.

It is amazing to me that the one group that so loudly proclaims the need to respect others, their rights, freedoms and opinions, constantly insults bashes and generally hates anyone who doesn’t agree with them.

There are constant mistruths, misrepresentation and out right lies about conservatives posted on blogs like this every single minute. This article is chock full of them. I don’t doubt for a second that some people believe stupid things as Hari is “reporting” here, but to attribute all the delusions of a few to an entire group is… well, stereotyping isn’t it?

I am not saying the conservative “movement” is any better, but at least they do not go about being hypocritical about it.

Before you attack me, let me ask you.. “Do you hate conservatives”

If the answer is yes, you are no better than the bigots you think we are and until you realize that, you shouldn’t even be in the conversation.

If you say no, you’re probably at least fibbing a little… When was the last time you actually talked to a conservative?

The market in stupidity is not cornered exclusively by conservatives, and contrary to popular belief (especially here and on KOS) neither is racism, bigotry or hatred.

I have mostly conservative friends and do you want to know the reason?
The moment my personal politics comes up, liberals either insult me and leave, or just leave. When is the last time a conservative did that to you?

So here’s the rub…

I am not rich, I am not racist (not provable obviously), I am not a homophobe.
I do not believe we should have invaded Iraq, I don’t think we are winning.
I donate to charities even though I do not have much. I don’t think the sky is falling in terms of Global Warming, but I conserve, use cfls and do my best to be “green”.
I do not thinks Muslims are evil and out to ill “Us”, and the biggie…
I do not believe in “GOD”.

I have about 10 good close friends and about 50 generally close friends and almost all are conservative and feel almost exactly as I do. (although many are religious)

Ideas aren’t shared with “liberals” because liberals don’t even care to listen to what I want to say, to liberals, I am a hateful evil bigot.

So, assuming you have read this and aren’t just looking for a way to bash me or comeback with some witty fact or comment to prove how stupid I am and how superior you are..

Why don’t you TALK to a conservative today.

REALLY talk, find one today and ditch articles that portray a bogus built up article that panders to your hates and fears about conservatives…

But that would be too hard wouldn’t it.

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Now imagine living with these people, day in, day out; they are the only ones you can converse with - there are no others. Irrational, illogical, deluded, unintelligent. Imagine you can not get away - these are your people - the only ones you have - and you must either keep quiet, or speak up as the only voice of reason - and of course be shot down in mockery by the blatherings on of the masses.

I'm glad you wrote this, and can now understand at least "some" of the frustrations endured by the Americans with a pesky desire for truth, reason and honesty - self honesty, above all.

If you see a crazy man in the streets, changes are he is one of those undesireable "intellectuals" gone mad after having spent a lifetime trying to reason with others who are, for the most part, unreasonable.

Cheers

This is what it is like for many of us living in the US, and it is a burden that most living outside of the states can not imagine.

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For any of you stupid enough to believe this pile of bullshit to be true, I feel very sorry for you indeed.

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All kidding aside, this was really fiction, right?

In any case, those of us with a pinkish tint may still be able to sign up for the liberal version of this, the 10th annual seminar cruise (sailing from Seattle, 28 July-4 August) sponsored by The Nation magazine. You can hobnob with such notables as, among others, Victor Navasky, Ralph Nader, Richard Dreyfuss, and my own unrequited heart-throb, Katrina vanden Heuvel.

Humm. Interesting that the anti-immigrant conservatives went to Mexico. These treasonous leftists are going to Alaska.

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... really revealing. Really insightful. I haven't seen anything as insightful and true of the Old Right (and the Neo Cons) since Gore Vidal last tried to get Billy Buckley to try and stop himself from lying with any less cowardice. :D

They really do talk like this, after all, they read it in the National Review. My father has these opinions, almost to the word. Those who are committed to the "conservative movement" all truely believe (as Dick Cheney said over and over in the lead up to the illegal Invasion of Iraq) the "islamo-fascists" will create a Caliphate from India to Spain.

Which is grossly racist and ignorant of even a child's understanding of the rest of the world. Dick Cheney lied... but these ridiculous excuses for war and murdering brown people is still front page of the National Review. That is deeply evil.

These people would eat their children if it as sanctioned by the Conservative Right's ideology. If I recall, William H. Buckley had a child who committed suicide in a drugged haze of heroin or cocaine, jumping from a high window. Buckley used this as an opportunity to demonstrate the necessity of Richard Nixon's drug policy.

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This is exactly the kind of stuff they say when they think they're among friends. I recently got stuck on a bus with a bunch of rednecks. One heard that there was a gay pride demonstration that weekend, and he replied that he'd love to take a bulldozer and mow them all down. I yelled out, "They tolerate you!" Their true feelings are just below the surface and they know what face to put on when they don't feel safe to show them.

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And a few, including my own sister, I cannot easily have anything to do with anymore.

I truly feel what a "liberal" German must have felt, while living in 1930s Nazi Germany. There is no reasoning with these people.

I pray that some monstrous outside force, maybe aliens, will come in and crush these fascists, just like the Allies crushed out the odious Nazi regime. But it is sad to think that myself and my family will have to suffer for the fascist's war crimes.

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...the a--holes on this cruise weren't afflicted by the Norovirus. I can't think of a group of people more deserving of a nice hearty bout of gut-wrenching cramps, explosive diarrhea and vomiting. Which is basically the effect this article had on me. ;-)

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thanks for a very funny and well-written article. I think I would have lost it, having a good sense of humour is an excellent survival strategy. Must have been hard for Buckley too.

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This article will give me nightmares....Please tell me you made the whole thing up!

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Totally priceless, this. Some unintended humor as well. However did the writer refrain from jumping ship?! Author deserves a medal and other awards.

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This story is eerily reminiscent of the Philip Roth Book, "The Plot Against America".

Also, when I read reports and stories like this I'm immediately transported back in time to the French Reviolution and reminisce in my imagination that these are probably the same exact conversation and dismissive attitudes the French aristocracy probably had proior to the rebels storming the gates.

The message: History always repeats itself so never underestimate the power of pissing off the masses.

BTW- The Constitutional stalemate will end with military intervention.

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Why do I think a similar ship was cruising during the New Deal, saying exactly the same things about FDR? Oswald Mosley was probably the guest of honor.

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wow - ship of fools is certainly correct - wow. you read stuff like this and you really have to wonder. i am dismayed by the desires for isolationsim, creepy police-state kind of desires, and everything that is NOT why this country was created over 200 years for in the first place. i'm reading this early in the morning and wondering just what country i am really living in.

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It's good to know what people really think, I agree.

BTW, here's what Mexican reconquistas say when they think we aren't listening.

Of course, when they think someone is listening, they merely wish to put the food on the ungrateful gringos' tables. :-)

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I think this is a chilling story, but brilliantly told. Thank you for sharing the pathos and your insights, Mr. Hari. Your descriptions are enough to make me both laugh and cry at the sheer polarity of Americans in their thinking. I actually know people who think this way, and I never know how their thinking and mine can be so vastly different and still be citizens of the same country. In fact, I am seldom at a loss for words and some of the cruise participants' comments have left me almost speechless. This also tells me that your performance in making it through the cruise without going absolutely bonkers must have taken some fine acting ability.

I'm not so sure that a country who has so many elitest, narrow-minded non-thinkers deserves a second chance after electing the biggest fool in history - not once but twice! I'm just surprised that Joe Lieberman wasn't on the cruise with all his pals - maybe he should have been one of the headline entertainment acts. He could have sung and the Repugs and Dems voting with the Repugs in Congress could've been the chorus.

A lot of people feel the Dems have a clear shot at the Presidency in 2008 but I'm beginning to have my doubts as they try to duke it out verbally and compete over campaign dollars. I have also been considering how interesting it is that all of the respected leaders of our time (JFK, Bobby, MLK, Jr. etc.) all ended up assassinated while the criminals in power seem to end up unharmed - kind've makes me wonder further about who was behind what.

Great job of writing - I think we all felt like we were on that cruise with you with your descriptions.

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I remember back in the late 60's that my friends who were into pot smoking got very paranoid about their stash - would someone find it? If they did, would they take it or destroy it or maybe tell the cops about it?

Today we have the neoconservatives living in this same realm of fear, the fear that their ideas are no longer popular. Thus, they must resort to the exclusiveness of a cruise ship to get their racist ya-yas out.

And racism is what it's really about, folks. Whitey is better than everybody else. There are grades of worse-than-us but whitey triumphs over all.

I'm getting very, very close to never voting for a Republican ever again in my life. I'm an Independent, but stories like this make me know that the Republican Party has a cancer in its heart. The Democrats are screwed up in different ways but they are less hateful and demeaning than what the GOP party line puts out.

It's sort of scary when you think of how much power these hateful people possess. You could easily imagine them putting their stamp of approval on an American Auschwitz facility processing Mexican immigrants and Muslims regularly. Maybe they could fuel it with the oil they bilked the Iraqi people out of.

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Where are the Cole bombers when you NEED them ?
NeoCon colostomy bag Michael Savage says liberalism is a disease; the NeoCons are a TUMOR!

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and appalling to read this gripping account of a sea-cruise which reinacts the same pageant played in my parents' house on a nightly basis. I thought my parents' right-wing excessiveness was a mark of their own peculiar eccentricity. Evidently that is not the case.

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Satirist Mark Russell asked his audience aboard the Regent Seven Seas Voyager 2007 World Cruise how many of them, if they could, would vote George W back into office.

The affirmative thunderous ovation of stomps, cheers and applause was bone chilling.

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Conserver-Thieves are conserving
What and for Whom?
Everything
for
Themselves.
When a Super Rich, Alien Aristocrat, minority, Rule America, who benefits?
They do.
Sure they dole out a few pay offs, to a few wealthy friends,
As they loot the Treasury.
Kill untold millions.
Pollute the Airways and the Environment.
Now we know who’s watching the FAUX News!,
Little Old Ladies.
Rupert the Pervert has a captive audience.
Just the way the Neo-con Fascists like it.
To torture, rob and kill.
That’s right.
Even if you have own nothing.
They still want your rights.
Billionaires-R-Us is ruling America.
With a iron fist.
They own 99% of everything and
Still want the shirt off your back.
What that Gucci isn’t warm enough?
Sure they billow and bluster as they
Blow smoke up your ass.
Using their own grandmothers as a ruse.
Who do you think created these Bass-Turds anyway?
They all bow down and point
To they’re crude, rude
Little patsy.
The Shrub
King
Who,
Tortures
Bombs
Kills
Lies
Steals
All in the name of:
Their God
GREED

It’s
All for me!
and
None for you.
Or
Wait till you die!
For your pie
In the Sky.

We have all heard it before
And fought many a war.
To rid the world of Tyrants, Despots and Kings.

Now it’s time to clean house
Get rid of this Louse
and
Take care of our own.

O P I
Organize
Protest
Impeach!

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that cruise ship is so I could sink it.

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I’m a little disturbed by the article’s lumping of conservative view points as the end all be all of conservatism and the end all and be all of America with out understanding.

I’m a National Review reading, gun toting, pagan independent-registered republican who votes democrat on most occasions, hates taxes but believes that if I have to pay them they better be going for social well-being, not a criminal war effort.

I count neocons and demos among my friends. I have been to plenty of republican - Christian oriented functions in my lifetime…and let me tell you now that the opinions expressed in that article are horrible, wrong and NOT held by any neocon I know.

“right-wing America, is a parallel universe populated by straight-talking, gun-toting, God-fearing Republicans.”

Says the article. I hear that and my heart drops. Would my straight-talking gun-toting atheist republican boyfriend identify with them? The answer is no. What about my friend who is straight talking gun-toting democrat?

What about the liberal Christians?

The point is that the dual molds that the media want us to believe all fit into are only for extremist. For the majority there is a middle ground.

Of course these crazy neocon people exist…but it is much out of ignorance as it is out of being neocon fanatics.

The fact that this report is doing his best to search them out doesn’t prove anything other than we need to listen to what people are saying and vote accordingly. The article is overblown and over dramatic.

Likening the cocktail reception to Gone with the Wind makes me think his knowledge of American gatherings is lax and steeped in fairy tale. Hasn’t he been to a cocktail reception? Resorts all over hold them and they are a pattering of small talk and polite innuendo. Cruises take this to extreme which is why you have to make an effort to find an informal cruise.

Okay I’m nitpicking. I don’t like these people, not a bit, but I don’t like the reporter who pigeon holes Americans either. We’re a bigger country than a few crazy neocons on a boat.

I think it’s cute that Hari thinks that there are two kinds of Republicans after 9/11. I wish that I could say that were true…but republicans come in all stripes. We didn’t notice the “neocons” until Bush came to power but they’ve always been there.

Yes Podhoretz is living in La La Land. He’s a neocon poster boy. But it’s not the end all and be all of conservatism.

People tend to forget that the UK and the US are very different places. His questions are loaded to the UK opinion. Hari is trying to paint America as an evil place. That saddens me. He displays a lack of understanding of Connerly who should be commended on his “rising above”. He has always struck me as a man who would fight for rights regardless of race, or religion. A “I hate what your saying but I’ll die for your right to say it” type. Hari is trying to pigeon hole the delicate issue of caste in America and equal rights into a few badly worded paragraphs which paint Connerly as a “race traitor”.

His high and mighty attitude about Mexico also paints an ignorant picture. Legal and illegal immigrants is another tough American issue that is largely tied to Mexican politics and the fact that they system which lets illegal immigrants come to this country and work and even get citizenship also allows wanted, dangerous felons to walk free and continue to hurt everyone. I have personal experience in this, before you ask, both from living in Mexico and being married to a wanted felon.

It would be amusing to watch Hari find the real Mexico. Finding a random boy could get him into a lot of trouble for a lot of reasons. I would have asked if he wanted to die too.

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You can hear exactly these sentiments being expressed by Michael Savage and Glenn Beck every day. This isn't new, and it isn't made up. It's all too real.

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This article was brilliantly conceived and wonderfully executed.

One of the most powerful things any journalist can do is to get people to speak as they normally do-- when they think the public isn't listening. It's like being an African-American (as I am) and listening to some white racist fool tell me how much he "hates Jews" simply because he wrongfully assumes that, as an African-American, I must hate Jews as much as he does.

And the conservatives on this cruise where supposed to be the conservative "cream of the crop." HA!! If this represents the conservative cream of the crop, than Al Qaeda has nothing to worry about. We, the American people, are the only ones who should be worried.

Why do conservatives hate "intellectualism" so much? Because, on average, they are dumb and uninformed and they know it. They simply can't afford a fair fight, either physically or intellectually, so they rely on the decibel level of their shouting and their ability to commit mass violence from a distance.

And no: the facist, murderous, racist opinions that conservatives expressed in this article are neither unique, rare, or in "the minority" among conservative opinion. In fact, it is precisely this set of fools who brought us unwinnable wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, global warming, and the coming global economic crash, which-- and mark my words --they will manage to blame on some "black welfare queen."

Sheer stupidity coupled with privilege and absolute arrogance: a fatal and uniquely American mixture in the contemporary world.

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Dinesh D'Souza announced as we entered Mexican seas what he calls "D'Souza's law of immigration": " The quality of an immigrant is inversely proportional to the distance travelled to get to the United States."

Considering that Ms. D'Souza immigrated from as far away from the US as you could get while still remaining on this planet, I would say he has a great point there! He is the proof of his own hypothesis!

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1) Any movement will contain a certain number of lunatics.

2) Any person may be made to sound like a lunatic given selective enough reporting.

3) Any cruise in which people pay large sums of money to relax with other people who share their opinions is going to select for the most fanatical ones.

All things considered, the only thing I can draw from this article is that a few prominent conservatives are kind of worried about Iraq, and others are in denial, and that some are closet racists, and others may not be. I suspect that a liberal cruise would sound almost as insane, if slightly less bloodthirsty.

If we allow ourselves to identify a group as the Scary and Insane Ones based on limited evidence, we risk making the same atrocious, idiotic mistake suggested by some of the quotes in the article. We're all scary and we're all, on some level, quite capable of irrational hatred.

That said, government gas chambers? What the hell?

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as the "Intellectuals', You see, I don't think that happened. I have a hard time believing that anyone would refer to the people they supposedly despise as "the Intellectuals".
It is far more likely that a large group of conservatives would refer to liberals as "right wing crazies" than Intellectuals.
So, I believe the entire story is propaganda shit designed to place weak minded individuals who believe such nonsense on the defensive. The whole concept just kinda smells of smug self centerdness and elite self worship.
However, I am sure there are are probably many people who read Alternet that will suck it down and beg for more.
After all, The conservatives think you are Intellectuals remenber.

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If these detached luminaries are so fond of the Iraq war, I suggest that they be sent over there to enjoy firsthand the fruits of their amazing success.

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