Final Day: National Review Cruise

vanity

[nerdgirl]

First 2 threads on the National Review Cruise are here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1280916/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1281110/posts

Hola freepers - last day of the cruise. Sorry to be a bad reporter, but I missed the panel again today - (gays, immigration, & social security just couldn't roust me out of my room at 9am). But despite also missing what was supposed to have been the best session yet on terrorism, I did attend the afternoon event on foreign policy.

Bernard Lewis gave perhaps the best speech I've heard about the political culture & history of the Middle East - talking about the variety of approaches in modern diplomatic thinking - ie those that think the arabs are simply not capable of sustaining any kind of democracy because they don't possess inherently democratic values & forms of thinking - versus the belief he holds that the region in fact has deep roots with representative types of government, and that rule by despots is a 19th & 20th century development that occurred only after they began having contact with the West. I've been told that he published a book a couple of years ago that is one of the best possible works for understanding Middle Eastern political culture. As for gossip on the guy, I haven't seen him around anywhere, but he's got that aristocratic sort of British accent that reminds you of Jane Austin movies.

Victor Davis Hanson also left the impression of how little the left in our country really GET what's going on in the Middle East - and he uses all kinds of historical examples to show that we are indeed on the right path at the right time, using many of the right tactics (not all, of course, he admits we've made mistakes). As a speaker he can be a little hard to follow if you haven't already read his stuff, because he constantly references previous foreign wars, movements, figures, etc - and if you're a geek like me who sometimes races through reading about current issues…you really need to read one of his books and a few articles BEFORE hearing him speak. But he left me wanting to read his stuff (in fact I loggged on to NRO to do just that - and he has a fabulous piece today

http://www.nationalreview.com/hanson/hanson200411190830.asp

He also DOES know how to smile :) Sounds really Californian with this voice & inflections.

John Hillen offered a pragmatic view that we need to be cautious w/ labeling our goal as "democracy." He said the best we can probably hope for is to leave places like Iraq better than we found them, and attempt to lay the groundwork for some democratic institutions rather than democratic political culture or even elections as the litmus test. In fact, given the choice, many 3rd world type countries will CHOOSE another despot if given the chance, so you have to keep in mind that our objective is a bit more self serving than spreading freedom around the globe. We need to spread "friendlies" as well. He seemed to be the most cautious on the panel about the democracy idea. Definitely the military man's perspective, very realist.

Dinesh D'Souza - boy he likes to talk A LOT! Utterly entertaining w/ his speech style, as well as completely sure of himself and the fact that we are doing the right thing by sending tyrants and despots around the globe running into spider holes - he really believes we have a strong moral superiority as well as the duty to act on it. Dinesh is a real character - he almost needs his own show though rather than being on a multi-person panel!

Jay Nordlinger is a total delight to listen to, because he fusses over each word in a way that's not quite metrosexual but definitely a style of its own. He's a great thinker - good at taking what other people have said and finding a new or curious angle. I've never knowingly read Jay's stuff, but since mostly I click over from FR, often I'll read an article w/out paying attention to the author. I have a feeling Jay is about to become one of my favorite writers.

So that's my panel update…on the gossip front the great new item is that Jonah Goldberg is now here - what a delightful guy. He's BIG - must be 6"3 or so - has a big smile and a warm handshake - just exudes a friendly fun aura. I told him some of the writer guys seemed a little burned out, and he said something about how they also know they have to "sing for their supper"…I guess for NR these cruises must be pretty big money makers, not just in terms of making money off the cruise packages, but also by way of donations. They were hitting people up pretty hard in the session they had about the magazine (they even had Ed Gillespie come in and tell us how vital NR was to the reelection effort).

So overall this cruise has been quite a good time, albeit a bit overkill for people who don't live & breath all things political. I don't think I'd take another one w/ 400 people, as I prefer getting to know people better, and when you've met 100 people, just trying to remember 1/2 of their names can be a chore. Interacting w/ the speakers doesn't seem all that important at this point, because I've met just as many interesting cruisers - just wish I didn't have so many to wade through.

[rod1]

Wow I just got back from a Honeymoon cruise. Almost wish we had delayed everything and taken the NRO one. Must be fantastic.