Where I Am...
...right now is on an enormous cruise ship, moored a half mile off the tiny island in the Bahamas, on the National Review cruise. (I'd add links, but the connectivity here is awfully slow.....)
Last night I dined at a large table with NR cruisers, including Ricochet's own James Lileks, and member-at-large Kenneth. So if we're missing from these pages a bit this week, it's because we're, um, working.
The last NR cruise I was on, right after the 2008 election, was enormous fun. The mood was upbeat and hugely optimistic, despite the drubbing that conservatives took at the polls. The feeling then was that the conservative movement was only going to get stronger and smarter.
Turns out, that was a pretty good call.
But the mood this year, after a triumphant midterm election, is...cautious. Careful. Suspicious, even, of the new crowd in DC and their commitment to truly smaller government. It's really bracing, and fun, and typical of the conservative temperament: Oh yeah? Prove it!
Three interesting data points:
1. There are a lot of self-identified Tea Partiers on board. They're providing a lot of good spirited skeptical ballast. I've met several already who were very active in the midterm campaigns -- all for the first time in their lives -- and who are energized about future victories. And eager to grill Karl Rove, who rumour has it is arriving in a couple of days.
2. Senator-elect Pat Toomey is here with his family. He's a fantastically genial and thoughtful guy. When he was introduced last night, it was to thunderous applause. A guy who's active in the Tea Party in Michigan leaned over to me as the applause grew and said, "We're working on getting a lot more Pat Toomeys...."
3. Best of all: Loads of Ricochet members and podcast listeners have come up to me to tell me how much they enjoy the site and what we're doing here. I share that because, of course, it's nice to hear, but also because what everyone says is how much they like to read the whole conversations and the back-and-forth between members. So I pass that along, because we all share the compliment.
More later. The sun is shining and I'm heading to the beach. Nice work if you can get it.
- Comment (19)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments :
Aug '10
Re: Where I Am...
On behalf of all the true believers who, nonetheless, cannot afford to go on a cruise, I say booooooo...
;-)
Jun '10
Re: Where I Am...
WIth y'all on board, I think I will attend next year. I wonder - is it as fun and high quality as the Rico Soiree in SF?
I will say - meeting the players on Ricochet has transformed my relationship with this community, vs. the other internet communities I play within. Ricochet is MY community, because I met and partook of food and drink with y'all. NRO cruise sounds very good...
Kenneth - Please add wry and insightful musings on the cruise here...
May '10
Re: Where I Am...
I am glad that there will be a lot of folks there to interface directly with Karl Rove. Things tend to calm down a bit when you talk face-to-face and information and thoughts are shared directly. I expect to see more olive branches out than have been in evidence over the past month. I think that Mr. Rove will be able to explain that professional differences over horse race tactics do not make one a RINO, and that he will also benefit from hearing directly of the concerns that elected officials all too often end up with Stockholm Budget Syndrome.
Jun '10
Re: Where I Am...
Umm, Rob, rumor has it that the Tea Party is planning a mutiny. Marooned on a tiny island might be preferable to walking the plank. I'd hate to lose my favorite RINO squish, but examples must be made. All right you scurvy dogs have at it! Arrrgh.
Jun '10
Re: Where I Am...
Nov '10
Re: Where I Am...
As a newbie here, I'm curious. How many members of Ricochet are there? What percentage actively posts? And is there any way to estimate how many nonmembers read the site?
Sep '10
Re: Where I Am...
As a newbie here, I'm curious. How many members of Ricochet are there? What percentage actively posts? And is there any way to estimate how many nonmembers read the site?
Also: are they allergic to cat fur? where do they stand on animal rights? how do they feel about cats driving Claire's car through downtown Istanbul? Do they have a favorite Thomist?
Enough about me, what do you think about me?
May '10
Re: Where I Am...
Mark Lewis · Nov 15 at 10:09am
Boy, Mark, I have no idea what you mean about Umbie. Kind of thick, I guess.
Aug '10
Re: Where I Am...
With the interviews with Reid Buckley for his new book hitting the airwaves today, It's probably a good idea for the NR cruise to be offshore. Did they know this was coming ?
Got off the phone with a guy who'd spent years on the hill lobbying Armed Services Committee, he was expressing astonishment at the losses of Skelton (MO3) and Taylor (MS4), how they were promilitary guys and not on the Obamathon. All of his Washington DC friends are overwhelmed by the toxicity of the Obama.
I imagine the caution evident on the cruise is the knowledge that we have been given a great tool and we're not sure we even trust ourself to use it properly.
(read Reid Buckley for some pointers!)
http://dailycaller.com/2010/11/15/to-awaken-his-late-brothers-movement-reid-buckley-offers-bold-conservative-vision/
Jun '10
Re: Where I Am...
Duane Oyen
Mark Lewis · Nov 15 at 10:09am
Boy, Mark, I have no idea what you mean about Umbie. Kind of thick, I guess. · Nov 15 at 11:55am
The White Cockatoo, Cacatua alba (also known as the Umbrella Cockatoo)
Oct '10
Re: Where I Am...
Thanks for passing on the comment. Hope you guys don't lose power to the ship and have to be rescued by the Navy bringing spam sandwiches, but how often does that happen?
Re: Where I Am...
So far, no RINOs have been keelhauled, Paules. But it's only the first day.
Sep '10
Re: Where I Am...
I think impaling is an underused and, may I say, underappreciated technique these days.
Re: Where I Am...
Maritain, of course.
(First runner-up: Danielou.)
Sep '10
Re: Where I Am...
Peter Robinson
Maritain, of course.
(First runner-up: Danielou.) · Nov 15 at 3:52pm
I suppose I should have distinguished lay from clerical and philosophical from theological. That said, I'd have to argue for a dead heat between Charles de Koninck and Reginald Garrigou Lagrange.
May '10
Re: Where I Am...
Pilgrim
Duane Oyen
Mark Lewis · Nov 15 at 10:09am
Boy, Mark, I have no idea what you mean about Umbie. Kind of thick, I guess. · Nov 15 at 11:55am
The White Cockatoo, Cacatua alba (also known as the Umbrella Cockatoo) · Nov 15 at 1:43pm
Thanks! I did a search of "umbie" and it is some kind of fish. The cockatoo is one of the beautiful tropical birds at my wife's niece's home in South Carolina- several macaws, etc. We were visiting and I kind of bonded with the bird, which was nice, because he put a cut in Rubber Duckie's niece's lip a year ago that required stitches- the two of them do not get along.
Really fun- 8 birds and 7 cats, sort of like visiting Claire, I would guess. All the birds are very smart and conversational, but one has a noticeably vulgar vocabulary.
Aug '10
Re: Where I Am...
Make sure you ask Karl Rove his thoughts on Nevada's football team and their #18 ranking.
Jul '10
Re: Where I Am...
Also: are they allergic to cat fur? where do they stand on animal rights? how do they feel about cats driving Claire's car through downtown Istanbul? Do they have a favorite Thomist?
Enough about me, what do you think about me? · Nov 15 at 11:20am
Just the photograph of the car is enough to trigger my asthma and make my eyes itch. Clearly, Claire has assembled the perfect animal rights counterstrike vehicle for Constantinapolitan vegetarians in search of a building permit for a Cathedral from which they will grief meat eaters and host Thomist farmer's markets.
Hey, am I still ahead in the off-topic posts contest?
Re: Where I Am...
I thought about that. But with a ship carrying 800 conservatives, what's the worse that could happen? We take over the ship and organize ourselves into a replica of a Constitutionally sound village? Or do we immediately declare a temporary military government? Either way, my guess is that when we finally are towed into port, the entire ship's wine and liquor stores will have been emptied, and certain NR contributors will have resorted to cannibalism.