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malaise

(269,045 posts)
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 08:54 AM Dec 2012

Another DU Christmas Present - The ReTHUG Wreck of a Post Shellacking Caribbean Cruise

http://nymag.com/news/features/republican-caribbean-cruise-2012-12/
<snip>
The whole thing was white, and broken, that much was clear. A week after the presidential election, when the dreams of Republicans were dashed with President Barack Obama’s victory over Mitt Romney, we were snorkeling in the blue waters of the Caribbean. In the distance was a shipwreck. “You could make out the pieces of it,” said Ralph Reed, the right-wing political operator who had bolstered the Evangelical Christian vote for Romney. “It was deep and murky.”

Jonah Goldberg, the National Review contributor and author of Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning, also bore witness to the once-great vessel that foundered off the coast of Fantasy Island and was now sunken and covered in white barnacles. “I saw the silhouette of it,” he says.

But what, exactly, were we looking at? It was Friday, November 16. We were in Honduras, gazing at a wreck off a resort called Fantasy Island, near Mahogany Bay. Through my goggles, I watched Reed, in white swim trunks and black flippers, flap his way down through the extravagantly blue waters to the old sunken barge, part of the $64.95 Shore Excursion available to passengers aboard the m.s. Nieuw Amsterdam, an 86,000-ton cruise ship owned by Holland America Line. It was day five of the National Review magazine’s Post Election Cruise 2012, and the GOP’s recent problems were, mercifully, about 760 nautical miles away. The cruise, featuring the star columnists of William Buckley’s 57-year-old conservative biweekly, had been planned long in advance, and everybody had believed it would be a victory party. An ­e-mail from the magazine’s publisher arrived a few days before we embarked: “Do not despair or fret. At least not next week.”

Onboard the Nieuw Amsterdam, no one could follow his advice. “Who sent Obama here to destroy America?” a fiftysomething woman asked me one evening over dinner, as if it were a perfectly reasonable question. And here onboard the cruise ship, it was. If the Nieuw Amsterdam was a kind of ark of American alienation, at least it was an eminently comfortable one. The ship was a country unto itself, eleven stories high, 936 feet fore to aft, with eleven bars, six restaurants, two swimming pools, five hot tubs, a large café, and a library. There was the endless buffet on the Lido deck, slot machines and craps in the casino, an Asian lounge singer who did a mean “Copacabana,” a discothèque and a chamber-music cocktail lounge, cigars and Cognac by the pool, gift shops, and a full-service spa.

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Another DU Christmas Present - The ReTHUG Wreck of a Post Shellacking Caribbean Cruise (Original Post) malaise Dec 2012 OP
Featuring the moron who wrote the book: "Dow 36,000" Kolesar Dec 2012 #1
The best part of this is that it was supposed to be a malaise Dec 2012 #2
i like the fact they are asking him arely staircase Dec 2012 #8
I have a Republican relative.... PennsylvaniaMatt Dec 2012 #41
i have a rightwing coworker (a low paid teaching assistant) whose father recently passed away arely staircase Dec 2012 #42
Yes, A lot of it is what the right wing info. sources IMPLY, and don't directly SAY PennsylvaniaMatt Dec 2012 #43
Oh, good catch! eom Kolesar Dec 2012 #45
this is why they can't face the reality d_r Dec 2012 #3
Oh, I think the weren't facing reality even when demographics were in their favor... JHB Dec 2012 #27
exactly d_r Dec 2012 #28
Wow. That is a great article. Inside the mind of RWNJs. K&R! JaneyVee Dec 2012 #4
Long but well worth the read malaise Dec 2012 #6
While they are "awakening" to the reality of demographics ThoughtCriminal Dec 2012 #5
They deserve each other Berlum Dec 2012 #7
Bush on velvet?!? catbyte Dec 2012 #12
This one is suitable for framing. Berlum Dec 2012 #23
Love that !! malaise Dec 2012 #20
FAIL Capt. Obvious Dec 2012 #9
“Who sent Obama here to destroy America?” GoCubsGo Dec 2012 #10
It's nice to see all their comments malaise Dec 2012 #21
FAIL Capt. Obvious Dec 2012 #11
Socialists fascists.... abelenkpe Dec 2012 #13
My parents would have fit in well with these loonies. Nt abelenkpe Dec 2012 #14
The thing that floored me was John Yoo's mother said while he tried to stop her, lunatica Dec 2012 #15
Amazing indeed malaise Dec 2012 #18
Yoo be an eeevil Republican torture fReak Berlum Dec 2012 #25
The phrase malaise Dec 2012 #32
"Ralph Reed took off his shirt and fed an orange to a giant iguana." arely staircase Dec 2012 #16
That's him in the photo that malaise provided lunatica Dec 2012 #24
This isn't a reprint of a Hunter Thompson book, but it feels like it jmowreader Dec 2012 #31
Priceless otohara Dec 2012 #17
Jonah Goldberg's page 6 comment was freaking priceless malaise Dec 2012 #34
I love it. pamela Dec 2012 #19
That pretty much sums them up malaise Dec 2012 #22
At least it was a "green" cruise. After all, with that many cranks on board... JHB Dec 2012 #26
If ever a ship should have disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle, that one should have been it. hobbit709 Dec 2012 #29
Freeps AHOY! tjwash Dec 2012 #30
Fits in with their oversized expectations in November malaise Dec 2012 #33
John Yoo's mother's observations were totally spot on UCmeNdc Dec 2012 #35
For real malaise Dec 2012 #38
Ship of Fools. yardwork Dec 2012 #36
Great article malaise Dec 2012 #37
Happy Holidays to you too! yardwork Dec 2012 #39
Ship of Fools, v2012 N/T watch the sky Dec 2012 #40
Welcome to DU watch the sky malaise Dec 2012 #44

Kolesar

(31,182 posts)
1. Featuring the moron who wrote the book: "Dow 36,000"
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 09:29 AM
Dec 2012
Kevin Hassett, a former economic adviser to Mitt Romney, hosted my table of eight that night, arriving in a bright-green golf shirt and rimless glasses. He announced that this would be a “family” conversation in which he was the moderator.
***
Hassett, with an oddly cheerful, Oh-What-My-Country-Has-Done-Now mien, predicted economic doom under Obama, the most likely scenario being another Great Depression, which would make 2008 look like a joyride.

That prompted a tall, extremely tanned blonde named Kay, from Old Greenwich, Connecticut, to ask Hassett, the co-­author of the 1999 book Dow 36,000, “So what do we do with our money?”
----

There was a study that showed that stocks have the best return over long periods. Clowns like Hassett have extended that data and claimed that "you won't lose money in the stock market if you invest for a long period of time". That's bu!!$hit.

arely staircase

(12,482 posts)
8. i like the fact they are asking him
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 11:06 AM
Dec 2012

what they should do with their money - or at least the tanned woman is.

PennsylvaniaMatt

(966 posts)
41. I have a Republican relative....
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 08:14 PM
Dec 2012

She was frantic and called her financial advisor wondering if she should sell all of her stocks..........after watching Neil Cavuto.

The financial advisor told her not to - thankfully.

I swear to God, the fear that is propagated from Fox News on older people is terrible. The 60-65% of seniors in this country that vote Republican, watch Fox News, etc. is basically a case of brainwashing with fear and ignorance. It is very sad.

arely staircase

(12,482 posts)
42. i have a rightwing coworker (a low paid teaching assistant) whose father recently passed away
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 08:19 PM
Dec 2012

she said she was so upset about the "death" tax and how that was going to eat up all of the money he left her. when i pointed out that didn't kick in until the millions of dollars she was floored. she had no idea that the several tens of thousands she got would be tax free - since she only listens to right wing info. sources.

PennsylvaniaMatt

(966 posts)
43. Yes, A lot of it is what the right wing info. sources IMPLY, and don't directly SAY
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 08:42 PM
Dec 2012

I have noticed the same thing with what Fox reports when it comes to taxes. For example, they may mention that President Obama wants to raise taxes, but they conveniently leave out that it is for people who make six figures, however, many of their viewers think it will affect them, when in actuality, a majority of Fox viewers do not make more than $200,000.

d_r

(6,907 posts)
3. this is why they can't face the reality
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 10:38 AM
Dec 2012

of changing demographics -

----------------------------------
Susan from Princeton granted that the Republican Party is “lily white and it’s a problem and it is messaging and Mitt Romney screwed up royally.”

But Ms. O’Sullivan again took umbrage. As everyone went silent, she recalled a conference she attended in Australia in which a liberal nun (who “didn’t even have the decency to wear a habit”) criticized America for its “inner-city racism.” Offended, Ms. O’Sullivan recounted what she wished she’d said to this nun:

“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!”

Ms. O’Sullivan then warned against watering down the purity of the conservative agenda to placate minorities or, as she put it, rather succinctly, “the bastardization of the product.”

-----------------------------

JHB

(37,160 posts)
27. Oh, I think the weren't facing reality even when demographics were in their favor...
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 01:55 PM
Dec 2012
“Who sent Obama here to destroy America?”
Asking for financial advice from the author of Dow 36,000?
BOSS: You notice none of the workers are white.
CAREGIVER: Except the managers upstairs.
BOSS: Well, that’s the way it should be.


This kind of delusion isn't fresh off the still. Vision that blinkered requires careful aging, free from any contaminants for a long, long time.

d_r

(6,907 posts)
28. exactly
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 03:09 PM
Dec 2012

they didn't become republicans because they wanted to hang out with a bunch of minority folks. Heaven forbid.

ThoughtCriminal

(14,047 posts)
5. While they are "awakening" to the reality of demographics
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 10:55 AM
Dec 2012

they are still firmly in the bubble of the perpendicular universe for everything else.

NO clue that they are disastrously wrong about pretty much everything.

Berlum

(7,044 posts)
7. They deserve each other
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 11:04 AM
Dec 2012

...cruising aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam? WTF? That sounds like a fancy French socialist name, or something.

Why do Republicans HATE good old-fashioned American boats? American boats not good enough for them? What is wrong with these people?

Some folKs are claiming that the doCumenTarY phOtO below was snapped during an occult Republican Black Ops ritual held on the shuFFleboarD courT of the Niew Amersterdam:

Capt. Obvious

(9,002 posts)
9. FAIL
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 11:14 AM
Dec 2012
“Minorities came out like crazy,” said Hassett, sighing. “White people didn’t get to the polls. There are far more African-­Americans voting than they expected.”

GoCubsGo

(32,086 posts)
10. “Who sent Obama here to destroy America?”
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 11:15 AM
Dec 2012

That little, imaginary demon in your head sent him, lady. Seek professional help. And, take all your nutbag shipmates with you.

malaise

(269,045 posts)
21. It's nice to see all their comments
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 11:53 AM
Dec 2012

They remind me of WilLIARd's 47% ('I thought we were speaking in private' comments)

Capt. Obvious

(9,002 posts)
11. FAIL
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 11:20 AM
Dec 2012
As we drained the Pinot Noir, Hassett gave his audience the insider’s view of the Romney campaign, describing how its election-monitoring software crashed on November 6 and Obama was probably behind it, “because those guys are so evil.”



The table grumbled in assent.



“The thing we have to understand is, these are people who don’t have any morals,” said Hassett. “They’ll do anything. I’m one of their No. 1 targets. I mean, they really want me bad.”



Then Hassett pivoted to the liberal media. “I actually think that Goebbels was more critical of Hitler than the New York Times is of Obama,” said Hassett, tucking into a piece of strudel. “I was in the middle of the fight against the propaganda, and I have stories like you wouldn’t believe. These people are so evil. They’re basically Fascists. It’s unbelievable.”

abelenkpe

(9,933 posts)
13. Socialists fascists....
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 11:28 AM
Dec 2012

I love how people can't decide which one. It doesn't make them look ignorant at all.

lunatica

(53,410 posts)
15. The thing that floored me was John Yoo's mother said while he tried to stop her,
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 11:42 AM
Dec 2012

These are the last three paragraphs:

On the leeward side of the Nieuw ­Amsterdam, John Yoo stood next to his mother, Sook Hee Yoo, a small, elegant Korean woman in black-framed glasses. She described herself as nonpolitical, an objective observer. And she had a diagnosis.

“To protect the ego, you have a defense mechanism: denial and projection,” she told me as her son leaned in to hear over the party din. “You deny your problem, saying it’s your fault and not mine. Instead of projection, blaming other people, we have to think of a positive solution. But I didn’t hear that yet.”

“They are still grieving,” she concluded as her son winced and began to break in, fearing she’d gone too far. “I hope not for more than six months. The grieving process should only be six months. If it goes on for more than six months, it could go into a major depression.”

**************

And that shirtless fella feeding the iguana is Ralph Reed.

arely staircase

(12,482 posts)
16. "Ralph Reed took off his shirt and fed an orange to a giant iguana."
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 11:42 AM
Dec 2012

not something i expected to read this morning.

jmowreader

(50,559 posts)
31. This isn't a reprint of a Hunter Thompson book, but it feels like it
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 04:19 PM
Dec 2012

When Ralph Reed feeds an iguana, how do you tell them apart?

malaise

(269,045 posts)
34. Jonah Goldberg's page 6 comment was freaking priceless
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 06:05 PM
Dec 2012


“This is a more downbeat bunch this year,” he said. “We lost in 2008, but it was almost boisterous and fun. This, a little less so. People were dyspeptic.

“Their conception of what the country is about, they really were sure the country would reject Barack Obama,” he continued. “I do think it hits them hard. The fear I have, why this election stung, I think, Obama has successfully ­de-ratified some of the Reagan revolution in a way that Clinton never could and didn’t even try to. That’s what freaks people out, that feeling in their gut, either Obama has changed the country, or the country has sufficiently changed that they don’t have a problem with Obama. That’s what eats at people.”

And the truth is that the country has sufficiently changed and people don't have a problem with Obama. It's over for these old white men.
---------------
This was a great read

pamela

(3,469 posts)
19. I love it.
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 11:51 AM
Dec 2012
As the Republican image stood today, said Lileks, “we’re the stupid people, we’re the yokels, we’re the dumb, we’re the racists, we’re the hicks, we’re against everything that’s hip and cool.”


Um, yeah, asshole. That's exactly what you are.

JHB

(37,160 posts)
26. At least it was a "green" cruise. After all, with that many cranks on board...
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 01:36 PM
Dec 2012

...there wasn't much need to turn the engines on.

tjwash

(8,219 posts)
30. Freeps AHOY!
Wed Dec 26, 2012, 03:55 PM
Dec 2012

What's up with the far right and the love of oversized cruise ships?

Compensating for something maybe?

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