It appears that Douthat-comma-Ross escaped being encrusted by the "full treatment" offered up by the Cardinal of Conservatism (and God bless him for that):
“He didn’t know quite as much about sailing as I’d like,” Buckley confided to us a moment later, as his first mate scrambled to fix a rope near the bow. -RD
That would be a "line", not a "rope".
Harvard guys. Eh.
[p.s. I have an impish desire to go aboard one of Hewitt's cruises to South America, disguised as a staunch Conservative, just to hear what passes. I, of course, could never write about it, even in the way that Michael Lewis, say, wrote about Louis Rukeyer's cruises. It just feels like a betrayal, to me, to do so, so I couldn't (not that I fault Ross in any way, certainly).]
