Heaneyland!

>>>Oh, wait, maybe they don't believe that most people agree with them -- maybe they just don't care, as long as they get to be in charge.

I think this is probably an accurate statement, although the less uncharitable version is: "they think they're right and that the consequences of the alternatives to their policies are bad enough that it's worth not caring what the majority of the country thinks." So not unlike liberal attitudes to gay rights, in that respect.

I'd also say that the sort of person who goes on a "National Review Cruise" is probably a very particular type of neocon, and may not be the best sample for drawing conclusions.

"'...they think they're right and that the consequences of the alternatives to their policies are bad enough that it's worth not caring what the majority of the country thinks.' So not unlike liberal attitudes to gay rights, in that respect."

But liberals don't misrepresent that they're in favor of gay rights. What I'm saying is that you'll never hear a conservative politican say in public that "Of course [Republican politics is] about class. Republicans are the party of winners, Democrats are the party of losers." They'll say something that makes it sound like they're in favor of helping average people and then turn around and screw workers while letting businesses get away with anything they like as usual.

"I'd also say that the sort of person who goes on a 'National Review Cruise' is probably a very particular type of neocon, and may not be the best sample for drawing conclusions."

That's certainly true of the attendees, and I wouldn't disagree that they represent the absolute extreme of their political party. Plenty of mainstream neocons among the guests of honor, though.

>>> But liberals don't misrepresent that they're in favor of gay rights.

Sadly, it's a counterfactual, so we can't know for sure, but I suspect that if Kerry had won in '04 he would have supported policies that would have gotten him accused of misrepresenting his stance on gay rights.