Seven Days Alone with O'Reilly? Hell no!

June 8, 2005 10:40 AM

O'Reilly's Cruise Cancelled Due to Lack of Interest
Fox News star Bill O'Reilly's week-long Caribbean cruise with a theme of "The Battle for American Values" has been cancelled because reservations fell "well short" of the anticipated 800 passengers. The cruise would have included a symposion on "How to Combat the ACLU."
It seems that Al Franken was one of the few who'd booked a reservation. That would have been fun to watch.
posted by fenriq (38 comments total)

I'm assuming the planned cruise featured a 24-hour falafel bar?
posted by clevershark at 10:41 AM on June 8, 2005

Nelson Muntz, white courtesy phone, please.
posted by eriko at 10:42 AM on June 8, 2005

The tagline for the article in the newsletter was "But they've already stocked up on falafel!"
posted by fenriq at 10:43 AM on June 8, 2005

Let us hope this trend continues.(lack of interest in right wing lackeys)
posted by hortense at 11:04 AM on June 8, 2005

How did Salon's past cruises/meet-and-greets fare? On more than one occasion I've recieved an email offering a cruise with a chance to meet my favorite Salon contributers.

(honest question... seems antithetical to vacation)
posted by kableh at 11:11 AM on June 8, 2005

Almost makes you wonder if the cancellation might have been partially due to Al Franken, since Al got the best of Bill the last time they butted heads face-to-face.
posted by marsha56 at 11:15 AM on June 8, 2005

One is now relieved of the karmic burden of hoping for an iceberg.
posted by digaman at 11:25 AM on June 8, 2005

Al Franken and Bill O'Reilly are the only people in America who give a shit about this stuff any more. Politics is over. The culture war is over. Everybody lost interest and moved on.
posted by shambles at 11:29 AM on June 8, 2005

Iceberg? I was hoping for a boatload of falafel-hungry pirates...
posted by Jon-o at 11:58 AM on June 8, 2005

Passage on the November cruise cost between $1,099 and $1,629 before taxes - which would have scored two private appearances by the star of "The O'Reilly Factor," as well as a lecture from former U.S. Sen. Jeremiah Denton (R-Ala.) and a symposium on "How to Combat the ACLU."

It was actually pretty reasonably priced, making it even wierder that they couldn't book it. This gives me some small ray of hope in an otherwise bleak personal landscape of despair and horded Ho-Hos.
posted by OmieWise at 11:58 AM on June 8, 2005

I find your statement hard to believe shambles
posted by edgeways at 11:59 AM on June 8, 2005

Man, what a disappointment. I would've loved to hear the daily reports of O'Reilly/Franken altercations. Perhaps some enterprising blogger/podcaster could've even signed up purely to harvest the priceless details, day in and day out, for the entire week.

I hope we get another chance to see a O'Reilly and Franken cruise.
posted by mullingitover at 12:00 PM on June 8, 2005

Al, I love ya, but you're no David Foster Wallace...
posted by mkultra at 12:03 PM on June 8, 2005

Maybe if they booked it as a duel Franken/O'Reilly cruise they would attract a lot more people. I would book it if it was something like an even split of repugs/liver-alls.

Imagine what it would be like: liver-alls berating repugs all over the boat, wherever they went, pointing out the shallowness of their values over and over and over again, the only hope for them: jumping off the boat into the deep blue sea. . .
posted by mk1gti at 12:13 PM on June 8, 2005

Shut up!
posted by ericb at 12:36 PM on June 8, 2005

Maybe he can hitch a ride on G. Gordon Liddy's cruise and try to give a few lectures to the bridge players.
posted by Happy Monkey at 12:46 PM on June 8, 2005

mk1gti: Yeah, it would suck to have the "repugs" following us around trying to convert us all the damn time. I would probably jump off the boat on the first day. But hey, if they had stem cells at the falafel bar I could probably tolerate it. Stemcellafel, anybody?
posted by baphomet at 12:52 PM on June 8, 2005

Amen, Hortense. This is a good thing and hopefully a sign of better things to come.
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 1:01 PM on June 8, 2005

Anybody up for a MeFi Cruise, or should I take this to MetaTalk meetups category?
(I think more people would pay for a week on a boat with mathowie than O'Rudely... of course, quonsar could pull a Franken...)
posted by wendell at 1:27 PM on June 8, 2005

Al Franken and Bill O'Reilly are the only people in America who give a shit about this stuff any more. Politics is over. The culture war is over. Everybody lost interest and moved on.

Ummm... look around....
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 1:44 PM on June 8, 2005

I sort of agree, they are both douche bags
posted by TetrisKid at 1:49 PM on June 8, 2005

I would've loved to go and then puked all over O'Reilly and claim it was seasickness.
posted by camworld at 1:53 PM on June 8, 2005

There's always The Apprentice Cruise. Donald Trump included!
posted by malaprohibita at 1:57 PM on June 8, 2005

There's was to be an O'Reilly cruise? Man alive this makes Jarry and Eunesco look like rank amateurs when it comes to the Absurd. This is and voice recognition (would you yell that again so I can get it wrong again please) caller assist programs take the cake today.

I have to say I'm surprised it hasn't sold out.

I was going to have a drink but...
posted by juiceCake at 2:05 PM on June 8, 2005

baphomet
Notice I put in 'duel' mispelling intended. . . .

I don't think it's the 'liver-alls' that would be jumping ship.

Whenever I bite into a good,steamy chunk o' 'thuglican it tastes like chicken. . . YUM ! ! !
posted by mk1gti at 2:26 PM on June 8, 2005

This just shows that ships of fools are harder to fill than previously thought.
posted by ParisParamus at 3:23 PM on June 8, 2005

good golly, did I just ruin a keyboard from a Paris joke?

yep, I did. that's pretty damn funny, dude. :)
posted by zoogleplex at 4:24 PM on June 8, 2005

I'm guessing that the dirt-poor diehard republicans that make the backbone of his audience couldn't afford the cruise, having been just laid off from their factory job.

God bless the USA!
posted by Eideteker at 6:48 PM on June 8, 2005

I find your statement hard to believe shambles

Me too, but I sure wish it was true. Dream, dream, dream.
posted by davejay at 7:45 PM on June 8, 2005

A person who thinks Al Franken is a douchebag, or the left's version of Rush Limbaugh, has never read his books or listened to his radio show. Period.
posted by surferboy at 8:49 PM on June 8, 2005

Does anyone have a response from O'Reilly?
posted by oddman at 8:55 PM on June 8, 2005

I'll say this for Al: He's got one hell of a firm handshake and I'm known for the firmness of mine. I shook his hand at one of his booktours and he is *not* limp-wristed. Now I see why he had no trouble decking that troublemaker during the last election and laying into O'Douchebag at the book convention. Al boxs, by the way. What does O'Reilly do? Cheap phone sex resulting in a well-deserved lawsuit . . .
posted by mk1gti at 9:17 PM on June 8, 2005

In the first place, people who take cruises are a suspect class. In the second place, people who would take a cruise to see/bee with a cable tv personality, even a "good on," are pitiful.
posted by ParisParamus at 9:42 PM on June 8, 2005

well, Roger Ebert doesnt seem to have that trouble.
Fifth Annual Film Festival at Sea
posted by Iax at 12:20 AM on June 9, 2005

*ponders PP's comments, then cancells booking on Michael Moore's "Canoe for Freedom"*
posted by Balisong at 6:08 AM on June 9, 2005

Videogate
posted by rxreed at 6:50 PM on June 9, 2005

A person who thinks Al Franken is a douchebag, or the left's version of Rush Limbaugh, has never read his books or listened to his radio show. Period.
posted by surferboy

I've done both, and see very little difference between the two. They both appeal to the fanatics in each party. And the fact that you can't see something so obvious says more about you and your views than anything else.

Period.
posted by justgary at 8:14 PM on June 10, 2005

And the fact that you can't see something so obvious says more about you and your views than anything else.

I find it very hard to believe you've done both with a critical eye. For starters, Franken uses facts when he makes his arguments. Limbaugh simply makes things up, e.g. "75% of people on minimum wage are teenagers working their first job." Well, not true Rush. Franken spends a considerable amount of time pointing out the factual inaccuracies that Rush, O'Reilly, et.al. state day in and day out. They spread misinformation and Franken refutes it. Very different goals and very different approaches. The fact that you fail to see that says a lot about your critical thinking skills and ability to digest complicated information. Period, exclamation point.
posted by surferboy at 10:59 AM on June 12, 2005