Johann Hari’s article on last fall’s National Review cruise is, in several places, just plain nuts. He suggests, for example, that Kenneth Starr’s investigation of President Clinton kept him from taking on Osama bin Laden and thus bears some responsibility for 9/11. Oh-kay. . . .

But I didn’t want to let one bit pass. As an example of how conservatives have supposedly turned on Bill Buckley, Hari cites one cruisegoer who attributes Buckley’s skepticism about the Iraq war to his alleged senility and cowardice. I have been on seven or eight of these cruises, and I have never heard anyone disparage Bill. Passengers are more inclined to ask what it’s like to work with the great man and how he’s doing. If such idiotic sentiments were expressed in an open forum, I suspect that whoever spoke them would face a real risk of being thrown overboard.