Some of My Best Friends Are Deroy Murdock

Move over Rosa Parks and James Meredith! There's a new civil rights trailblazer in town. Meet Deroy Murdock, the first black* speaker on the prestigious National Review Cruise! (OK, it's possible he's not the first, but there wasn't one last year which was the only other year I've tracked it.)

And while all the credit in the world goes to Murdock and the Cruise organizers, I can't help but think that last year's Fire Tom Friedman exposé played a small part. In that post, I pointed out that the speakers were 91% male, 94% white and their average age was 58.

I'm happy to say that progress goes well beyond Deroy Murdock. This year, males only make up 85% of the speakers and whites only 90%. And Ramesh Ponnuru won't be so lonely when the Asian Caucus holds its meetings at this year's cruise, not with John Yoo on board!
And who says all the young kids are busy Occupying Wall Street? The
average age of a 2011 National Review speaker is a frisky 55 -- 3 years younger than last year! It's amazing what happens when you replace octogenarian Phyllis Schafley with America's Sassiest Randian, S.E. Cupp.

Below is a complete speaker list so you can see what progress looks like.

Speaker	White?	Male?	Age
Bernard Lewis	White	Male	95
James Q. Wilson	White	Male	80
Cal Thomas	White	Male	79
John Sunununu	White	Male	72
Fred Thompson	White	Male	69
John Derbyshire	White	Male	66
Tony Blankley	White	Male	63
Elliot Abrams	White	Male	63
John Bolton	White	Male	63
Michael Walsh	White	Male	62
Victor Davis Hanson	White	Male	58
Andrew Klaven	White	Male	57
Mona Cheran	White	Female!!!	54
Charles Kesler	White	Male	54
John Fund	White	Male	54
James Lileks	White	Male	53
Mark Steyn	White	Male	52
Ralph Reed	White	Male	50
Tim Pawlenty	White	Male	50
Kevin Hassett	White	Male	49
Jay Nordlinger	White	Male	48
Charmaine Yoest	White	Female!!!	48
Greg Gutfeld	White	Male	47
Deroy Murdock	Black!!!!!!!!!!!!	Male	47
John Yoo	Asian!!!	Male	44
Rich Lowry	White	Male	43
Jonah Goldberg	White	Male	42
John J. Miller	White	Male	41
Roman Genn	White	Male	39
Ramesh Ponnuru	Asian!!!	Male	36
Kathryn Lopez	Hispanic!!!	Female!!!	35
S.E. Cupp	White	Female!!!	32
Tracie Sharp	White	Female!!!	????
Sally Pipes	White	Female!!!	????
Andrew McCarthy	White	Male	???
Jim Geraghty	White	Male	???
Rob Long	White	Male	???
Robert Costa	White	Male	???
Kevin Williamson	White	Male	???

* The original post referred to Deroy Murdock as the "first African-American speaker." On October 5, 2012, Mr. Murdock emailed a correction request (a FTF first!), asking that "African-American" be changed to "black."  The post has been updated to reflect Mr. Murdock's wishes.**

** The original correction contained two embarrassing mistakes: Mr. Murdock's first name was wrongly listed as "Delroy" and the last sentence read, "The post has been be updated to reflect Mr. Murdock's wishes" (emphasis added).  Those mistakes have now been corrected thanks, once again, to the diligence of Mr. Murdock.  I apologize to Mr. Murdock, who has been nothing but delightfully gracious  throughout this whole correction ordeal.  So much so that I'm tempted to make another mistake in hopes of hearing from him again . . . 

Cruising With the Old White Men at the National Review

After four months of not writing a word, Fire Tom Friedman really needs a vacation. That's why I signed up for the National Review's Post-Election Cruise. It leaves today and I couldn't be more excited. Seven days and nights of Nordlinger!

When I told my friend, Screw David Brooks, that I was going, she was like, "Why would you want to be stuck on a ship for seven days with a bunch of gross, old, white dudes?" But SDB clearly doesn't understand that the faces of conservatism have changed. This is not your father's National Review - it's a big tent! Check out the speakers:

Speaker	White?	Male?	Age
Bernard Lewis	White	Male	94
Phyllis Schafly	White	Female!!!	86
Cal Thomas	White	Male	78
Michael Novak	White	Male	77
John O' Sullivan	White	Male	68
Bernie Goldberg	White	Male	65
Scott Rasmussen	White	Male	65
John Derbyshire	White	Male	65
Peter W. Schramm	White	Male	64
Tony Blankley	White	Male	62
Kate O' Beirne	White	Female!!!	61
Michael Walsh	White	Male	61
Karl Rove	White	Male	60
Vin Weber	White	Male	58
Victor Davis Hanson	White	Male	57
James Lileks	White	Male	52
Ralph Reed	White	Male	49
Jay Nordlinger	White	Male	47
Rich Lowry	White	Male	42
Andrew Breitbart	White	Male	41
Jonah Goldberg	White	Male	41
Daniel Hannan	White	Male	39
Roman Genn	White	Male	38
Ramesh Ponnuru	Indian!!!	Male	36
Kathryn Lopez	Hispanic!!!	Female!!!	34
Andrew McCarthy	White	Male	???
Jim Geraghty	White	Male	???
Roger Kimball	White	Male	???
Alan Reynolds	White	Male	???
Rob Long	White	Male	???
Robert Costa	White	Male	???
Ed Whelan	White	Male	???
Kevin Williamson	White	Male	???
Greg Gutfeld	White	Male	???

For those of you who are statistically inclined, the speakers are only 91% male, only 94% white, and the average age is a sprightly 58. Sounds like America to me!

Depending on the ship's Internet connection, I hope to live blog/tweet from what is sure to be a wild and wacky seven days. Gotta go. Just saw Rove -- in a Hawaiian shirt! Jealous?