Posted on 05/03/2004 6:32:16 AM PDT by jcb8199
Leftport, Connecticut Why I'm taking flight from the Bush-hating 'burbs.
BY ALAN BROMLEY Monday, May 3, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT
These weekend invitations to Westport, Conn.--I've started calling it "Leftport"--are becoming burdensome. I find myself surrounded by people who have moved from Manhattan to homogeneous suburban enclaves encircled by white fences, white neighbors and purer-than-thou philosophies. Never mind that they moved there for better public schools and lower tax rates--and to see Paul Newman at the local grocery store. They are now of one mind: to defeat President Bush!
They hate his swagger, which I find a bit annoying; they hate his born-again religious views, which I find sometimes disconcerting and sometimes comforting (especially when it comes to supporting Israel's right to exist), and they hate his syntax, or lack thereof, which I wish were more refined, while they ignore John Kerry's windiness and vapid vacillations.
So we hold our glasses of mediocre Chardonnay, pick at little watercress, bread-enveloped triangles, while I long for herring filets and vodka. I mean, we're all Jewish, for God's sake!
Then our host chants the liberal mantra: "Bush has alienated us from the rest of the world. Europe hates us. The Muslims hate us. He's taking us into an abyss!"
The crowd raises their goblets, yelling "Kill Bush."
When I was in Leftport in March, the party theme was that Mr. Bush had ruined the economy. They wouldn't hear of the fact that the economy went into a recession during the late Clinton months, or that the attack on America threw us off course, or that the tax cuts had spurred the economy into the best leap in 20 years. Unemployment, they yelled, was horrible. But employment figures jumped in March, so in April the tune changed back to the war. "We had no evidence of weapons of mass destruction. Bush did this for the oil, or because Saddam was his father's nemesis. This is pay-back."
My wife looks at me, knowing some salvos are forthcoming. I've held my tongue long enough, and suffered through lousy hors d'oeuvres and cheap white wine till I'm beyond myself. I ask:
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
The crowd raises their goblets, yelling "Kill Bush."
--snip--
I've held my tongue long enough, and suffered through lousy hors d'oeuvres and cheap white wine till I'm beyond myself. I ask:
"Didn't Saddam use weapons of mass destruction against the Kurds in northern Iraq, against the 'marsh people' in southern Iraq, against the Iranians? Didn't he threaten to send poison-tipped missiles into Israel? Didn't Israel destroy his nuclear facilities in the 1980s? Didn't he kill, over 35 years, 1.5 million people or so, or more than 3,000 per month, every month? As offspring of the Holocaust, did you prefer we wait until he has more capabilities for killing? Is it your hope, like our dead brethren in Germany, that if we try to acquiesce, we will be overlooked? Have you learned nothing?"
And, I continued, "If we wanted the oil, why didn't we take over the oil fields, either during Bush I, or Bush II? And by the way, is there anyone here who has a vision of ending terrorism, or bringing a more egalitarian way of life to the Middle East."
Yells of "Nazi" and "right winger" hit my ears. Not one substantive reply, only personal attacks on my character or intelligence...
Incredible.
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Check out my post #7. This is Westport, CT!
Thanks so much for pointing this article out to me.
all of the NYC metro suburbs - long island, westchester, southwest CT, central and northern NJ - are Dem strongholds now.
I live in Massachusetts, and it's hell. I have a Bush/Cheney bumper sticker that I'm afraid to put on my car. Who needs to have my tires flattened. My husband's entire family hates Bush, so it's hell at family get-togethers. I don't argue politics, especially with family. It's rough.
Well, at least New Canaan and Greenwich are still Republican.
Woo Hoo! He's pegged Westport, all right! I grew up a couple of towns west of Westport (you know, the Steve Young and Matt Lauer town), and you'd never know that the Bush family had a foothold in the state from the way it is now.
"...while they ignore John Kerry's windiness and vapid vacillations..."
As they ignored his lies, phoniness, and his regular support for the enemies of freedom. They must be on drugs.
You are correct. Morris and Ocean County both barely lean Republican, but they are the exception to the rule. Can't say I blame the voters of my home county of Nassau for being skeptical of the GOP, as the Gulotta machine acted like the biggest bunch of corrupt socialists this side of Chicago.
This bears emphasizing.
BTW: This is similar to what my parents hear in the affluent liberal enclave of Boca Raton, Florida.
:-) Greenwich was where I cast my first Republican vote, for Ruth Sims as First Selectman.
I live in Maryland, your state's evil twin. Fortunately the county/community we live in is mostly Republican. I commuted around more liberal "zones" of suburban Maryland with an Erlich for Governor bumper sticker on my car (he was elected) but I confess to having had some apprehension about parking in hostile territory. I'm now commuting THROUGH that same area so am looking forward to displaying my Bush sticker.
My husband's entire family hates Bush, so it's hell at family get-togethers. I don't argue politics, especially with family. It's rough.
I can relate to that. There are some hard core Dems in my wife's family.
Thanks for that emphasis! This article just floored me...
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