Posted on 09/06/2004 10:03:31 AM PDT by notforhire
THE Republicans took over New York for a week, but did they make any impact on the natives? Did the deep red and the true blue come any closer to understanding each other?
We began our investigation outside Zabar's on the Upper West Side, the neighborhood that has called itself "the conscience of the nation." We were looking for liberal New Yorkers who might be re-examining their consciences, but we kept finding ones determined not even to watch the convention.
"I'm on a media strike," said Jill Howell, who runs a company devising strategies for marketing to multicultural populations. Ms. Howell said she had not had any encounters with Republicans last week - or any other week.
"I don't know anyone in the city who's supporting Bush," she said. "It's amazing to me that so many people out there don't recognize the damage he's doing to the country. To a large extent they're probably lazy and don't want to examine what's going on."
Charles Burkhart, a retired college professor, said he personally knew a couple of Republicans who lived in Maine, but even they did not support Bush. Mr. Burkhart said he had seen a little of Rudolph W. Giuliani's speech and was not impressed.
"It was just the usual window dressing for the Bush agenda, which is totally corrupt," Mr. Burkhart said. He theorized that Mr. Bush's supporters were not so much lazy as misled.
"I confess I do sympathize a little with some of their concerns about our culture," he said, "but they don't realize that this has been the most tragic administration that has ever happened to the United States. He fools them by appealing to their gut instincts - they think he's for family values."
Leslie Zema, a dance teacher, could not even offer a theory. "It's a complete mystery to me how anyone could support Bush," she said. "I just don't know anyone like that."
The closest thing to sympathy came from Eric Linden, a graduate student, who suggested the affection for Mr. Bush was due to factors beyond the Republicans' control. "Honestly," Mr. Linden said, "I think it's a lack of education."
Right Back at You
BACK down at the convention, we found some Republicans startled by the street reception they received from protesters. "In coming to New York, I was surprised to find all these free-speech liberals using tactics that would make fascists pale," said Pete Wilson, the former governor of California.
But other Republicans said they had pretty much expected the protesters' hostility, and they were relieved to find most other New Yorkers friendly, as long as Mr. Bush's name didn't come up.
"I like New Yorkers, but I've learned not to discuss politics," said William S. Magill, an obstetrician from Springfield, Mo., we met at a hospitality suite in the New Yorker Hotel, where a religious Republican group was showing a movie called "George W. Bush: Faith in the White House." "There doesn't seem to be any room for debate with liberals here," Dr. Magill said. "They're right, and all of us in the flyover states are stupid."
Dr. Magill was in some ways just as dogmatic as the Upper West Siders. "We're in a civil war at the present time," he said, "and the passions we feel about abortion and gay rights are as strong as the ones about slavery in the 1800's." He gave us a recording of "The Battle Hymn of the Republicans," his updated version of the Civil War hymn that he hoped to see become the party's anthem.
Instead of "His truth is marching on," his refrain was "We are Republicans!" One verse ended, "We are the mighty pachyderms, so gentle yet so large,/For the right, we sound the charge."
But for all his Republican zeal, Dr. Magill seemed less smug than the Upper West Siders, and so did the other Republicans there to see the movie about God and Mr. Bush. Some had Democratic neighbors, and even the ones living in the reddest communities said they were used to hearing liberal views, often ones picked up by their children at high school or college.
"My daughter sees Britney Spears and hears liberal ideas from teachers, and she comes home and we talk about them," said William J. Murray, who lives near Fredericksburg, Va., and runs a political action committee called Government Is Not God.
And, of course, the conservatives knew that there were plenty of richer and more glamorous figures in New York and Hollywood with different views of the world. Dr. Magill said he had seen a couple of episodes of "Sex and the City," and Mr. Murray was familiar with "Will and Grace." "I tend to prefer cop shows myself, but even there you're exposed to liberal views," Mr. Murray said. "I was watching 'Law and Order' when one of the cops calls President Bush a liar."
When they were asked to diagnose the failings of New York liberals, Dr. Magill and Mr. Murray did not call them lazy or uneducated. They used words like "intolerant" and "naïve."
"I know New Yorkers feel they're worldly and cosmopolitan," Dr. Magill said. "But in some ways they're pretty provincial."
Charles Burkhart, a retired college professor, said he personally knew a couple of Republicans who lived in Maine, but even they did not support Bush. Mr. Burkhart said he had seen a little of Rudolph W. Giuliani's speech and was not impressed."
And then they retire, move to the south (we sure have our share of them in Wilmington, NC) to escape the Sewers of NYC, and find themselves surrounded by idiots.
What a culture shock that must be! Get used to it, is all I can tell them.
There are 3,111 counties in the United States of America and Al Gore managed to carry 677 of them. I don't think W will fail to carry any one of the counties he took in 2000, in fact, he will add many to his tally.
Moral of this story is that we don't want mega population centers dictating who should run the rest of the country and it's time thy realized it!
This falls right in line with Andy Rooney's gripe about the city losing (actually, not taking in) the $250 million dollars predicted during the campaign.
This is the exact same thing that the McGovernites used to run around saying about Nixon during the race in the 70's. Had Ms. Howell studied any American history she might have known that.
I don't know - if you read the whole article it seems to me the GOP comes off better than the libs.
Animals can be driven crazy by placing too many in too small a pen. Homo sapiens is the only animal that voluntarily does this to himself.
Robert Heinlein
Maybe because most media, finance, and cultural institutions are headquartered there? Just a wild guess...
I mean . . seriously. Who are they kidding?
Themselves.
100 percent thumb sucking tripe.
If so, I'm absolutely shocked that the Times wouldn't point this out, let alone that he could be so partisan!
"The closest thing to sympathy came from Eric Linden, a graduate student, who suggested the affection for Mr. Bush was due to factors beyond the Republicans' control. "Honestly," Mr. Linden said, "I think it's a lack of education."
I feel SOooooo Stupid! NOT.
This is hilarious for its transparency! These people ARE as dumb as we think they are.
Uh, maybe its your line of work?
"...the Upper West Side, the neighborhood that has called itself "the conscience of the nation."
That's a laugh. Last I looked it was the setting for "The Panic in Needle Park" and yuppie gentrification not withstanding the UWS is no more the conscience of the nation than Beverly Hills is.
They've always been a bunch of stuck-up lefties. Just because they've got bigger apartments than the rest of manhattan-ites do.
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