Posted on 11/03/2004 7:39:23 PM PST by Lorianne
triking a characteristic New York pose near Lincoln Center yesterday, Beverly Camhe clutched three morning newspapers to her chest while balancing a large latte and talked about how disconsolate she was to realize that not only had her candidate, John Kerry, lost but that she and her city were so out of step with the rest of the country.
"Do you know how I described New York to my European friends?" she said. "New York is an island off the coast of Europe."
Like Ms. Camhe, a film producer, three of every four voters in New York City gave Mr. Kerry their vote, a starkly different choice than the rest of the nation. So they awoke yesterday with something of a woozy existential hangover and had to confront once again how much of a 51st State they are, different in their sensibilities, lifestyles and polyglot texture from most of America. The election seemed to reverse the perspective of the famous Saul Steinberg cartoon, with much of the land mass of America now in the foreground and New York a tiny, distant and irrelevant dot.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Agree completely. These are the people whose presumption it is to "change the world". The "do gooders" who all too often make a hash of things. Your link with the New Zealand Labor Party analogy is all too apt.
Personally, I would like to think that the Democrat party is on the way to destroying itself. The so-called "professionals" and "rqdical activists" lurching further to the left and absorbing the Green party, intent on promoting "Socialism In Our Time".
In the meantime, the more moderate (or sensible) Democrats might merge with the northeastern RINO-wing of the GOP and attempt to sell themselves as a center-left alternative.
I could even see them absorbing the paleos, who have become faux conservatives and are better described as populists, in some kind of Reform genre -- involving term limits as a buzz issue.
But I don't think this last defeat will be sufficient to make all that happen. After all, the Democrats still got 49% of the vote -- with an incredibly weak candidate! Before the Democrats undergo any serious introspection and possible break-up, they will first have to be squashed like a bug, electorally. That hasn't happened...yet.
Moreover, it is vitally important to the nation for the Democrat party to either reform itself or re-constitute in some effective fashion. Our form of government requires at least two competitive parties -- both of whom have the security and welfare of the nation as their first concern.
Right now, on this measure, only one of them qualifies. And so long as there is no effective competition, that party will eventually become corrupt itself. A strong (and sane) Democrat party is vital to the nation's long-term health...
The Paheka-Maori situation is sad beyond belief. One faction thriving on creating guilt, the other thriving on the guilt created. Thanks again for the link. It was a situation heretofore unknown to me...and highly illuminating.
Well I shuffled through the city on the Fourth of July
Had a firecracker waiting to blow
Breaking like a robber who was making his way
To the cities of Mexico
Lived in an apartment out on Avenue A
I had a tar on the corner of Tenth
Had myself a lover who was finer than gold
But I been broke and I been busted up since
Love don’t play any games with me
Anymore like she did before
World won’t wait so I better shake
That thing right out there through the door
Hell, I still love you New York
Found myself a picture that would fit in the folds
Of my wallet and it stayed pretty good
Still amazed I didn’t lose it out on Lutheran Place
When I was drunk and I was thinking of you
Every day the children they were singing the tunes
Out on the streets and you could hear from the side
Used to take the subway up to Houston and Third
I would wait for you and not try to hide
Love won’t play any games with you
Anymore if you don’t want her to
World won’t wait and I watched you shake
But honey I don’t blame you
Hell, I still love you New York
Hell, I still love you New York
New York
I remember Christmas in the blistering cold
In a church on the Upper West Side
Babe, you stood there singing, I was holding your arm
You were holding my trust like a child
Found a lot of trouble out on Avenue B
But I tried to keep the overhead low
Farewell to the city and the love of my life
At least we left before we had to go
Love won’t play any games with you
Anymore if you don’t want her to
So we better shake this old thing out the door
I’ll always be thinking of you
I’ll always love you though New York
I'll always love you though New York
I'll always love you though New York
I'll always love you though New York
New York, New York
"I'm saddened by what I feel is the obtuseness and shortsightedness of a good part of the country - the heartland," Dr. Joseph said. "This kind of redneck, shoot-from-the-hip mentality and a very concrete interpretation of religion is prevalent in Bush country - in the heartland."
I'm saddened that Joseph doesn't understand that he's the one who's stupid and can't see past his nose. They need us far more than we need them.
"Even though Bush isn't one of them - he's a son of privilege - he comes off as just a good old boy."
They simply don't see us as we are. Sure, Dubya is a son of privilege, but where he grew up in Texas, the son of privilege is supposed to work with the help, not hire them and watch. When you see Dubya working on his ranch, that's reality, not hype.
I keep seeing these comments that are so condescending about the heartland's people.
"If the heartland feels so alienated from us, then it behooves us to wrap our arms around the heartland," she said. "We need to bring our way of life...on a trip around the country"
Oh please, Lady Bountiful, can I touch the hem of your dress when you alight from your limo to show us the light?
"Without Philly, Bush would have won Pa."
I think that without Detroit Bush would have won Michigan too!
Starbucks could also offer "depresso".
"the only places that went heavier for Kerry were France and San Francisco"
Ouch!!! Correct, but a really scary thought for this San Franciscan!! The attitude reflected in the article by "the really smart urban people" towards the not very bright rubes in the rest of the country is prevalent here too!
Seems like their incredible arrogance is the only real difference!
This is unfair NY bashing
Please ring in NGC -- I know you can convince these yahoos you speak for the real soul of NY
"We have street smarts. Whereas people in the Midwest are more influenced by what their friends say."
The really funny thing about this statement, is that the self described intellectuals are the ones who are influenced by their peers! Just listen to them for a while, and they all repeat the same talking points. Not an original thought in the group.
"People who are more competitive and proficient at what they do tend to gravitate toward cities," he said."
Dr. Joseph the largest retailer in the world started out and is based in Arkansas.
You sip your latte sir and walk your doggies. We in "the heartland" will do all the living and the fighting and the dying so that you may continue to do just that.
Keep right on "speaking truth to power," bimba.
Always happy to sit back and watch you provide us with yet another fat, comfortable popular vote margin for victory, re: '06. :)
Town & Country bump!
Funny that I was listening to a radio programme relay from Hong Kong this morning about the US election. An HK Chinese migrant living in San Francisco had called into a talk show and said he supported Bush (and he seemed to imply most Chinese in San Fracnisco vote heavily Bush). This astonished the usual anti-bush host and local HK Chinese.
It seems the Chinese vote could not withhold the heavily liberal white-black-other-minorities votes there.
"An HK Chinese migrant living in San Francisco had called into a talk show and said he supported Bush (and he seemed to imply most Chinese in San Fracnisco vote heavily Bush). This astonished the usual anti-bush host and local HK Chinese.
It seems the Chinese vote could not withhold the heavily liberal white-black-other-minorities votes there."
That's great! Maybe they'll be the beginnings of a new conservative movement!
This is what I think as well and thanks for expressing this! For much of the non-US West politics tend to have the centre at the left of the US, then it seems a giant gap is in place where US conservatism stands. But then things are starting to get active again once you cross that gap and get to the far right camp (paleoconservatives).
When I heard Kiwis say how right-wing US politics is, I always remind them the US's poster boy of far-right paleoconservatism, Pat Buchanan, got only 0.5% of presidential votes in 2000 election. Meanwhile, we had a similar figure in Winston Peters and at his peak he got 18% of votes in 1996 Parliament election and became the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand between 1996 and 1998. A supposedly more progresive country could stomach a paleocon as its deputy political leader, what an irony.
I remember giving Winston's policy platform to a liberal Democrat, and he was so shocked he could only mutter "I don't know about others, but it strikes me as a fascist party. Don't vote for them!". A lot of American liberals thinking they had moved to "greener pastures" by moving to a non-US country will be disappointed to see many of these countries have real nasty right-wing base parties which are moot in the States. They will also be shocked when finding out non-US Western societies tend to have a far more right-wing stance on race - 99.5% of American freepers here would be considered centrist or even centre-left if you only look at race and immigration and assimilation views espoused here.
Did you know this is only a slightly smaller amount than the supply of food in most of the rest of the nation? Look up "just-in-time inventory" on Google sometime.
In the event of some massive catastrophe, you're going to be screwed within three or four days no matter where you live, unless you're a farmer or have a massive Y2K-style TEOTWAWKI dried food supply in your bomb shelter.
I heard in the old days Chinatown Chinese was one of the few groups in megametros' inner city areas to vote Republican. But it seems the newer generation votes Democrats so don't give too much hope yet. My Dad told me Chinese in the US seem to support Bush in unison: the "blues" - pro-Taiwan but opposing current president Chen Shui-bian - vote Bush because of historical GOP conservative and Kuomintang ties. "Greens" - pro-Chen Shui-bian Taiwanee - vote Bush because they think Kerry will sell out Taiwan down the ditch. "Reds" - pro-Bejing Chinese - vote him before Beijing has come out and called on all Chinatown Chinese to vote Bush. They normally would not speak to each other but now all vote Bush.
Excellent commentary and analysis.
Sea Monkeys have more authenticity and life than most of the elites. As I kid I used to love seeing the Sea Monkey ads in the back of the comic books.
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