Editorially, The New York Times was thrilled by the
inauguration of New York’s Mayor Bill de Blasio. It was excited to see
progressive governance come to the city... as though left-leaning, progressive Michael Bloomberg
was somehow a right wing radical.
Yet, the Times has not understood that the progressive
movement, embodied by the new mayor, is based on empty rhetoric designed by demagogues
to manipulate unsuspecting voters. Read: unsuspecting New York Times readers.
The de Blasio inaugural ceremony was so tasteless,
so vulgar and so offensive that even the New York Times took notice.
Apparently, the paper has not been paying very close attention to today’s
progressive politics.
De Blasio paid lip service to the task of unifying the city,
but his politics are, as Peggy Noonan noted in the Wall Street Journal,
divisive. They are designed to set one group against another. They see the haves
exploiting the have-nots. Given New York City’s leftist groupthink, de Blasio
did not think he needed to disguise his contempt and resentment.
The Times took note of the appalling ceremony, one that
showered outgoing Mayor Bloomberg with insults:
Too bad
the speakers on stage with him didn’t get the unity part, marring the event
with backward-looking speeches both graceless and smug. Worst among them, but
hardly alone, was the new public advocate, Letitia James, who used her moment
for her own head-on attack: on the 12 years of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. In
doing so, she made a prop of a 12-year-old girl named Dasani, who had to hold
the Bible and Ms. James’s hand as Ms. James called for a government “that cares
more about a child going hungry than a new stadium or a new tax credit for a
luxury development.”
Dasani
was profiled in a recent series of articles in The Times illustrating how bad things get for
homeless families in the shelter system. Ms. James turned her into Exhibit A of
an Inauguration Day prosecution: the People v. Mayor Bloomberg. So did the
pastor whose invocation likened New York to a “plantation,” and Harry
Belafonte, who strangely laid the problem of America’s crowded prisons at the
feet of the former mayor, an utterly bogus claim, while saying Mr. Bloomberg
shared responsibility for the nation’s “deeply Dickensian justice system.”
Mr.
Bloomberg had his mistakes and failures, but he was not a cartoon Gilded Age
villain. He deserved better than pointless and tacky haranguing from speakers
eager to parrot Mr. de Blasio’s campaign theme.
Note the rhetoric: “backward looking speeches”… “graceless
and smug.”
But, who invites Harry Belafonte, a notorious hater, a supporter radical
leftist dictators and demagogues, to speak at an inauguration? As it happens, Letitia
James is an important public official, New York’s newly elected Public
Advocate. For those who live outside of the city, Public Advocate is an
important, elected executive position. Without doing a search, I can easily
imagine that the Times endorsed both de Blasio and James.
It’s nice that the Times rushes to the defense of Michael
Bloomberg— you don’t want to alienate someone you might have to ask to invest— but
when it explains that the speakers were merely echoing de Blasio’s campaign
rhetoric, it gives the game away.
However much the Times is rightly offended by the crass
vulgarity of the de Blasio inauguration, there was nothing about it that really
deviated from what the new mayor was saying in his campaign.
It’s a little late for the paper to find religion. If it was
willing to overlook de Blasio’s divisive rhetoric during the campaign, it now
finds itself in the unenviable position of having awakened to the truth.
The Times knows that a de Blasio mayoralty that resembles the de Blasio inauguration might send liberal New Yorkers running to the
Republican Party. The Times is right to be worried. If the city turns against
ersatz progressives it might just be the death knell for the old gray lady. Unless, of course, they can sell the paper to Michael Bloomberg.
This is probably the best thing that could happen to NJ. The new regime will be the tipping point in companies relocating across the Hudson. Perhaps I should be investing in property in Jersey City!
ReplyDeleteThey've already sold the paper to Sims.
ReplyDelete"Apparently, the paper has not been paying very close attention to today’s progressive politics." No, they've deliberately avoided reporting it, is the way I see it.
ReplyDeleteSlims, Stuart; Carlos and family, the Mexican billionaires. He's the 2nd richest man in the world, according to Forbes.
This from the progressive crowd that calls conservatives ignorant, intolerant, and (most of all) mean.
ReplyDeleteThe demands of actually governing will provide endless entertainment in watching them struggle with their principles and reality. Just ask Hollande.
Tip
I hope the first commenter is right that it sends companies to New Jersey. I used to have to commute to Manhattan. Most of the people in my office commuted to work from Long Island or New Jersey, spending a minimum of 3 hours a day on the trains. Sometimes much more than 3 hours a day.
ReplyDelete