New York, New York is a wonderful town, “The Bronx Is Up And The Battery’s Down, The People Ride in a hole in…”
Well, you know the jingle — but, seriously folks, as wonderful as New York is, it is also just about the most parochial place on earth.
Maybe you thought your Uncle Ernie on the farm didn’t know much about the outside world — but he’s a cosmopolite compared to the average denizen of the isle of Manhattan.
As the red convention gets underway in the capitol of blue, here are some reflections:
Wit Christopher Buckley welcomed the delegates to town in yesterday’s New York Times with the words, “This really is the greatest city in the world, but you are now behind enemy lines.”
“A few additional cultural notes: Diversity rules here. New Yorkers pride themselves on being a melting pot, on their embrace of racial, cultural religious differences.
“Visiting Republicans frequently ask, ‘Does diversity include someone who drives a three-ton S.U.V., has never watched ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,’ thinks President Bush actually won in 2000, cannot understand why everyone hates Attorney General John Ashcroft and goes to church every Sunday?’
“The answer: ‘Get out!’ Diverse means having relatives in Tierra del Fuego. What you are is obtuse.”
James K. Glassman on Tech Central Station:
“Not only do they detest Bush, but Manhattanites can’t imagine anyone voting for him. Or for any other Republican, for that matter — other than maybe Rudy Giuliani, who himself is not particularly well-liked on the Upper West Side or Soho or other haunts of the chattering classes. I have news for these folks. Times have changed. Today, the four most popular politicians in America are all Republicans.”
One of the sights of New York is Grant’s tomb (avoided by This Charlotte and all other Mississippians when visiting the Big Apple). But National Review offers some insights on Grant, including the notion that the pseudo intellectuals of his day never embraced him that just about persuade TC that the guy wasn’t evil incarnate (yes, this is causing a tremendous earthquake on TC’s family plot in Mississippi):
“The most substantial legacy problem, however, is that [Grant] never won a constituency among intellectuals. People who read about Grant inevitably run into snide remarks about his intelligence, including the obligatory observation that he finished in the bottom half of his class at West Point. (Two details you rarely hear: First, something like half of his classmates didn’t even graduate, and these failures aren’t counted in the class rankings. Second, Grant earned pretty good grades in math, which were offset by lousy ones in French. I find it hard to get worked up about that.) There is also plenty of carping about how Grant hadn’t made much of himself before the Civil War, how he drank too much during the conflict, and how he sent too many young northerners to their doom. (Distant echoes of what we hear about President Bush?) most substantial legacy problem, however, is that he never won a constituency among intellectuals. People who read about Grant inevitably run into snide remarks about his intelligence, including the obligatory observation that he finished in the bottom half of his class at West Point. (Two details you rarely hear: First, something like half of his classmates didn’t even graduate, and these failures aren’t counted in the class rankings. Second, Grant earned pretty good grades in math, which were offset by lousy ones in French. I find it hard to get worked up about that.) There is also plenty of carping about how Grant hadn’t made much of himself before the Civil War, how he drank too much during the conflict, and how he sent too many young northerners to their doom. (Distant echoes of what we hear about President Bush?)”
We began this item with a snatch of song, and it’s fitting to end by urging you not to miss James Bowman’s daily commentary on the convention afternoons on NPR — he’ll be doing it in heroic couples! (Calvin Trillin did the poesie for the Democratic convention, and it’s quite an honor for Jim to be tapped to do it for the Republicans — and heroic to attempt to produce couplets on deadline.