Live from New York

I liked this bit from Rocketman's convention
wrapup:

I took a taxi from the Garden to where I'm staying, and the cab driver, who at least professed to be a Bush fan, had the radio tuned to a station that claimed to be the number one news station in New York. Riding in the cab, I listened to a grotesque example of media bias. There was a brief news report on the President's speech, which included an excerpt that lasted perhaps 15 seconds. The report then transitioned into an account of Kerry and Edwards campaigning in Ohio. The station played Edwards' speech--it may have been live, I'm not sure--in what appeared to be its entirety. It went on for at least 15 minutes, and Edwards was still blasting away at Bush when I finally, with great relief, jumped out of the cab. No wonder so many New Yorkers are Democrats.

I've always wondered how, in the capital of the world's free markets, so many eople can be so Democrat.

But it makes sense, really. While NYC is the capital of the state of Free Enterprise, it's impossible to jam 12 million people into such a relatively tiny space without mindbendingly-massive infrastructure - and massive infrastructure pretty much means "big government". Life itself depends on government in New York; it becomes an organism that must be fed, cared for, and supported, or the city will fall to pieces (faster) around them. Stronger government - Giuliani - means the city is more livable, while weaker government - Dinkins - means life is more difficult. Existence itself is tied to government - which is exactly parallel to life in the Democrat party itself.

But the news media can only do so much. There was a cartoon in this morning's New York Post, which I haven't been able to find online. It depicted a big, tough-looking elephant marching along, leaving deep footprints. The elephant was labeled "GOP convention." John Kerry was lying crushed and dazed inside one of the footprints. With appropriate margin for hyperbole, that sums up my view of the convention pretty well.

We can only hope.

But if Rocket Man is feeling better about things, that's a good start.

Posted by Mitch at September 7, 2004 06:15 AM | TrackBack