Tuesday, February 03, 2004
‘A renaissance for a city of Brahmins and beans,’ Part II: Adam is all over the CSM article posted below, with an excellent fisking that makes my post look Little League in comparison. ... E.J. Dionne Jr. hits a delicate chord when he writes: “The demonization of Massachusetts is really about the southernization of the Republican Party.” Quite true. Blue-Red states, blah, blah, blah. ... We were, after all, an Imperial Power waging a Capitalistic War of Northern Aggression way back when. (I’m still trying to figure out how the right-wing/left-wing intellectual baton hand-off successfully worked on that one ... Or was it vice versa?) ...
But E.J. seriously falters when he writes: “Indeed, Massachusetts voted for McGovern over Richard Nixon -- not so much because of the Harvard boutique but because the old factory towns such as the one where I grew up remained loyal to the party of Al Smith, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy. In any case, why, in light of history, is voting against Nixon so dishonorable?” ...
E.J., please, in the future, force yourself to mention how said Massachusetts voters subsequently voted for Ronald Reagan in ‘80 and ‘84, starting a mere 8 years after the miracle ‘72 election. Let’s get this straight: Massachusetts voted for McGovern. Once. 32 years ago. It voted for Ron 24 years ago and 20 years ago, twice. What do the pundits remember? 32 years ago, once. ...
I’m not saying Massachusetts isn’t liberal. It is. Quite so. But it’s far more complicated and unpredictable than the national -- and local -- media portray it. ...
But E.J. seriously falters when he writes: “Indeed, Massachusetts voted for McGovern over Richard Nixon -- not so much because of the Harvard boutique but because the old factory towns such as the one where I grew up remained loyal to the party of Al Smith, Franklin Roosevelt and John Kennedy. In any case, why, in light of history, is voting against Nixon so dishonorable?” ...
E.J., please, in the future, force yourself to mention how said Massachusetts voters subsequently voted for Ronald Reagan in ‘80 and ‘84, starting a mere 8 years after the miracle ‘72 election. Let’s get this straight: Massachusetts voted for McGovern. Once. 32 years ago. It voted for Ron 24 years ago and 20 years ago, twice. What do the pundits remember? 32 years ago, once. ...
I’m not saying Massachusetts isn’t liberal. It is. Quite so. But it’s far more complicated and unpredictable than the national -- and local -- media portray it. ...
