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My Rahm Reunion
May 16, 2013 | 16 comments
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The Left Hates Us
May 9, 2013 | 143 comments
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Such a Dynamic Duo
May 2, 2013 | 49 comments
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The Continuing Crisis
May 1, 2013 | 0 comments
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Calvin Coolidge: His Times Are Our Times
April 26, 2013 | 22 comments
The Current Crisis
Mayor Bloomberg Daydreams
You’d better be careful where you spit.
WASHINGTON — Apparently New York City’s Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg whiles away his last hours in the mayor’s palace daydreaming. He has been mayor for almost three terms and though his mayorship may not have been as heroic or even as effective as that of Mayor Rudy Giuliani, it has at least kept the city up to Mayor Giuliani’s standards of cleanliness, law and order, and an approximation of sense of financial rectitude. So if Mr. Bloomberg is no Rudy Giuliani, at least he has done okay up until now.
Now his daydreams are taking on the air of delusion. He apparently longs for the perfect gesture with which to festoon his legacy. Health for all! An end to guns for everyone, except the cops! No more violence! Maybe he even plans a campaign against spitting in public. If that last daydream plays well with the public relations team he has hired to ensure his fame for the ages, he will probably call a press conference and admonish us all to avoid public spitting. Possibly the citizenry will be advised to carry little cups or doggy bags. The mayor and his team think of everything.
Mr. Bloomberg is intent on leaving a memorable legacy. He has rumbled on against the Second Amendment, against “trans-fat,” against salt and sugar consumption, against obesity, and—for years—against tobacco, even pipes, even cigars, even the tobacco that one chews. He has taken extraordinary action against this substance, causing tobacco to be more expensive in New York City than anywhere else in America, banning it from public places such as restaurants, parks, even beaches, leaving cigarette smokers to languish on chill streets like the homeless only more reviled. Mr. Bloomberg tried to ban sugary drinks from being served in containers larger than sixteen ounces, but a state judge who had apparently been a recent reader of the United States Constitution said that bill went too far. Possibly the judge was a co-conspirator with the Tea Party movement. I know that might strike you as improbable, but I am told that at least in rural New York there are still judges conversant with the Constitution.
All this concern of the mayor for his legacy is, as I have implied, in pursuit of a delusion. Only an occasional professor of urban politics gives a rat’s hind leg for Mr. Bloomberg’s legacy. Do you remember Mayor John Lindsay’s legacy or Mayor David Dinkins’ legacy—other than during their terms the subway system was a no-man’s land, the sidewalks were dirty and dominated by muggers, and the city was headed toward bankruptcy. By some accounting theories it already was bankrupt. Mayor Edward Koch left a legacy, but it was not much. Possibly a few wry wisecracks were attributed to him, possibly an urbane witticism. That is about it.
I recall, prior to Mayor Giuliani, a common theme of conversation when I was in the city was that New York was dying. Then along came Rudy. He worked very hard, applying fundamental principles of governance to a city that thought it had progressed beyond them. The city miraculously revived. It became one of the most civilized cities in the world once again. So much for the decline of New York City, or for that matter the decline of civilization. New York bounced back, and for those who say America is in hopeless decline under President Barack Obama I say wait until 2016 or actually 2014. All is not lost.
As for Mayor Bloomberg, he ought to knock it off. This claptrap about his legacy is a fool’s errand. His latest effort to ban the public display of tobacco products will be found unconstitutional as surely as his earlier efforts to ban the large containers of disgusting soft drinks.
Mayor Bloomberg, we live in a free society. There are citizens out there that believe in it even though they side with you about the value of non-violence and good health. Yet they believe in personal freedom above all else. You would not want to be remembered as the mayor who tried to become a despot… and thanks to the Constitution failed.
Photo: UPI
About the Author
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He is the author of The Death of Liberalism, published by Thomas Nelson Inc. His previous books include the New York Times bestseller Boy Clinton: the Political Biography; The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton; The Liberal Crack-Up; The Conservative Crack-Up; Public Nuisances; The Future that Doesn’t Work: Social Democracy’s Failure in Britain; Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House; The Clinton Crack-Up; and After the Hangover: The Conservatives’ Road to Recovery.
MelvinNC| 3.21.13 @ 7:12AM
Putting this mayoral fool in the same context as a despot is indeed tempting.
My boss said something to me a number of years ago after I retired from the Marine Corps. He told me, "Melvin, you cannot expect everyone to be like you."
I was voicing my displeasure as some things were not going as I had expected them to as far as the human concern.
Then somewhere along the line it did dawn on me, "duhh, Melvin not everyone has been in the Marine Corps."
Instead of forcing everyone to think and act like me, I was the one who needed a change of attitudes.
I think that this is Bloomberg's problem. He expects everyone to think and act like him, and just because he is a mayor that gives him the right and moral high-ground to do so.
The problem with these politicians is that they want a legacy now. But they fail to see that, if they abide by their oath of sworn office and if they abide by the Constitution people will remember them as being a pretty good public servant.
Unfortunately for Bloomberg he will be always remembered as the idiot mayor who banned large soft drinks and he even failed at that.
Jack in Wi| 3.21.13 @ 8:02AM
We have too many nannnies in this country. Nanny Bloomberg is one of the worst. He is right up there with nanny Emmanuel, Nanny Feinstein, Nanny Emmanuel. Nanny Barack, Nanny Michelle,, Nanny Biden. There are plenty of Republican nannies as well. I think the whole Bush, Rockefeller, and Romney clans are all a bunch of New England nannies trying to push gay marriage and abortion.
Parker R.| 3.21.13 @ 10:22AM
Personal freedom?
Sometimes all that amounts to is the incessant redneck threat: "It's my property, and I'm gonna do what I goddamn please with it."
Why is it that AmSpec is always opposed to quality- of- life issues?
Please send Bloomberg down here to Tennesee, and I'll make him governor of our blighted state.
Anthony| 3.21.13 @ 12:08PM
Right on Parker R!!! ( aka Purp II)
Yeah, what the hell, who needs personal freedoms? Damn, these rednecks have some antiquated ideas!!
If you all send a delegation up to NYC and beg the midget mayor nice, he just might take you up on your offer to become Nannyberg of Tennesee.
He does like horses, he even resembles a horses ass, probably likes Tennesee whiskey, when nobody is looking, and of course, loves your favorite son, Algore.
But ya know, you folks in Tennesee might not appreciate wearing condoms on your head when Nannyberg starts messing around with personal freedoms Tennesee style.
TNcracker | 3.21.13 @ 8:53PM
No you won't. If you don't like Tennessee, go somewhere else.
Occam's Tool| 3.23.13 @ 6:58PM
Parker: Tennesee would not put up with him, fool.
Appleby| 3.21.13 @ 7:25AM
Actually here in Kanukistan the open display of cigarettes has been illegal for some time. Unfortunately, the large scale manufacture and subsequent sale of cigarettes on Indian reservations cannot possibly be controlled (Indians do not have to obey any laws unless they want to), so "children" and journalists can still buy plenty of smokes in large plastic bags of 100 from a convenient car trunk or a smoke shack.
Von Mises Jr| 3.21.13 @ 7:40AM
Under Nanny Bloomberg, New York High Schools not only passed out untold numbers of rubbers and birth control pills to students, but some 12,700 or so students got abortions without the knowledge or consent of their parents. Many were under age.
Eighty percent of NYC High School Graduates cannot read. The students that progress to Community and four year Colleges typically need a year remedial education to compete in post H.S. programs.
I am not sure what Nanny Bloomberg’s stance is on spitting. Perhaps it is better not to go there.
Anthony| 3.21.13 @ 11:02AM
C'on Von where are your priorities? What's 80% of NYC's high school grads being functionally illiterate, as opposed to real concerns like 64 oz drinks?
The low hanging fruit of 64 oz drinks, as opposed to NYC's educational bureaucracies systemic disaster of 80% illiteracy, is for pols of dimunitive stature.
But just wait, speaking of dimunitive stature, Anthony's Weiner lurks in NYC's future.
Occam's Tool| 3.23.13 @ 6:59PM
Anthony:
Weiner/Holder 2016. Has a ring to it, no?
Nancy in NC| 3.21.13 @ 8:38AM
Bloomberg is throwing his billions all over the country in an atempt to help others get elected to do the same kind of thing. There are a number (huge) who dream of having the power to tell the rest of us how to live our lives. I must assume theirs is in perfect order. Too bad there are so many that like to be told what to do.
Cats1cowboy| 3.21.13 @ 8:40AM
Nanny Bloomberg is a multi-Billionaire. I thought democrat voters hated Billionaires. Why'd they vote for this control freak?
Alan| 3.21.13 @ 8:55AM
Because he knows better than anybody, typical elistist leftist control freak. NY is a good place for him, they deserve each other.
Wizard| 3.21.13 @ 10:13AM
Democrats only hate billionaires who are selfish, ie those that believe that they (and others) know more about how to spend their own money than congresscritters and bureaucrats. Billionaires who are willing to embrace an activist, ever-expanding state (Yeah, I'm looking at you, Warren Buffett.) get the Dem seal of approval.
Anthony| 3.21.13 @ 9:05AM
As I have said, NYC, once the greatest and most sophisticated city in the world, has been turned into Romper Room, with the midget mayor Bloomberg dressed in drag as Teacher Ratshit.
Thankfully, this troll is blocked out of a future in politics both in NY and nationally. And the midget is getting up there in age. However, he is spending his $billions on other national races in order to buy pols who support his brand of domestic facism.
Does anybody remember his recent flirtation with that other political whore from Florida,Charlie Crist, when they were pushing Purple as the meld party of the future with them in charge?
Anyway, when it's time for this turd to leave office, it would be fitting if they tied him to a garbage barge and floated it out to sea and sank the damn thing!!
I hope to be watching from Hudson River with a good cigar.
Jim Adcox| 3.21.13 @ 9:23AM
This Bloomberg cat has control issues. When I was a kid and was walking along a city sidewalk, my mother told me not to rub my hands on the large trash cans and not to step on the spit on the sidewalk. When I asked why, she told me because you will get tuberculosis. Well, that taught me a lesson I never forgot. I didn't want TB. But if an old man who said he was mayor told me the same thing, I would have laughed and run away at the old fool who was trying to tell me what to do. Sic semper tyrannus, baby! Listen to your mother. Tell the mayor to go to hell.
Anthony| 3.21.13 @ 10:07AM
...and as Bloomberg departs NYC stuffed in a 64oz cup, Anthony's Weiner lurks on the horizon. You all remember Anthony's Weiner, don't you?
If Anthony's Weiner just stays in the bowels of Gracie Mansion flashing images of his weiner to underaged girls, while leaving the rest of NYC alone, his legacy as mayor will be a positive one.
Biff| 3.21.13 @ 10:26AM
One can only imagine the countless numbers who will line up to spit upon his grave...
Who Knows?| 3.21.13 @ 11:24AM
Here's a great one---via Mark Steyn:
Illegal immigrants are to immigration what shoplifters are to shopping.
Anthony| 3.21.13 @ 12:13PM
Or as the Obozo administration would say, shoplifters are just "unreceipted" shoppers.
Parker R.| 3.21.13 @ 11:55AM
Illegal immigrants are to immigration as shoplifters are to shopping.
I'll have to think about this one. On the suface it seems true.
JD| 3.21.13 @ 12:26PM
Hitler, Stalin, and Mao had legacies, too.
wrlord| 3.21.13 @ 12:42PM
Sadly, the overturning of the soda ban was not based on the Constitution, but rather on Bloomberg superseding the power of the city council. The council could go ahead and pass the ban yet again.
dugless| 3.21.13 @ 1:39PM
Poor Mayor Bloomberg! He just doesn't get it! You can't legislate a solution to EVERY ill that exists in society! Sometimes, a society just needs to work things out for itself!
Doctor Right| 3.21.13 @ 2:03PM
"He has been mayor for almost three terms and though his mayorship may not have been as heroic or even as effective as that of Mayor Rudy Giuliani, it has at least kept the city up to Mayor Giuliani’s standards of cleanliness, law and order..."
Yes, of course.
And Mussolini made the trains run on time...
Joe D.| 3.21.13 @ 2:37PM
I agree with you last point only so much. "New York bounced back, and for those who say America is in hopeless decline under President Barack Obama I say wait until 2016 or actually 2014. All is not lost." It is much harder to change Washington then to change a city or state. Reagan failed to do as much as he intended. Newt fail to a point. Neither really shrank the government like it was really needed. And it is even more massive and intrusive now.
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Rhoetus| 3.21.13 @ 10:57PM
NYC deserves a Mayor like Bloomberg. It doesn't respect individual rights and neither does Bloomberg. What America deserves is for Bloomberg to defect to Iran where he can become an Ayatollah and become his inner sadist.
Mnestheus| 3.22.13 @ 2:02AM
What an unattractive ward heeler this creature is !
Quartermaster| 3.22.13 @ 12:58PM
Nanny Bloomberg's legacy will memories of his inanity and insanity. He's an idiot that should be in a sanitarium instead of the mayoral Offices of NYC.
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Longdrycreek | 3.25.13 @ 3:14PM
A legacy in politics is meaningless. A true legacy is constructive. In politics, a "legacy" is without meaning and purpose.
Bloom . . will not have a legacy. Obam's signature legacy {Obamacare] will taint his memory as the unwilling participants learn they have been taken for a ride.
A legacy is defined as a "gift of property or money to a relative" or a bequest to a long-standing institution or enduring cause.
Political legacies are worthless except to the corrupt media who are unable to define words or use language accurately.
honeybee| 3.26.13 @ 8:23PM
If they really cared about stopping gun violence, they would register the criminals not the law abiding citizens. We need a Weapon Offenders database similar to the sex offenders one. The justice system could auto-populate it and licensed psychiatrists & parent/guardians could submit names of unstable people they care for. It would be open to the public so any seller of any lethal weapon (or ammunition) could check for the potential buyer’s name on the list. Put the rights, including right to privacy, back in the law abiding citizens hands. No registration for law abiding citizens!
Also, if someone was concerned about a neighbor with a weapon, they could look up their name online. If they were in the Weapon Offender database, they could report the violation to the authorities.