Does Nicholas Kristof really exist? I mean, have any of you ever actually seen him, in person? I know his picture appears by his column in the New York Times, and he may have been spotted on TV once or twice, but after reading several of his columns, as I’ve just done, I can’t repress the suspicion that he doesn’t really exist, that he’s actually a purely fictitious parody created by David Brooks or some other talented conservative writer to parade the foibles of contemporary liberalism.
Last Wednesday, for example, the day after the election but in a column written the day before, he wrote that after
this civil war that our nation has just fought, one result is clear: the Democratic Party’s first priority should be to reconnect with the American heartland.
Kristof (or whoever writes his column) laments that Democrats “come across in much of America as arrogant and out of touch the moment the discussion shifts to values.” He urges Democrats, in short, to abandon their “elitist, Eastern” ways and make their peace with God, guns, and “values.”
What’s the problem? you might ask. Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? It would be if only he could disguise his own values, which, unfortunately for his cozy-up to Red America message, shine through. Why do Democrats, in his view, need to begin “compromising on principles” (from his column today, more on which in a moment)? Here’s why: because Democrats, he writes,
should be feeling wretched about the millions of farmers, factory workers and waitresses who ended up voting – utterly against their own interests – for Republican candidates.
Nicholas Kristof, you see, knows better than “millions of farmers, factory workers and waitresses” what is in their own interest.
A party that embodies this arrogant attitude will have a great deal of difficulty disguising its arrogance, no matter how many times its candidates shoot geese and attend church in the months leading up to elections.
But at least Kristof seems sincere in his suggestion that Democrats compromise their principles. Note this passage from today’s column, whose title says for Democrats its now “Time To Get Religion” (linked above):
So Democrats need to give a more prominent voice to Middle American, wheat-hugging, gun-shooting, Spanish-speaking, beer-guzzling, Bible-toting centrists…. [I wonder what K would sound like if he were still exuding the condescension he now condemns]
I wish that winning were just a matter of presentation. But it’s not. It involves compromising on principles. Bill Clinton won his credibility in the heartland partly by going home to Little Rock during the 1992 campaign to preside over the execution of a mentally disabled convict named Ricky Ray Rector.
There was a moral ambiguity about Mr. Clinton’s clambering to power over Mr. Rector’s corpse. But unless Democrats compromise, they’ll be proud and true and losers.
“Moral ambiguity“? Kristof describes, with obvious approval, a power-hungry politician “clamboring to power” over the corpse of a poor mentally disabled convict. What exactly is ambiguous here? If George Bush had done the same thing, would Kristof find his behavior imbued with “moral ambiguity”?
Maybe this is just more “nuance” that I always seem to miss.
I assume Nicholas Kristof actually exists, if only because I’ve deduced that there is no “Maureen Dowd,” that the column is a joke played on the readership by the NY Times editorial board. I don’t think they’d play the same joke twice.
“If George Bush had done the same thing (ie, preside over the execution of a retarded man), would Kristof find his behavior imbued with moral ambiguity?”
Are you being sarcastic here? If so, I don’t understand. Bush DID preside over the execution of a retarded man, Oliver David Cruz.
From what I understand, in Texas the governor doesn’t preside over executions in any meaningful way. He or she cannot commute a death sentence. All the governor can do is delay the execution by 30 days, if some new evidence is forthcoming that might justify a new trial.
And don’t forget Bush mocked the pleas of Karla Faye Tucker, a woman executed in his state as well. In fact, he made a little comedy bit about it during an interview. This was after Tucker claimed to have become a born-again Christian. Actually, this all played well to the conservative base, IMHO.
Truth be told, Clinton actually ran a centrist campaign, and presidency, reforming both welfare and Affirmative Action during his tenure. One of the telling moments of his first campaign was when he had his biggest centrist moment when he rebuked African-American rapper, Sistah Souljah, for this statement:
“If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?”
Clinton basically called her as racist as David Duke, which, coupled with afforementioned execution, gave centrists, white moderates and especially, non-conservative white men a perception that Clinton wasn’t some soft-on-crime, northeastern liberal kissing the ring of special interest groups and minorities, as Dukakis clearly looked in the prior race.
–Cobra
It certainly is a new day in U.S. politics. I think that those who identify themselves as conservative must now acknowledge just how totally in charge they are. We’re not outsiders. It’s important to remember this.
This hysteria of the Kristofs, Dowds, et al, does need to be addressed, but how? I can tell you from living in their territory, NYC, that the values they cling to are failing miserably, although they refuse to admit this.
I’m almost inclined to think that the answer is Christian charity… not giving them something, but trying to draw them, somehow, back into the flock. The U.S. is completely ascendant in the world. Conservative Republicans are completely ascendate in the U.S. This is probably as is should be.
Gays and blacks are not persecuted in NYC, but both groups enjoy pretending that they are. They get stuff for this pretense. Usually they are harmed by the charade they play to get the stuff. How do we help them to abandon this way of life and move on? As Christians, we are obliged to give them compassion and a hand.
I wasn’t aware that Bush had no say in Texas executions. That certainly changes things. Thanks, Laura.
Tucker’s conversion was hardly new evidence. I was never swayed by the idea that one who finds God at the last moment does not deserve what the law requires.
“Bush DID preside over the execution of a retarded man, Oliver David Cruz.”
Not so fast. Although death penalty opponents claimed Cruz was retarded, his IQ was measured at 83 when he was tested in prison. Per the DSM-IV, he would need to score below 70 to qualify as mildly retarded.
Even if the test was wrong, there is no reason to believe that Bush, unlike Clinton, made a conscious decision to execute a mentally retarded prisoner.
“From what I understand, in Texas the governor doesn’t preside over executions in any meaningful way. He or she cannot commute a death sentence.”
In Texas the Governor cannot grant clemency on his own, but must have the recommendation of the Board of Pardons and Paroles. In Cruz’s case, the Board voted 18-0 against recommending clemency. I’m not certain, but I believe that all 18 members were appointed by Governor Bush. Bush still had the option of granting a 30-day reprieve even without the recommendation of the Board, but did not do so.
Ricky Ray Rector was mentally competent when he committed his crime, his brain damage came when he unsuccessfully tried to kill himself to avoid arrest. Thus to the extent that the objection to executing the retarded as they are insufficiently competent to be culpable for their crimes, this does not apply here.
I for one have no problem whatsoever with Clinton having signed Rector’s death warrant.
Wow! The things you learn on blogs. So where are we? NEITHER Bush nor Clinton executed a retarded man. The readers of these comments may be the only people in the country who know this.
Cobra,
Kerry only received the majority of white votes in about 8 states.
Yet, blacks support white Democrat politicians who make fun of those who attend church, practice their faith, or read the Bible. Why?
I’ve met him. He had a bit of a fro. Middle aged white men should not have fros. Since meeting him, I’ve stopped reading his column.
Ricky Ray Rector killed two people, including a cop, and then shot himself in the head causing severe brain damage.
Then-Governor Clinton was locked in a tough race for the 1992 Democratic Presidential nomination. He broke off campaigning in New Hampshire and rushed back to Arkansas in order to sign the death warrant and be there for Rector’s high-profile execution. It gave Clinton his bona fides with the electorate that he would be tough on crime.
The execution was notable because Rector was unable to comprehend what was happening to him. At his last meal, he set aside his desert, a pecan pie, so that he could finish it
Superdestroyer writes:
>>>Cobra,
Kerry only received the majority of white votes in about 8 states.
Yet, blacks support white Democrat politicians who make fun of those who attend church, practice their faith, or read the Bible. Why?”
The same reason we don’t vote for black candidates who attend church, practice their faith and read the Bible like Alan Keyes. We also know the racist histories of organizations such as the Southern Baptists. We know that Sunday morning is the most segregated day in America. And we know it’s not an accident that many white supremacist groups hide behind the cross and Christian ideology.
There’s a HUGE difference between following God, and following politicians who CLAIM to follow God.
–Cobra
Cobra,
Your obsessions just make my head ache.
So is Cobra actually claiming that blacks WANT to go to church with whites, but that whites won’t let them? That’s a hoot!
The separation of black and white on Sunday morning is NOT SEGREGATION. This is a voluntary choice based on many factors on the part of BOTH RACES. There is no law prohibiting mingling, there are no armed guards preventing a black from entering a ‘white’ church or vice-versa. But most whites are uncomfortable with the exuberance of the black style of worship, and most blacks are equally uncomfortable with the restraint of the white style of worship. To each his own, and God bless ’em all.
Why do I waste my breath? Cobra is unable to see anything except evidence of discrimination by whites against blacks in everything in life. It must be sad to be so angry, obsessed, and unwilling to let go of the past.