Outrage Over "New York Values" from People Who Used "San Francisco Values"
January 17, 2016
Daniel Greenfield
It's week 2 and fake outrage over Ted Cruz's slam of New York Values is still lingering like a noxious fog in some circles. The absurdity of the whole thing is that when Nancy Pelosi rose to national prominence, conservatives and even Saturday Night Live routinely trotted out San Francisco Values as a slam.
Now some of the same people are very, very outraged over New York Values. In 2010, Larry Kudlow wrote about Boxer's "extreme-left-wing San Francisco values." But now he's outraged about Ted Cruz and New York Values.
"Like Donald Trump, I am insulted and offended by Ted Cruz’s remarks that New York values are bad. OK? I am insulted, offended — what I see here is bigotry and division. And that’s not what I want for president..."
"You talk about New York values — well I don’t know who you’re talking about, it’s a big city. Here’s what I know as Donald Trump indicated, New Yorkers … New Yorkers: police, fire, emergency services, first responders, ordinary citizens, were phenomenal..."
"Michael Bloomberg — I may not agree with Mayor Bloomberg on everything, but he was no wild-eyed liberal, he was no wild-eyed liberal. And he ran a good city..."
"I’m a Born Again, I’m a born-again Catholic, and evangelicals – I’d like to evangelize more the Catholic Church, but that’s not the point... Cruz – get out. Get outta here. You are not what we want. Obama, the divider. Cruz, the divider. And God help him, and I want to say this, God help him if we found out in some private conversation Cruz have with somebody, that his reference in New York had just an ounce of anti-semitism... And however many Jewish people there are in New York, these are good folks. "
"If Donald Trump’s going to win, and he looks like he will, if … let him choose Marco Rubio."
Okay then.
Ted Cruz wasn't talking about the FDNY and NYPD, just as (I assume) Kudlow wasn't slamming San Francisco first responders. No one with an ounce of intellectual integrity could believe that.
No one thinks that New York Values or San Francisco values refers to cops or firefighters anyway. No one serious thinks it has anything to do with Jews either for that matter. And Ted Cruz is far more pro-Israel than Trump anyway. And when it comes to divisiveness, well Trump isn't exactly innocent of that either. And that's what people like about Trump and Cruz.
With those distractions out of the way, it becomes obvious that New York Values or San Francisco Values refers to the values of the elites who dominate life in a given city. When Bill O'Reilly coined the term, it was a reference to elites.
"I coined the term "San Francisco values" and well understand they have little to do with democracy. How nutty is the San Francisco Board of Ed? We're fighting a lethal worldwide terror movement and these people are telling high school students the U.S. military is bad, that's how nutty. By the way, the ACLU is MIA in the JROTC controversy. Can you imagine what would have happened if the Board of Ed had banned a gay high school club? S.F. values strike again."
Here's how Republicans were using it.
Ex-U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that the thought of California Rep. Nancy Pelosi becoming the next leader of the House and being third in line to the presidency is frightening.
"The prospect of her bringing San Francisco values and a whole attitude on foreign policy that is, I think, an attitude of weakness and appeasement and surrender, I think, would be a disaster for the country," the outspoken Republican said.
The editorial pages of the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, where the paper endorsed a Republican congressional candidate because a Democratic House would mean "Pelosi will be speaker and her far-left San Francisco values -- gay marriage, cutting and running from Iraq, coddling terrorists, raising taxes, amnesty for illegals -- will become the House agenda."
In a recent online fundraising pitch, the now-pundit Gingrich asked supporters, "Will everything you've worked so hard to accomplish be lost to the San Francisco values of would-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi?"
Commentator O'Reilly said San Francisco values "seek to exclude spirituality from the public square but embrace displays like the bay city's gay pride parade, where Christianity is often mocked and demeaned." He said San Francisco "wants to ban military recruiting while setting up citywide pot shops."
In short, San Francisco values, like New York values, described an attitude that was not itself a condemnation of the public. O'Reilly emphasized the lack of democracy in the process.
San Francisco values and New York values were different ways of saying "liberal" and "left-wing." If you look at the broad scope that Gingrich and O'Reilly are using, not to mention the Chronicle, it's a vague slam that basically encompasses the left. You can use it to mean just about anything you want.
Such vague regional signals aren't exclusive to either party. Cruz was signaling that Trump was on the left side of the GOP. Whether that's right or wrong, it's obvious that this was what was intended. It's an identity politics message. Is it divisive? Obviously. But considering that New York is not in play and is not likely to be in play, it's the same kind of divisiveness as San Francisco values.
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Topic: Cruz slams Trump for having "NY views" (Read 2001 times)