Friday, January 7, 2011

Shades of Lindsay?


From Gatemouth on Room Eight:

To paraphrase Churchill, we have reached here, if not the beginning of the end, then at least the end of the beginning.

I speak here of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s reign as America’s prince of the ideology that dare not speak its name--hence it’s faux name, “No Labels.”

Maybe it has no label because, upon inspection, the package is empty.
There may not be a label, but there is a name. In the damning words of Leon Wieseltier, that ideology which claims it is not is called: “Philanthrogovernment.” or, colloquially, “Bloombergism.”

I will be the first to admit that some of the governmental results of Bloombergism have been impressive much of the time. I myself have called Bloomberg’s reign a “mostly benign dictatorship.”

Yes, complain if you will that the trains don’t run on time and Bloomie will be happy to offer to take them over as well.

As long as you give him complete power and make him answerable to no one.

But that was then.

For Bloomberg, since his re-election, has undergone a subtle transformation not noticeable until recent weeks.

He has stopped being a Rockefeller Republican.

Mike Bloomberg a Lindsay Republican.

Even to some who remember the era quite vividly, the differences between those two breeds of Republican were often indiscernible.

This is because two very different products were quite often sold with the same label, something like “liberal Republican.”

Even in terms of what is labeled as ideology, this is not quite accurate.

Rockefeller liked building roads. Lindsay wanted to encourage alternative modes of travel, including bikes. Remind you of anyone?

Rockefeller was near the left end of his party’s spectrum on any number of issues, but his ideology was “control,” “show toughness” and “build.” Other than the edifices he built, some of which are already gone, and the manner in which he died (en flagrante delicto), Rockefeller is most remembered today for the brutal manner in which he ended a prison uprising at Attica (against the advice of his own negotiating team), and the devastating impact of the take all prisoners (and keep ‘em locked up) Drug Law which bore his name.

By contrast, Lindsay was a real liberal, and in fact emblematic of a particular liberal breed. City Comptroller Mario Proccacino, usually known was his lack of familiarity with the subtleties of the English language (Proc once told an African American group “my heart is as black as yours”), had his one moment of brilliance when he dubbed Lindsay a “limousine liberal.”

Nelson Rockefeller was a man in control. Lindsay sometimes seemed to travel around followed by a black rain cloud. On his first day in office, the City was paralyzed by a devastating transit strike. An awful sanitation strike later followed; the 1968 teachers’ strike exposed the soft underbelly of the City’s ethnic and racial conflicts, and then there was an ugly police corruption scandal (not to mention lesser scandals at other agencies).

Not to mention the devastating aftermath of a 1969 snow storm in which outer borough neighborhoods waited days without seeing a plow.

Starting to sound familiar?

Like Rocky, Lindsay saw himself as America’s salvation. In preparation for what he saw as his destiny, he changed his party enrollment and laid the groundwork for a Presidential Campaign.

Is this like déjà vu all over again?

32 comments:

Joe said...

These 2 are EXACTLY a a like.
The article left out the most detrimental likeness. (perhaps the author was afraid to say or it was yanked by an editor)

The scumbag John Lindsay and his lapdog Ginsburg screamed "Come and get it welfare" to all the garbage that flooded into the country due to the Immigration act of 1965.
It bankrupt the city and turned it into a slum by 1970

Both Bloomberg and Schwarzenegger in Ca have have accomplished the exact same thing under "Sanctuary City"
This bastard modern day Hitler lib Bloomberg has let another genie out of the bottle.

-Joe

Anonymous said...

Joe, you might at least do a little research before making these broad and inaccurate statements.

NYC (and State) went into a decline in the 1960s for three, mostly unrelated reasons:

!)De-industrialization. After the WW2 America rebuilt Europe and Japan, by the late 1950s imports from those areas coupled with a very favorable exchange rate made their products competitive with American ones. The large corporations started to relocate to areas of the country that had cheaper wages. The Port Of New York was not well suited to handle the change from Stevedores to containers and that pretty much killed it.

2) The myth of an ideal life in the suburbs which the Depression and WW2 generation went whole-hog for, devastated the this, and most city's tax bases, right at a time when the following was happening....

3)A HUGE influx of poor, uneducated blacks from the south and Puerto Ricans (and Dominicans sneaking in as P.R.'s) and flopping on our social services. Nothing to do with the Immigration Reform Act of 1965. That had an effect -decades- later after Reagan's 1986 amnesty.

If you want to reach for something to blame Liberal intentions for: Read the 1966 manifesto titled:

"The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty" -Richard A. Cloward and Frances Fox Piven

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/24-4

Bizarre as it was, even Richard Nixon endorsed some of it's concepts.

Anonymous said...

As I see it, the comparison of Lindsay and Bloombag's snow debacle goes only so-far.

The winter of the 1960s were quite snowy and the City handled them fairly routinely. The 1969 blizzard was approx, twice the size of what had been typical. I remember walking up the middle of Madison ave that Sunday w/no cars or trucks..it was great.

Poor plannign and primitive forcasting played a role...but.. don't overlook the fact the San workers had suffered a failed strike about nine months earlier. During the strike Lindsay rallied public support and their was a growing call to deploy the National Guard, fire the workers and break their union.
Fearing that, they settled for a contract similar to what they had rejected at the outset.

How these assholes could still call Lindsay "The Red Mayor" along with "liberal elitist" "Pantywaist Liberal" "nigger lover" etc after that is, well,, ponderous.

These types have always hated anyone who can read above a fourth grade level and wouldn't feel you'ld "pop a cool one" -with them..watch out.

Lindsay was not wealthy and died nearly broke from medical bills.

Anonymous said...

People in Queens never liked Lindsay because they felt he could not find Queens on a map. Every time there was an annoying experiment to inflict on blue collar Queens like busing, he found it fine.

I do give him credit for refusing to line his pockets at the people's expense though. More could profit from that example.

Anonymous said...

Has Bloomberg even said publicly where he was during the storm at this point ? He is also reminding me of that CEO of BP during the oil spill last summer.

Anonymous said...

Joe --

Who is Ginsburg?

I remember the Lindsay administration very well but never anyone named Ginsburg.

Anonymous said...

the 1965 immigration act eliminated quotas...this opened the floodgates for people from india, pakistan, southeast asia and especially korea..the city reveals the sting from this act today.

Velvethead said...

Jon Meacham(MSNBC, Newsweek Chief Editor) called Lindsay a great mayor the other day on Morning Joe.
LMAO.
It's amazing how one(of many) can be educated and so f'n clueless at the same time.

georgetheatheist said...

That's why we all read Queens Crap for the latest and most informative.

It's so-o-o educational.

Anonymous said...

Naw, different times today. Remember City Council is responsible for enabling this guy to overturn the will of the people ... now you are looking for these same people to remedy the problem.

Sure, that will happen. Not.

You?

You whine and complain when hospitals close and services decline. (Yet when a politician shows up you are deferential and respectful.)

You know that we need a cleaning of the house. (Yet if you run for office you simply a job hunting and sustain a broken system rather than have a desire to change the system and serve the people)

You know that your quality of life is going into the toilet and your taxes are not being used to benefit you and your family (Yet you say nothing when insiders, cronies and developers gets their hands in the larder.)

You know that government is paralyzed, self serving, and totally incapable to making choices. (Yet when you have a chance to vote you seek the comfortable and send dynasties into office and reelect them with huge majorities.)

You know that the media serves the elite. (Yet you think you can’t fight city hall and glumly watch Dancing with the Stars)

Every major country is a seething with the erosion of the quality of life. Riots, strikes, political passions aflame. People connect the dots and have memories. (By the spring you will have forgotten what happened and go back to sleep.)

Snake Plissskin said...

I do give him credit for refusing to line his pockets at the people's expense though. More could profit from that example.

----
Compared to the level of talent in office today, we could be lucky to have Lindsay.

The difference is now the public are lazy doormats and put up with crap unthinkable a generation ago.

Babs said...

"Every major country is a seething with the erosion of the quality of life. Riots, strikes, political passions aflame. People connect the dots and have memories."

Notice too that it is the middle classes in Europe that are doing the rioting - the times they are a-changing once again.

Babs said...

"The difference is now the public are lazy doormats and put up with crap unthinkable a generation ago."

I don't see it that way - I think for the most part people are doing the best they can and working hard. We unfortunately - as a society - have accepted - if not glorified, the most unethical behavior. Too much emphasis on money from too many - that's the bottom line.

Anonymous said...

The middle or high classes are almost always the ones doing the major rioting because the indigent are too busy scratching out a living.

Historically, every radical was either a "class traitor" to aristocracy or a middle-class person being shoved into poverty.

Anonymous said...

"Shades of Lindsay?"


Lindsay was shady! Bloomturd is darkness personified.

Deke DaSilva said...

"Shades of Lindsay?"

Yes, I can see the resemblance to Lindsay:

1.) Both are attention whores
2.) Both are horrible actor/actress
3.) Both are brain dead
4.) Both have zero talent
5.) Both got where they are primarily through luck and/or selling their souls to Satan
6.) Both waste too much space in the media - Why do we even pay attention to these idiots?

Yes, Mike Bloomberg really does resemble Lindsay Lohan!!

Joe said...

"Quote: Joe, you might at least do a little research before making ---NYC (and State) went into a decline in the 1960s for three, mostly unrelated reasons:"

BS !
That’s likely what some high school or college professor told you. Don’t piss on my leg and say it raining by telling me some PC bullshit from some professor or college educated shithead who wasn’t there!

I was THERE and had a front row seat!!
That Immigration Reform Act of 1965and civil right act opened the flood gates of hell.
Lindsay, he said "NYC will take these people" and invited them her with free services.
(The was referred to "come and get it") Lindsay figured he was going to make the city $$$ rich doing a new census to get $$ from the federal government.
Millions of uneducated Puerto Ricans (and Dominicans sneaking in as P.R.'s) immigrants direct to NYC (mostly Bushwick) on our social services. The blacks from the south then followed.
At the time we lived on DeKalb between Central and Evergreen ave (the 12 block). There was only 1 black family (this kid David’s) . It was Italian and German. Actor Vincent Schiavelli (Ghost)and his family was one of out neighbors.

That all changed overnight with Johnson’s swipe of a pen and Lindsay. One side stayed 90% Italian; the other east side the street (apartment buildings) turned 90% Puerto Rican overnight. It became a smoldering powder keg by summer 1970 with those new people. They would throw their garbage, chicken bones and beer cans out the 3rd floor window, fights, brawls and lots of broken windows every evening!
My grandfather and I had to work to support the family since my father was going to college at the time. ...as a matter of fact he (dad) when he got a good job at a bank was put on on "Big Mac" bond team to bail out NYC.

Actor Vincent Schiavelli RIP was one of the neighbors. If it hadn’t been for him getting me into entertainment industry Id likely ended up in jail long ago.

Anonymous said...

you forgot to label clowerd and piven from columbia university with the name 'COMRADE'. they might have taught barry his present philosophy ?

as for FORCED BUSING,the U.S. political democrats voted and supported this forced integration ,failed policy.

the local pols. who supported this fiasco were S.WEPRIN,L.STAVISKEY.A.HEVESI,C. SCHUMER AND M. CUOMO.

see ANDREW JACKSON H.S.(N.A.A.C.P.) vs. N.Y.C. Bd.of Educ. 1975

Anonymous said...

English translation, please?

Hell Gate Kid said...

Deke

hahahahaha

this website is so e-di-ca-shin-al!

Moby said...

Who cares? I'm getting plowed today!!!

Anonymous said...

Moby said...
Who cares? I'm getting plowed today!!!
------------------------------------------
You misunderstood. You're pulling the plow!!!

Anonymous said...

Gotta love how vallone and halloran are both on the news demanding answers to this snow storm mess. vallone and halloran? a dem and a re pube? and they seem quite cozy together. as yourself why before its too late.

how is meagan?

Anonymous said...

Vallone and Halloran don't want to take any of the blame. Van Bramer and Dromm have been print media whores.

ew-3 said...

He led the surrender to the unions that has destroyed the city...

Patrick Sweeney said...

First of all, no one under 45 is going to know of, much less care about the mayoralty of John Lindsay. Bloomberg at this time was trading at Salomon Brothers and on his way to becoming a self-made billionaire. Bloomberg is smart but insufferable, smug, and unable to get his head around the concerns of his average New York City taxpayer. Yes, Lindsay was also out-of-touch and aloof like Bloomberg, but totally incompetent, having only been a lawyer and then very junior Congressman for a few years. If there's a modern parallel to Lindsay, it is Obama.

Both were not to up to the job.

The best move for any mayor of NYC in the 1960's or 70's would have been damage control: the manufacturing jobs were leaving, the quality of life in the suburbs was improving faster than the city's, and the welfare burden for big cities was about to explode because of incentives to raise kids without dads.

Anonymous said...

"Joe" said..."BS !
That’s likely what some high school or college professor told you.'

I am 54, I was around when this was happening. My Grandmother lived in the Bedford Park section of the Grand Concourse. From her top floor apt I could see first hand the fires these people caused out of brainless destructiveness.

I went to NYC Public Schools (a few private too) by the time I got to NYU there wasn't much anyone could tell me to change my dim opinion of those people.

"That all changed overnight with Johnson’s swipe of a pen and Lindsay"

Once again "Joe" this had -nothing- to do with immigration Southern blacks and Puerto Ricans are citizens. Lindsay inherited a mess that was well under way.

As for those "nice" Italian neighborhoods. Right under the surface are bigoted, "connected" thugs. No thanks.


"If it hadn’t been for him getting me into entertainment industry Id likely ended up in jail long ago."

That's a hell of a thing to say about one's self. Product of your "nice" neighborhood i guess.

Klink Cannoli said...

…and Joe still hits the mark with a colorful story as an example of unconstrained immigration policies and its objective effects on society.

You, on the other hand, "Anonymous", simply resort to ad hominem attacks and faux reasoning. So symptomatic of your generation.

Anonymous wrote:
"…by the time I got to NYU there wasn't much anyone could tell me to change my dim opinion of those people."

NYU? Well doesn't that explain it all. It takes a rather principled mind to resist the platitudes of an institution enveloped by the predecessors of the bankrupt Kantian philosophers still pervasive even today in the form of liberals, progressives, multiculturalist, racialists, socialists, etc. ad nausia.

The badge of honor in donning a cap and gown from NYU should imbue embarrassment from a principled free thinker, not an intellectual high ground.

Anonymous said...

nyu graduates= red dye doper babies, says michael savage.

Anonymous said...

Klink Cannoli said...

…and Joe still hits the mark with a colorful story as an example of unconstrained immigration policies and its objective effects on society."

The policies aren't "unconstrained" -the practical implementation is...I don't expect your tobacco-addled brain to comprehend the difference.

"NYU? Well doesn't that explain it all. It takes a rather principled mind to resist the platitudes of an institution enveloped by the predecessors of the bankrupt"...blah-blah..

New York University is one of the finest public universities in the Country.

I won't ask/care where (if) you got a degree..but maybe Bob Jones or "Oral" Roberts?


The idea that even you could imbue this quote of mine; "by the time I got to NYU there wasn't much anyone could tell me to change my dim opinion of those people." -with Liberalism shows appalling lack of comprehension.

Enough of you.

Queens Crapper said...

NYU is not a public university.

Anonymous said...

"Queens Crapper said...

NYU is not a public university."

Fine, strike the word "public" -does that change anything? Part of it was sold to the City while I was there.

These people have sought to conflate the 1965 immigration legislation with Mayor Lindsay...and anything else they hate.

That law had zero effect on this City and what happened here in the 1960's -80's. Reagan's 1986 amnesty was another matter. That did open the gates.