Watching the “debate” on Fox News Business, I think Ted Cruz thought it was a very safe stance to be against “New York values,” with that familiar, patronizing eye roll. I think he thought there was nothing safer than taking a dump on New York in front of a red state audience. [And you half wanted Trump to say “what would a Canadian know about it?” and put Cruz’ fake Texas accent in its place.] Only, here’s the problem…
–As Trump pointed out, William F. Buckley, one of the most famous conservative thinkers of the last 50 years, is from NY.
–So is fellow (withdrawn) candidate George Pataki, previous presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, and Chris Christie isn’t too far away being from New Jersey. Not to mention fellow candidate Mike Huckabee had a Fox News show that filmed in NYC.
–Wall Street is also based in NYC, which Ted Cruz obviously knows since he’s so fond of taking money from Goldman Sachs and not reporting it on FCC filings.
–Half of Faux News is from NY like Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Ann Coulter, as well as both debate moderators. Plus, the Faux News and Fox News Business headquarters are in NYC.
That means Ted Cruz said NYC had no conservatives on a network based in NYC, with both moderators from New York (Maria Bartiromo is from Brooklyn, and Neil Cavuto was born in Westbury, NY), on a stage with several candidates from NY/NJ.
And the truth is that the GOP should actually be pointing to New York as their lone success story among big cities. Before Bill De Blaso (who is great) was elected mayor, NYC had twenty years of Republican mayors between Rudy and Michael Bloomberg. That makes it the only big city in America to have had that, as well as George Pataki being governor during 9/11. They should be pointing to this as examples of how well NYC Republicans (where the entire term “Rockefeller Republican” comes from) handle a crisis, because Lord knows Rudy and Governor Pataki were better than President Bush during 9/11. They could also point to Christie’s relatively adept handling of Hurricane Sandy hitting NJ or how well NYC’s economy is doing and has been doing since Giuliani first took office.
If they weren’t so desperate to be the party of Evangelical values and rural racism, they could point to the largest city in America—by far—as a success story of what happens when they take over an urban area. But no, that opportunity has been squandered so they can snuggle up to rural, Midwestern evangelicals, many of whom think a trip across state lines is international travel.
It’s a real shame, and I wouldn’t mind seeing Trump make this case. Not because I actually think NYC is a conservative city (or should be), but because it might help better make the case for why Republicans should make a return to moderate and abandon Tea Party ultra-conservatism.
End Note: For more on this story, check out the 3rd podcast in “A Year Long Conversation” where we discuss Cruz’s Phony Values Vs. Rubio’s Phony Optimism…