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Let Doyle be Doyle |
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”Too often Republicans are afraid of theirs.”
Kate O’Beirne, The National Review, 1998. Question: “Why do many Republicans oppose abortion?” Answer: “They spend so much time in the fetal position.”
Each February, the ground hog looks to see his own shadow. Too often Republicans are afraid of theirs.
One hundred and thirty years ago, British statesman Benjamin Disraeli said: “The Tory Party is The Stupid Party.” Liberal Democrats hail “soft” (on crime), “caring” (spending), social engineering, and ‘60s mores. Why would the GOP invert Barry Goldwater’s “a choice, not an echo”? A friend shrugs: “They’re Republicans.” The Stupid Party, indeed.
One reason is registration: New York Democrats rout Republicans, 5-3. A correlate is demographics: minorities have grown; the GOP coalition of farmers, small businessmen, blue collars, Catholics, and Protestants ebbs. “Yet it’s still a majority,” says pollster John Zogby, yearning for politicos who grasp the Silent Majority’s joys, worries, and confessions of the heart. Few GOPers do. Therefore, the base despairs.
In Canandaigua, a principal bans Merry Christmas in primary school. The GOP turns mute. A leftist press spurs the cowardice. (Exception: Doyle. His and the Gannett Company’s animus makes the cobra and mongoose seem kissin’ cousins.)
Too, big businessmen, nominally Republican, evoking Gertrude Stein’s “There’s no there there.” Corporate ikons hail diversity, hate to offend, and ask the GOP to spurn values issues. The Stupid Party complies.
Doyle’s first two terms (safe streets, low property taxes, strong economy) scorned such timidity. Middle America - the Hilton farmer, a Webster engineer - adored him. Brighton despised him. Doyle recalled FDR re Wall Street: “They hate me, and I welcome their hatred.” Grange Halls and bowling alleys, on the other hand, thought him abiding on their behalf.
”The blue collar guy didn’t mind Jack’s roughness,” says the friend. “It’s forgetting his base that hurt.”
Last year Doyle wooed big business by planning a suburban soccer complex. The base screamed. GOP: Too bad.
In Chili, Doyle backed a Thruway exit along Union Road. Thousands signed No-Exit petitions. “These were Republicans,” says Democratic county chairman Ted O’Brien. “And their own party was saying, ‘Business wants the exit. Tough for you.’”
Republicans thrive by matching us (general interest, American sovereignty, middle-brow and class) v. them (hip and boutique, fealty to group, hostile to faith) - in short, “Main Street,” said a writer, “and more specifically, the people reviled in Main Street.”
Doyle won not by being kinder and gentler, but by knowing who elected him, and why.
GOPers once cried, “Let Reagan Be Reagan.” Let Doyle be Doyle. Leave “soft and caring” to the tax and spend, hate-religion, pro-quota crowd.
Jack Doyle should be too bright to ape The Stupid Party. A fetal position is no place for a public figure to live.
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