The Tygrrrr Express detoured from Los Angeles into an area that no republican should be without bodyguards…Northern California. If the 7th night of Hanukkah in LA is anywhere near as fantastic as the 6th night in San Francisco, it will be an amazing festival of lights indeed.
The Bay is where the good, the bad, and the ugly take place. The good took place in Guantanamo Bay, where some terrorists are still being kept away from decent society. The bad came in Green Bay, where the Packers throttled my Raiders. The truly ugly takes place in a city not too far from my personal Mecca of Oakland, that being the San Francisco Bay.
Yet even the worst of situations can sometimes temporarily yield to sheer beauty. This past weekend in San Francisco, while not changing history, could be a starting point if the city ever somehow becomes normal.
I arrived at Haight Street (Yes, that Haight Street made famous by all things toxic), barely arriving on time due to traffic congestion caused by fairweather 49er fans leaving early after another McGovern-Mondale-Dukakis type loss.
A private reception held by two Jewish men, one a venture capitalist, was the place to be. Yes, there was wine, and there was also cheese, but this was no typical affair. The two owners of the house happened to be gay, and I use the words “happened to be” to emphasize that anywhere outside of San Francisco, while this would not be “typical,” it should still be peripheral. One of them was also French.
What truly made these men unique was not their sexual orientation, but their ideology. Living on Haight Street, these men were…gasp…of all things…republicans. In “The Belly of the Beast,” San Francisco, a large party was taking place. While officially non-partisan, it was heavily republican. So yes, gay, Jewish men living in San Francisco felt comfortable among a tolerant crowd, that being republicans.
The invited speakers were intellectual heavyweights. Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Mona Charen, and John Podhoretz were all there to mingle with the crowd in the first part of a two part evening. While it was enjoyable to meet them all, the real meat of the evening was after the reception, when Temple Emanuel in San Francisco hosted an absolutely brilliant dialogue sponsored by the Jewish Policy Center.
www.jewishpolicycenter.org is a place for rationale, serious thought. Jonathan Schanzer organized the event for the JPC, and a home run out of the ballpark would be an understatement.
Tomorrow I will publish the transcript of the event. Today I just want to focus on the speakers themselves.
John Podhoretz was a columnist for many years at the NY Post. His book, “Bush Country–How Dubya became a great President while driving liberals insane,” is an easy and enjoyable read. It cuts through the myths surrounding “The Dub.” Another book of his is “Can she be stopped?”. Yes, Hillary can be derailed, but anyone who underestimates her is foolish. Mr. Podhoretz gives a detailed blueprint on what it will take to defeat her. Also, Mr. Podhoretz is the son of the revered Norman Podhoretz, the father of the Neocon movement. Norman Podhoretz wrote, “The case for bombing Iran.” Norman Podhoretz is currently an advisor to the Giuliani campaign, and John Podhoretz has written admirably about the former Mayor of New York City. John Podhoretz has recently taken over the reigns of Commentary Magazine from his father. Commentary Magazine should be mandatory reading.
Dennis Prager is a well known radio host who often speaks about religious ethics. While he has tough convictions, he is not shy about acknowledging when he is wrong. He also has a delightful sense of humor.
http://stores.dennisprager.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc
He has a deep knowledge of politics, but at heart he is a theological genius. He has an ability to look inward, unafraid to tackle crises targeting his (and my) own Jewish community.
Michael Medved is a renowned film critic, and an Orthodox Jew. He has a deep knowledge of biblical texts, and is often a sought after speaker on cultural issues. His book “Right Turns,” is a deeply moving story of how he went from being a 1960s campaign manager for ultra-liberal black Congressman Ron Dellums to a conservative republican. With equal meaning he also discusses his transition from a secular upbringing into a devoutly religious life that he now leads. His radio show is also heard daily, and he speaks from the heart, which in his case is gigantic. He did live for several years in San Francisco, which he still claims was “the best two weeks of his life.”
Mona Charen is a nationally syndicated columnist, and her book, “Useful Idiots,” is what I am currently diving into full throttle. While she takes a clear conservative stance on issues, she is not afraid to criticize other conservatives when they stray from principles. She is proud of her Jewish heritage, and will not allow anti-semitism to be whitewashed just because it comes from somebody that may support tax cuts. Her work is often found at the Jewish World Review, and it is worth reading.
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/charen.html
All of the speakers are on Townhall as well. www.townhall.com
The panel of Mr. Podhoretz, Mr. Prager and Ms. Charen was moderated by Mr. Medved, and while the dialogue was voluminous, there were no wasted words.
I also want to say one other thing about Ms. Charen. She is one of the nicest people I have ever encountered. I drove her and a mutual friend back to their respective hotels after the evening had concluded. She is a patient person, finding humor in the fact that only yours truly could get lost using a GPS tracker. After 16 consecutive right turns, I realized that we were only 196 laps away from completing the Indy 500. While “Right Turns” is Mr. Medved’s wonderful book, and while all the speakers were conservatives, Ms. Charen would have been trapped in San Francisco had we not at some point allowed ourselves just this once to turn left.
Only after we saw a street known as “Bush Street,” did I realize things would be fine. First of all, David Frum wrote “The Right Man,” about the President, and even in San Francisco, to get anywhere successfully, one had to pass through Bush Street.
Ms. Charen found some of the above remarks funny, which only proves how overwhelmingly gracious she is. As for the conversation in the car, it shall remain confidential out of respect for her privacy. Nevertheless, to say she was delightful to get to know was also an understatement. I also feared that if she was not dropped off at her hotel safely, her next column would be about a planted blogger from the Daily Kos or Moveon.org trying to derail conservatives by any means necessary. I am a genuine conservative, and she was dropped off safely. I wanted her to have a safe and easy flight back because her flight to San Francisco had her near a passenger downing five vodkas. Contrary to rumors, as a friend of mine at the event pointed out, it was not Senator Ted Kennedy causing the problem.
As for the event itself, the synagogue was packed to capacity. There were between 600 and 1000 people, and it was a very right of center crowd. Yes, in the heart of San Francisco, conservatism is thriving. Republicans here often keep quiet for fear of being “outed” and then treated with hostility (The host of the pre-event gathering has faced less hostility from the right for being gay than from the left for being a republican…another example of liberal tolerance).
There were no protesters. Despite rumored threats from the Code Pinkos and the “Paulestinians,” aka supporters of Presidential Gadfly Congressman Rupaul, the evening was civilized. I have often said that republican discussions are adult discussions in a serious manner. This enrages many on the left, but when liberal protesters stay away, intelligent discussion can thrive. Ron Paul, Medea Benjamin and Cindy Sheehan had their supporters making a decent amount of noise in the days leading up to the event, but in a city known for virtually nothing besides protests, there were zero protesters to mar this excellent evening.
So as much as I would like to take credit for entering the Belly of the Beast and descending upon Haight-Ashbury, I was not alone. I would like to thank Mr. Prager, Ms. Charen, Mr. Medved, Mr. Podhoretz, and especially Jonathan Schanzer of the Jewish Policy Center for putting together a fabulous evening.
I am also thrilled at the nearly 1000 republicans, most of whom were local, who refuse to back down. The city may wish to destroy itself, but it will not be because of these fine people, and it will not be on their watch. The republican party is alive and well, and conservative principles are being carried everywhere…even to Haight Street in San Francisco.
eric
Sheesh. man, someone really doesn’t like San Francisco.
Let’s take a look at some of San Fran’s stats…
Safety: #8 safest in America — http://www.morganquitno.com/cit04pop.htm — note the lop-sided difference between saftey in “liberal” cities vs more “conservative” cities.
Quality of life: Second best American city — http://www.citymayors.com/features/quality_survey.html — San Fran ranks second only to Honululu among all American cities compared globally.
Here’s some more interesting info… http://sanfranciscoeducation.com/
Ranks in top 25% nationally for number of colleges & universities in area
Fourth largest city in California
Public high school dropout rate is declining
Even ratio of males to females (50:50)
Area has student-teacher ratio of 17:1
Population 25 or older who’ve achieved a high school education or higher is 81.2%
36.5 years is the average age of the city’s citizens
Great number of artistic, cultural, and recreational events around the area
Population is 36.87% foreign born, making it very ethnically and racially diverse
Home to nearly 30% of the worldwide biotechnology labor force
When conservative bash San Fran they make themselves look pretty foolish. Not only are they not destroying themselves, but they are leading the way in how to optimally run an American city. Meanwhile, the more conservatively run the city, the lousier a place to live that it is. More proof of the liberal bias of reality.
JMJ
Sorry about having to contribute to the bad, though that’s more of a matter of perspective. We have a first-round bye to get.
I like Frisco ! I f you want a good sandwich !
Its full of moonbats Jersey !
Of course we bash it ! jeez.
But lets put it in perspective here.
DOWNTOWN FRISCO is freeking scary and dangerous !
The surrounding areas such as Mill Valley, Sausalito and Corte Madera are sweet !
Even as close as the pier.
Cross the bgidge to Oakland ? No way !
The whole country speaks alot louder than one three ring circus.
Safest city ? Are you kidding? In 2007, 98 murders and climbing http://sfcrime.blogspot.com/2007/09/two-more-murders.html -not just in the “bad” areas because it is all a bad area; when my kids go up there, I make them carry pepper spray. I will say that the Prager,Charen,Medved,Podhoretz event was a breath of fresh air as was the delightful company at the reception!
I know Eric is cool about Frisco. You were right to remind me. I should’ve written a better comment. But at least it had some good info.
And yeah, from what I hear now and have heard before, Oakland is a tough town. I’ve hung out in some pretty tough towns, but I hear Oakland is tough. Gotta love them Raiders, though! From what I imagine, Oakland is like the Newark of Caifornia. The ports, the tough neighborhoods, the ethnic mixes. Unfortunately, like Newark, it can be a bit of a no-mans-land, right? I know Newark can be that way.
Good point too, Micky. It’s not-so-funny how those successful “liberal” cities tend to be adjacent to very, very poor, tough sattelite cities. It makes you wonder about the geography of those demos. It does seem like the wealthy “liberals” (and wealthy conservatives too) sure know how to take advantage of the service workersI Perfect little Utopian cities surrounded by poor neighborhoods, or barrios, or ghettos, or whatever – it’s all tyhe same everywhere. I Southern California, Hat’s off to people like our host here. They wouldn’t exist today had they not survived the ghettos — in the classic European sense, of course. Tough people.
I remember when NYC cleaned up, and with it went Jersey City, Newark and Elizabeth (to some extent), etc… but not Paterson. I recall Paterson remaining roughly the same, if not worse. I heard about the same sorts of thing happening all over the NYC area. The knock on Giuliani, back then, was that he was just pushing crime that still operated from NYC into the Burroughs, Jersey, Upstate, and CT – and even PA for some time now. It’s a fair argument.
JMJ
I like San Fransisco. I used to go every summer untill I was 17.
My uncle was an attorney for the feds. Had a house up in Mill Valley (Melaleuca St. )
Big beautiful redwood and smoked glass house. Green with fog and deer every morning.
I would catch the ferry from Sausalito to town everyday and just cruise around and take in all the sights and eat like a pig. We have alot of culture in Hawaii, but its not the same. Right now I can just imagine going to the wharf for some fresh sourdough and some baked Clams Casino, Oysters Rockefeller, Damn !
My first love , a French Vietnamese girl had moved from Hawaii to Corte Madera when I was 12. I made it out there every summer to be with her. We would have little pinics at the Presidio, hike to Stinson beach.
Its definatley a cool place…
TO VISIT !
As politically aware as I am now I would have to bring a barf bag with me everwhere I went !
I have just been in SanFran two months ago to visit my relatives. And so far I didn’t have any bad experiences when we went to bar to hang out. Actually, I won lot of friends in there who are medical billers like me as well.
As far as my visit is concerned, I have observed that Frisco is a cool place.