King Billy; or, The Way Of All Democrats

boyne

Great White Hope Bill de Blasio, like all his predecessors in recent years, has become a mere tool of the Police Department:

Mayor Bill de Blasio, facing an uproar over arrests at a Manhattan rally to protest strong-armed policing, offered a spirited defense of law enforcement on Thursday, brushing off concerns that demonstrators had been mistreated even as he insisted on his own commitment to reform.

The whole piece is well worth reading, if you have a strong stomach.

It’s a classic case of liberal evolution: the insurgent outsider, after a year or two in office, cements his relationship with the Old Oligarchs, embraces the nightstick, and scolds his former comrades.

Of course they’re human, these people — in a sense; and so they have to justify themselves to themselves. King Billy exhibits the classic approach:

“I’ve participated in plenty of protests, on plenty of issues,” the mayor said…. But, he added: “When the police give you instruction, you follow the instruction. It’s not debatable.”

…. The result was a strained, and at times testy display by a mayor trying to balance liberal sympathies with the burdens of overseeing a police force whose tactics he once criticized….

Mr. de Blasio grew visibly frustrated at the notion that the police in Union Square had been too aggressive with protesters, telling reporters, “If you guys want to sensationalize, if you think that’s your contribution to society, feel free.”

Citing the former activist resume in support of the cops — that’s a Democrat for ya.

7 thoughts on “King Billy; or, The Way Of All Democrats

  1. Not a bad career move to have a lefty past at the chronological start of one’s resume. Google is known to have hired some ex-Occupy folks, which isn’t a bad deal given how cuthroat entry into those elite halls of geekdom usually is. Norman Finkelstein once dissected the case of his former “comrade” Hitchens:

    Depending on where along the political spectrum power is situated, apostates almost always make their corrective leap in that direction, discovering the virtues of the status quo. “The last thing you can be accused of is having turned your coat,” Thomas Mann wrote a convert to National Socialism right after Hitler’s seizure of power. “You always wore it the ‘right’ way around.” If apostasy weren’t conditioned by power considerations, one would anticipate roughly equal movements in both directions. But that’s never been the case. The would-be apostate almost always pulls towards power’s magnetic field, rarely away…Professional ex-radical Todd Gitlin never fails to mention, when denouncing those to his left, that he was a former head of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). Never mind that this was four decades ago; although president of my sixth-grade class 40 years ago, I don’t keep bringing it up. Shouldn’t there be a statute of limitations on the exploitation of one’s political past?

  2. I’ve encountered de Blasio at many events in Brooklyn and elsewhere around the city over the years and he has always exuded weakness, smarminess and a sense of being far too clever by half. He won the job with a wad of clash from developers, which he was able to deploy to defeat, in no particular order, an idiot who was running for Bloomie’s 4th term long after the population had completely turned on the emperor; a personable but completely hapless empty suit whom many had voted for against
    Bloomie in 2009 and had since forgotten they’d done so; and finally, a Rudy lackey whose result included exec positions at Cablevision and the MTA — are there two more loathed orgs in NY?

    The only candidate with any lefty fortitude and a semblance of guts was under federal investigation.

    The oligarchs and their security forces smell weakness with Bill, just as surely as they smelled weakness with Obie. These guys can be easily pushed around, everyone knows it, and money and power run right over them.

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