(This is cross-posted on my blog, wantsomewood.blogspot.com)
One of the worst prejudices in America is hatred of cities and urban areas. It's a common attitude that dovetails all too well with other bigotries, such as racism and homophobia. The Republican party never fails to take advantage of anti-urban prejudice, casting most or all cities as totally failed and immoral, and Democrats as failures for being associated with cities. This is something I hope to discuss a lot more in the future on this blog.
For now, however, I want to highlight a courageous elected official, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), for being one of the few politicians to stare down this prejudice head-on.
Menendez is running for re-election against Tom Kean Jr., a Republican state senator and son of a prominent New Jersey politician (and proof that it's not just Democrats named "Kennedy" who found political dynasties). I absolutely love this exchange from their recent TV debate (quoted from the Prospect's midterm weblog at
http://www.prospect.org/...).
"The most dramatic exchange occurred when Mr. Kean sought to contrast his own background and record in Westfield, a wealthy suburb, with Mr. Menendez's in Hudson County.
`I invite people to come to Westfield, look at my hometown, and look at my actions. Are you willing to invite people into Hudson County, Bob, to look at this record, because we need to make sure we have real leadership in the future?'
There was a gasp from the audience.
`Are you casting an aspersion upon the people of Hudson County?' Mr. Menendez asked.
`You know better than that, Bob.'
`That's the way your question sounds,' Mr. Menendez said, adding, `They're hard-working, they're blue-collar people.'
`You're right,' Mr. Kean said, before continuing to criticize Mr. Menendez."
(Go to this web site to see a news story of the debate:
http://www.nj.com/... )
Menendez did exactly the right thing. When a Republican implied that he was less-than-honest simply because he comes from a big city (Jersey City takes up most of Hudson County), he struck back and threw the attack right back in the attacker's face. Conservatives are always ready to do this whenever anyone criticizes a conservative-voting place; liberals and Democrats need to be ready to do the same thing, and that includes defending cities.
We need more people like Bob Menendez.