"San Francisco Values"

Published Nov 09 2006, 05:56 PM by Adam Reilly

[Note to readers from Adam Reilly: this entry you all love so much was actually written by David Bernstein.]

The right-wing phrase of the week is "San Francisco values," as in the kind that Speaker-in waiting Nancy Pelosi will try to impose on America. Bill O'Reilly used the phrase repeatedly on the air; Newt Gingrich used it in a fundraising mailer; congressional candidates featured it in TV ads and mailers; and, in at least one case, a newspaper editorial used it in endorsing a Georgia Republican.

The "Massachusetts liberal" has been usurped as the caricature of dangerous ultra-leftism.

It's a longstanding battle between us and them (with Hollywood secularism and New York elitism also in the competition), but we had clearly taken the helm these past few years, what with John Kerry and those liberal activist judges and those gay marriages. (Remember SF's pathetic rush attempt to marry homosexuals before we did? Nice try -- but ours are legal.)

And it's not like we let down our guard. We re-elected Ted Kennedy with 70 percent of the vote. We elected a black liberal Democrat Governor. Barney Frank is going to be a major congressional committee chairman. Kerry even managed to make himself a national mockery, just to prove he's still got it in him.

But we won't be hearing those warning cries of "Massachusetts liberals" much anymore. It's all about the San Francisco values now.

We need a plan to get back to number one again.