With the Times Square bombing attempt over the weekend, the right's perception of New York City has once again gone from immigrant-coddling Babylon to site of Real American martyrdom. Roy Edroso captures the mirth, with this rather dramatic example from Jules Crittenden:
And so did rightblogger Jules Crittenden: "I Heart New York," he gushed, and then, after a lot of be-terrorized-damn-ya yap, praised the Apple as "capital of the world and a front line in the Global War on Terrorism... the expression, of the hopes and dreams of so many millions of people. I love every minute I spend in that place, even when it breaks my heart..."
How sweet. Normally Crittenden regards Gotham thus: "There is also no shortage of people out there who want to jam people's heads into all kinds of engineering projects. In New York City, for example, men who present themselves as women may now use the ladies room in subway stations, regardless of the status of their plumbing, let alone their DNA." Hur hur, fags a-usin' the ladies room -- only in New York!
I'd like to believe there's a kind of "my country, right or wrong" thing going on here, and that the bloggers Edroso cites are just realizing how much they love New York given the possibility that the city was again targeted, but mostly it seems like they're just salivating at the possibility of exploiting another terrorist attack for political purposes.
Of course, that ultimately depends on the nature of the attack -- New York and federal officials have said that there's no evidence the Taliban group claiming responsibility was actually responsible, and authorities are looking for a "white man in his 40s." If the attack was carried out by Muslim extremists, the conservative response will be that this would never have happened if Obama were still torturing people. If it turns out to be a domestic right-wing extremist, well, it'll be a tragic but understandable response to government tyranny.
Yes, try to wrap your head around that one.
-- A. Serwer