Lonely man
There was something missing from the latest new year's celebration: the now traditional media coverage of the (mostly liberal) politicians, pundits, business leaders and academics who gather for heavy talk and beach volleyball at Renaissance Weekend. The annual get-together at Hilton Head, South Carolina, was launched by Phil Lader, now Washington's ambassador to London. But the gab fest reached its peak in the Clinton era, with the First Family attending every year - until last, when they stayed in Washington to host the nation's big Y2K bash. Back then, they promised to attend this year's festivities. But, with house hunting in Washington and getting ready for Hillary's first day as a senator, they somehow didn't make the trip. Nonetheless, the party went on. And Ron Unz, a conservative political activist from California, was there. "While the organisers do make an effort to invite at least some Republicans and conservatives, the general tilt of the participants is decidedly liberal and Democratic, perhaps as high as 85 or 90 per cent by my reckoning," Unz wrote yesterday in an e-mail to friends and colleagues. A vocal proponent of ending bilingual education, Unz continued his report, based on his "own conversations and the general tone of cocktail party chatter": "I had the sense that most had never even met anyone in their lives who reasonably disagreed, and perhaps could not even imagine the existence of such individuals. This is only a slight exaggeration." The arrival of the Bush administration shouldn't make Unz optimistic that the Renaissance mood will change any time soon. Asked once about the possibility of joining the South Carolina fun, George W. Bush legendarily quipped: "I'd rather be fishing." |