Nothing has demonstrated the hypocrisy of America’s ruling class — especially those who claim to value equality above all else — better than their unwillingness to abide by the same restrictions they foist upon the rest of us in the name of fighting COVID-19. And the examples continue to pile up.
Before Thanksgiving, Michael Hancock (shown), the mayor of Denver, Colorado, begged his citizens to stay home and celebrate the holiday only with their immediate families.
I am “asking, I’m urging, I’m pleading” with people to “stay home,” Hancock, a Democrat, said at a November 20 press conference. He also told his staff not to travel for the holiday if possible.
Last Wednesday morning, on Twitter, Hancock again told people to “stay home,” “avoid travel,” and “host virtual gatherings instead of in-person dinner.”
Minutes later, he boarded a flight to Houston, Texas, and then went on to Mississippi, where he spent Thanksgiving with his wife and daughter, the latter of whom recently got a job in the Magnolia State.
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Caught disobeying his own recommendations, Hancock issued a statement saying, “I recognize that my decision has disappointed many who believe it would have been better to spend Thanksgiving alone. As a public official, whose conduct is rightly scrutinized for the message it sends to others, I apologize to the residents of Denver who see my decision as conflicting with the guidance to stay at home for all but essential travel. I made my decision as a husband and father, and for those who are angry and disappointed, I humbly ask you to forgive decisions that are borne of my heart and not my head.”
The mayor of San Jose, California, also chose to spend Thanksgiving with his family in defiance of his own advice and that of his county’s health department.
On November 20, Democratic Mayor Sam Liccardo tweeted, “Cases are spiking, in part because we’re letting our guard (and masks) down with family & friends. Let’s cancel the big gatherings this year and focus on keeping each other safe.”
Likewise, during a November 14 virtual town hall, Santa Clara County health officer Sara Cody told citizens, “Keep your holiday gatherings to your immediate household members only.”
NBC Bay Area asked the mayor’s office about hizzoner’s Thanksgiving plans and was told he would be “staying home” with his immediate family. However, the day after Thanksgiving, by which point the jig was obviously up, the office claimed that a spokesperson “misspoke.”
In fact, reported the station, “Liccardo celebrated with his elderly parents at their Saratoga home with an unknown number of other guests. While the mayor’s staff did confirm the dinner took place, they have not disclosed how many other people attended, how many different households were present, and whether any of those in attendance wore masks while not eating.”
“This is a private event — not public,” said Jim Reed, Liccardo’s chief of staff. “We are going to redraw the line between what is personal and what is public because that line has become blurred.”
Farther south, Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl voted November 24 to restrict outdoor dining in the county to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Kuehl — a Democrat who, outside of politics, is best known for playing brainy teenager Zelda Gilroy on the 1959-1963 sitcom The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis — declared outdoor dining “a most dangerous situation.”
“This is a serious health emergency, and we must take it seriously,” she said.
Hours after voting to ban outdoor dining beginning the following day, Kuehl was caught dining outdoors at Il Forno Tattoria, an Italian restaurant in Santa Monica.
Questioned by KTTV about this, Kuehl’s spokesperson issued a non-apologetic statement admitting that the supervisor had eaten out “on the very last day it was permissible” because “she loves Il Forno, has been saddened to see it, like so many restaurants, suffer from a decline in revenue.”
Rescinding policies that are killing small businesses — such as bans on outdoor dining — is, apparently, not an option. Nor is allowing people to celebrate holidays as humans have done for millennia, in the company of family and friends. But saying one thing and doing another is perfectly fine — if, that is, one is a powerful, “progressive” politician.
