The Center Shifts Right

It’s the year of the conservative in California, a year in which even ’68 New Politics types such as Democratic senatorial candidate John V. Tunney try to sound as much as possible like Ronald Reagan. And it’s also the year of the dramatic demise of the country’s best-known local politician, a man who in many ways epitomizes the dilemma of liberal Democrats everywhere.

“I know how he was killed. Mr. Unruh killed him by dieting away close to one hundred pounds, by renouncing whisky and cigars, by adopting neat suits’ sincere ties and a pleasant grin. And, above all, by speaking in public in political cliches.”

JR

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John R. Coyne Jr.

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It’s the year of the conservative in California, a year in which even ’68 New Politics types such as Democratic senatorial candidate John V. Tunney try to sound as much as possible like Ronald Reagan. And it’s also the year of the dramatic demise of the country’s best-known local politician, a man who in many ways epitomizes the dilemma of liberal Democrats everywhere.

“I know how he was killed. Mr. Unruh killed him by dieting away close to one hundred pounds, by renouncing whisky and cigars, by adopting neat suits’ sincere ties and a pleasant grin. And, above all, by speaking in public in political cliches.”