New Years Eve and I am consumed with a special tri-millenial primo-centenial triskaidekaphobia — if the Brooklyn Conservative Party’s cyberscribe Ross Brady thinks that 2012 might have been “Anno Horribles” — what will we be calling the plagues and calamities that await us in 2013

No love and lollipops for an old friend, Ross Brady, who seems to be drinking too much Kassar Kool-Aid before he posts on brooklyn conservative party.com. That kind of Conservative Party commentary is just so played-out, it just doesn't mean anything anymore --- making me wonder if it ever did 

One of the most cynical and sadly symbolic things that happened in Brooklyn politics 2012 is that someone who actually considers himself a spokesperson for anything “conservative” could have written this: “On a political note, the Brooklyn Conservative[s] by-and- large had a successful election year in maintaining 2 State Senate seats and Assembly seats and fielding worthwhile candidates. Our candidates, including civil court candidates pulled many more votes, capturing votes from across Party lines, thus evidencing Conservative Party principles and the Party itself matter to those within and without our Party....”  [ I swear that I trust he can’t possibly believe any of what he wrote; the Ross Brady I knew is far too sharp for that.]  In case Ross forgot there was a statewide race for the U.S. Senate involving Wendy Long as the Republican-Conservative candidate.  Ross should remember that her candidacy was almost completely a Conservative Party project. When all was said and done, the best thing that Wendy Long  did in 2012 was to not show up for the Brooklyn Conservative Party Annual Dinner. which had intended to honor her as its principal speaker.

There is nothing in Mr. Brady’s piece, “Anno Horribles? Will 2013 Be Better? Share Your thoughts with Brooklyn Conservatives,”[  http://brooklynconservativeparty.com/?p=688  ] that remotely rises, more accurately “sinks,” to the level of bathos necessary to characterize the year past as an "Anno Horribles" (actually it should be “Annus Horribilis”)  anywhere near the scale suggested in the 24 November 1992 speech given by Queen Elizabeth II at Guildhall to mark the 40th anniversary of her Accession.

Frankly, the Ross Brady take on 2012 was equal parts “Jerry Kassar patronage-based small ball politics –  'we got what we needed in the state senate, so it all was successful' ” mixed with equal parts of mawkish concern for victims of storms and madmen, and routine shibboleths about Democrats from President Obama on down. Or to put it another way, Brady looks like he copied something out of Jerry Kassar's "Common Sense" column in the Home Reporter-Spectator News papers.

No, what Mr. Brady should have called 2012 is  “Annus Horribilis Comicus” just like Jed Babbin did to characterize his month by month analysis in the 12/31/12 American Spectator of the same title.
[ http://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/31/annus-horribilis-comicus/3 ]   As a sub-head bonus, Babbin puts his prospect of 2013 right out front as follows: “If you think 2013 will be any better, John Boehner has a Plan C to sell you.”

Even the platitudinous parts of the Brady post were second rate and I won’t waste any time or space on them. Better he should have lifted a bunch of lines from the Queen of England’s 1992 speech:
“I sometimes wonder how future generations will judge the events of this tumultuous year. I dare say that history will take a slightly more moderate view than that of some contemporary commentators. Distance is well-known to lend enchantment, even to the less attractive views. After all, it has the inestimable advantage of hindsight. ***  But it can also lend an extra dimension to judgement, giving it a leavening of moderation and compassion - even of wisdom - that is sometimes lacking in the reactions of those whose task it is in life to offer instant opinions on all things great and small. ***  No section of the community has all the virtues, neither does any have all the vices. I am quite sure that most people try to do their jobs as best they can, even if the result is not always entirely successful. He who has never failed to reach perfection has a right to be the harshest critic. ***  There can be no doubt, of course, that criticism is good for people and institutions that are part of public life. No institution...should expect to be free from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support, not to mention those who don't. ***  But we are all part of the same fabric of our national society and that scrutiny, by one part of another, can be just as effective if it is made with a touch of gentleness, good humour and understanding. ***  This sort of questioning can also act, and it should do so, as an effective engine for change....”

Ross, I still love you like the brother I never had. Please don’t think of any of this as my liking you less as a flak for all things Long and Kassar; it’s just that back in 1994 as a Republican working very hard under adverse circumstances, all the while being slammed by the Gaffneys of the Brooklyn Conservative world for your efforts, I really liked you a lot more.