I know, I know, we’re not supposed to question any leftist’s patriotism. So how then should we make sense of this?

The USS Iowa joined in battles from World War II to Korea to the Persian Gulf. It carried President Franklin Roosevelt home from the Teheran conference of allied leaders, and four decades later, suffered one of the nation’s most deadly military accidents.

Veterans groups and history buffs had hoped that tourists in San Francisco could walk the same teak decks where sailors dodged Japanese machine-gun fire and fired 16-inch guns that helped win battles across the South Pacific.

Instead, it appears that the retired battleship is headed about 80 miles inland, to Stockton, a gritty agricultural port town on the San Joaquin River and home of California’s annual asparagus festival.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a former San Francisco mayor, helped secure $3 million to tow the Iowa from Rhode Island to the Bay Area in 2001 in hopes of making touristy Fisherman’s Wharf its new home.

But city supervisors voted 8-3 last month to oppose taking in the ship, citing local opposition to the Iraq war and the military’s stance on gays, among other things.

“If I was going to commit any kind of money in recognition of war, then it should be toward peace, given what our war is in Iraq right now,” Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said.

Feinstein called it a “very petty decision.”

I am about to type a sentence that I never thought I’d type: Diane Feinstein is absolutely right. And this decision by the SF board is, well, petty, venal and small.

(thanks to BW)

UPDATE: Send relevant emails to:

board.of.supervisors@sfgov.org

UPDATE: Generation Why? has all of the board members’ email addresses, and emails me to say he has emailed them and will post their responses. That should be fun.

UPDATE: If the SF board is anti-military enough to punt the Iowa–and they obviously are–why don’t they really take a stand and cancel Fleet Week? Reader Tammy writes in with the one-word answer: revenue. Fleet Week attracts tourists from all over for what probably equals the take from a largish corporate convention. It’s also a great marquee event for the city to peg its calendar. An exhibit featuring the Iowa would have a short-term spike of revenue-generating interest followed by a long, steady lifetime but wouldn’t haul in the bling of Fleet Week.

I guess the lesson here is that even when the left and its sacred principles are concerned, it’s wise to just follow the money.