Drinking? in San Francisco?? No!!
Let’s make it three eruptions in three weeks for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. First, the admission that his chief of staff had been signing defensive blog comments under the names of others. Next, the resignation of his campaign manager and Newsom’s admission that he’d had an affair with the man’s wife. (Sorry — his friend’s wife. Because it’s all about the Man Code, right.) And now, act III: Newsom confesses he has (or had) a drinking problem and will seek counseling.
Let’s see. He’s a young man whose lawyer-cum-TV star wife left him in a very public way, who’s been in increasingly strenuous battles with the Board of Supervisors* over city programs, who’s even been (unfairly) blamed for the Democratic presidential loss in 2004**. Christ, who wouldn’t get drunk under that pressure?
Actually, the sex affair problem is very similar to the drinking issue. On the one hand, you have a very good-looking single guy who likes going out on the town; who’s smart, sensitive, and articulate. What attractive woman isn’t going to be interested in him? On the other hand, he owns a chain of wine shops, so the booze is free! Why, that cabernet sauvingon is practically throwing itself at him.
Truth be told, the only people who are really squawking about this are those who hope to weaken Newsom politically. For them it’s a win-win: He’s out of their lives if he quits — though he won’t quit, and they know it, but they can bark about it and sound important. If he doesn’t quit, they can keep raising the issue of his competence for the rest of his term. And hey, guys, the election’s in nine months. So relax. Let the people decide.
* For those outside San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors is equivalent to a city council, except that San Francisco is a county unto itself, so it skips the whole city council thing and goes straight to having the governing board of a county.
** Newsom’s stunning endorsement of same-sex marriage sparked a noisy debate across the nation that forced presidential contenders to come down on one side of the issue or the other, and John Kerry ended up looking a bit lame (while VP Dick Cheney, who has a lesbian daughter in a LTR, managed to gruff away the question every time it came up). This translated into some people blaming Newsom for raising the issue at all — when, in fact, it wasn’t Newsom who raised the issue, but the 10% of the population of the United States who presently lack the same rights as everyone else.
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You forgot the cover- up of the beating of those Yale dorks by some SF mafia kids.
I did not include the Glee Clubbing because Gavin was not beating them personally.
No, seriously, I don’t think that incident affected Newsom politically at all. It was more a police department scandal — and as we all know, the police department’s issues outlast any administration.
I’ve been trying to stay out of this…
In fact ever since he won in 2002, I’ve been trying to stay out of commenting on it…
Give the guy his space…his policies, incoming staff & “principles” will rise to the occasion right?
…gotta be better than Willie right?
well…appears things ain’t looking so good for the Marina’s chosen son…
ain’t worried about the drinking, f*cking, drugging
a lot of folks around here proudly engage…
whatever…
but if you do it…likely that
no multi-million dollar deals or careers or olympic bids, or painstakingly built national political synergies fall apart…
and just because you done some partying and f-ing
that ain’t what we’re really talking about…
it’s more about trust & “truthiness” & abuse of power…
this is about using yer position in life & believing your own bullshit & trying to get people to enjoy the smell of your own farts.
Gavin’s folks & fans think good PR spin is the panacea for all issues…
and if that’s not working…
well, you play games with the truth & public & personal trust, and use coercion, intimidation & petty power plays
it’s way too high school popularity contest for a major city gov’t & really sadly unsophisticated behavior…
I don’t think he’s trying to get “clean”
as much as he is trying to save face…
I talked with a friend about him easily going into “personality rehab” last week
ala Mel Gibson hanging out with some famous Jews
or Micheal Richards hanging with Jesse Jackson
now Gavin calls upon the political ally who runs the local Democrat Party’s fave rehab Delancey St to make a statement to the press & give the impression he’s down with their program…
even though he isn’t actually really going through their program…
Go ahead, you try walking into Delancey St and try to lay your own terms on the table… they’d simply laugh & toss you out…
because if he was really sincere about rehab or dealing with any of “this”, that woulda been done privately behind closed doors, many moons ago…
not now… in this one week when the hot white heat of the spotlight was finally too intense to preserve the wax figure image…
But he does what’s convienent & that’s only convienent now after gauging the political fallout his “advisers/admirers ” are trying to shelter him from.
So they tell him these “counseling” sessions will be necessary to ride out the tide’s that are turning on him.
we know that it’s a mere makeover…
there’s no treatment going on… other than his usual petty treatment of those who criticize him…
hence his latest blowout
obviously his spoiled highness has not changed one bit…
it’s like someone needs to say to him
“look debonair hair dude
you made yourself the star of the circus…
so quit wondering why you are driving a clown car!
and don’t forget that without that circus…you’d be juggling on a sidewalk..(or at least, in his case, in some cooosh Napa office somewhere, getting bj’s from some anonymous underling with a glass of cabernet in hand…)
but don’t forget , you are the asshole that wanted to be the star of the circus!!
or at least the Getty’s did…
so when they come and stuff you in cannon and shoot you into the lions den…
start fucking juggling big boy
and smile for the fucking photos you tard!!!!”
But we see that he’s surrounded himself with yes men & women whose careers now depend on his image…
not his substance…but his slick appeal…
Nice commentary!
If I may do a shameless plug of a t-shir we created for this “event”:
http://www.libertyhilldesigns.com/
Thanks!
Rich
Oh my god, Mark Pritchard, I think I love you.
He should resign now! I called his office and told him so,and also the Board of Supervisors.He is incapable of leading this City to greatness,or just getting it back on track as long as he denies his problem and gives us sound bites.He is fooling himself and making us[his surfs in the kingdom] suffer the spoils of war and famine,while he feasts and drinks and fornicates in the palace.We need a knight in shining armour to rescue us..and this City from him,and his inattention to his job of running the City and keeping the 49er’s here,the homeless situation,the crime,the tourist trade,the cruise ship terminal that we are lacking and the business we are losing to other ports here on the West Coast.His job is not about socializing and being a dazzling star on the firmament…it is about the hard work in the nitty gritty of running an up and coming City on the constant move..ever changing,ever daunting.Mr. Newsom obviously cannot do the job required.