1/31/2007

omfg!

Gavin, say it ain't so! Link.

Added:
When I wrote a column earlier this week suggesting that many San Franciscans were ready to let the mayor move on, my e-mail box filled up with men who disagreed. So did The Chronicle's voice-mail system. Most of the men who called to react to this week's scandal were upset with the mayor, while most of the women weren't.


Emphasis added.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

wow.

I'm not in the San Fran Orbit but... wow... having an affair with your buddy's wife doesn't play too well with my Texas background. Maybe I'm a rube.

And having an affair with your EMPLOYEE'S wiffe is is really not cool.

anile said...

Why is it that men in power allow the "little man" to ruin their carreers?!?!?
Having said that, I don't think his personal screw-ups neccessarily have anything to do with his ability to do a good job. If that were the case, a lot of people would be out of a job....
And who on earth, what "unnamed source" went to the press with this story? Whatever...

chuck b. said...

It's terrible. My first reaction was something along the lines of "How dishonorable."

Newsom is relatively young for a big city mayor. Today he seems a bit younger. There's a bit of a question mark over his judgment and character now. (Maybe some people already saw a question mark there.)

If this is how he treats the people close to him, how will he treat the people he serves? What is right and wrong to him?

And there's this: "The mayor's personal life has come under scrutiny in recent weeks. In December, several witnesses at a late Friday night vigil for a mortally wounded police officer at San Francisco General Hospital reported that Newsom appeared to have been drinking when he arrived. A spokesman for the mayor declined to comment on those reports."

As mayor, Newsom's track record's about as good as anyone's could be. His personal life has entertained us as well because he's so good-looking, wealthy and ostensibly glamorous.

But if all the above is a sign of things to come, those perceptions will change. Noone wants an out-of-control drunk in City Hall even a good-looking one.

I think the affair could actually be worse for people like Nancy Pelosi if conservatives want to make hay with the "San Francisco values" ploy.

I predict most San Franciscans, after some requisite gawking and twittering, will eventually shrug this off--IF this is all there is.

And even if that is all there is, the shrugging off will obviously reinforce a perception of warped San Francisco values.

chuck b. said...

Heya Anile, your comment went up while I was composing mine.

How did the rest of class go last night?

I'm going to start a second blog. "Science for Gardeners".

chuck b. said...

(Of course it goes w/out saying that conservatives aren't looking so good in the values department these days anyway, so 'going there' would not be a good idea for them.)

anile said...

Hey- that's a great idea... science for gardeners. it's tough, for sure, and it always helps to have someone explaining it! you could teach us chemistry!

Well, of course you would have been bored to tears last night ;) but for the rest of us non-scientists, it was a difficult review. I actually thought Malcolm did a good job of presenting the stuff we need to know, which seems overwhelming, without going too far... I'm tellin' ya, since my foray into Santa Rosa, I have a new appreciation for the
guy.
So yeah, we went over pH, which is so confusing since it's an inverse
representation. I think a few of us are getting together to study at
some point.
Next week we'll get more into why pH is so important to nutrient
uptake for plants, so you might be bored in that class as well, but I
think we'll be moving forward from the remedial review into soil
specific stuff.

We have some homework but I don't have the book with me... I'll email
you later with the details...
A

anile said...

oh and you are right- this newsome thing will give the neo cons some real fuel. that's what i never understand... the same with clinton... these men are not stupid, they have to know that the conservatives are just WAITING for somethign like this to feast upon... and they just hand it over to them on a platter. what is it with these men- I think they have a psychological need to self-destruct.
Disturbing to me was when Newsome was dating that 20-year-old and was photographed with her holding glasses of wine...

anile said...

So Chuck...
did you think everything Malcolm said was false? I think what he said were indeed gross oversimplifications, but neccessary to get in what we need to know in 4 hours... but I'm just going by my memory... what's your take?

chuck b. said...

By no means was everything Malcolm said false. I only heard him say a few things that wrong, but they weren't especially important.

Let me know if you want me to go over something with you!

Randy said...

Newsom is relatively young for a big city mayor. Today he seems a bit younger. There's a bit of a question mark over his judgment and character now.

Yep, he does seem more immature now. What a shame. He'll survive politically, I'm sure, but what a stupid and, as you say, dishonorable, thing to do.

Personally, the question mark is bigger than a "bit," but I'm not living in San Francisco, so I don't count. I had hoped he might be gubernatorial material though, and so he may still be. We shall see.

chuck b. said...

You're right about "a bit", IR. In my defense I wrote that before I knew very much and so was trying to exercise some restraint. At this point, I have no idea where this is going.