“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so than not to be exercised at all.” — Thomas Jefferson in letter to Abigail Adams, shortly after Shays Rebellion.
Category / Politics
No More Politics Until March 1
Sure, I’m a bit disappointed. Derek, meanwhile, is ready to draw blood in a post entitled “Motherfucker.” I should remind Derek that in the 1999 runoff, Ammiano lost to Brown by 40,000 votes. Gonzalez, meanwhile, tonight lost by a mere 10,000 votes. Sure, it sucks. But this is progress. By all reports, the Gonzalez campaign was disorganized. The Newsom folks hit upon the brilliant idea of victory by absentees. And the voter turnout in the Bayview/Hunters Point, Visitation Valley, and Ingleside areas was nothing short of abysmal, because neither of the candidates wanted to recruit the downtrodden. But don’t listen to me. Look at the precinct breakdown on the SF Department of Elections page.
But, really, that’s enough about politics until March 1, 2004. This blog, in its return, has become polluted with simplistic liberal sentiments within its slightly more informed opinions on literature and the like. And who needs more of that? It’s about as unpalatable as suffering through another warblog. As such, I shall make every effort not to mention politics until things heat up in the inevitable Dean-Bush showdown next year. You deserve better than my chiaroscuro.
Perhaps I should mention that I’m casually drunk right now.
[8/9/05 UPDATE: Boy, there used to be a lot of posts here put up in the evenings after drinking. In the end, I finally figured out that answering email or composing blog entries probably isn’t wise after a few glasses of wine or whiskey. I should still probably drink much less than I do. One of the reasons I refrain from writing about politics (although not thinking about them) all the time is that such silly statements as the above (“the inevitable Dean-Bush showdown”) become so ridiculously dated in mere months. One of the risks with anyone I suppose.]
Viva Gonzalez?
She was across the street, curly blonde locks tucked beneath a snow white cap, flowing down her shoulders, bright teeth matching the hue of the hat on a cold rainy night. It was just close to poll’s close. She raised her arm and accosted me.
“Excuse me, do you know where the polling place is?”
“Who are you voting for?” I asked.
“Gonzalez.”
“I’ll personally escort you there myself.”
But, hey, I would have done it even if she was voting for Newsom. She was a cutie. No. Get that boat back into rational rivulets. She was a voter.
There aren’t election results up yet, but it’s looking pretty good for Gonzalez. I’ve learned that Gavin Newsom sent somewhere in the area of 150,000 abentee applications to potential voters. This despite a Clinton and a Gore endorsement. I’ve never heard of a candidate ever resorting to anything like this.
But just to be safe, I’ve conducted an informal poll among people who are, what I would call, traditional Democrats.
The publisher of a major magazine: “Gonzalez. Begrudgingly.”
A Gore voter with a pragmatic reactionary tilt: “Well, I had to vote for Matt after eight years of Brown.”
Even a person who’s normally apolitical confessed that he’s voting for Gonzalez.
Gonzalez has a momentum here that Ammiano didn’t have back in ’99. It was a hell of a coup to get people to write Tom Ammiano’s name onto the ballot and get him in the runoff. But the minute the runoff went down, momentum shifted. People became painfully aware of Ammiano’s limitations and were willing to let the pragmatic Democrats west of Twin Peaks have the final say.
But not this time. The Financial District signs are split evenly between Gonzalez and Newsom. Pragmatism has shifted. People are hungry for something new. Different. Honest. I suspect the fact that Newsom has never appeared in a photograph with his hair tousled in any way has something to do with it. What were the Newsom people thinking?
I’m amazed to say that it may actually happen tonight. 82% of San Francisco voted against the recall. We do things differently here. And we could be the first city in the United States with a Green Party mayor. If it does go down, I’ll be very proud to be a San Franciscan. Very proud to be part of a movement that tells the nation, “Politics doesn’t have to be an unctuous business. Sometimes, under special circumstances, you can have results.”
UPDATE: We lost. But it was fun ride. Tim Redmond calculates that Newsom spent $34 a vote to Gonzalez’s $4. It’s still a respectable showing.
Matt Gonzalez for Mayor
So I voted for the hippie. And here’s why you should too:
Gavin Newsom isn’t the right-wing nut he’s been painted as. But he’s the obvious choice. A pomaded, well-oiled machine slightly better than Willie Brown, but no less accountable. A man who views San Francisco the way a ladies’ man propositions an easy Friday night lay: a quickie on the way to the top or the next one, wherever that might be. This may be putting it crudely, but would you trust this man to babysit your kids? I rest my case.
But Gonzalez, while not as specific about solutions as his supporters would contend, is perhaps the only shot in a generation at a genuinely passionate and respectable politician in San Francisco. Someone who will try something open and different, someone who actually gives a damn about the problems that plague ths City and won’t turn a blind eye the way that Willie Brown did. Even if Gonzalez falls flat on his face, or should he win tonight, at least we can’t say that we didn’t try.
The results that may come from Gonzalez’s grand experiment, good or bad, are what I’m interested in, and why any San Franciscan should give him the risky vote. Homelessness is abysmal. Apartment rental rates are out of control. You have to clear $200K a year and have the credit of J. Paul Getty to buy a home here. And the local economy’s become as neglected as the pet chihuahua left home to die while the family’s driven four hundred miles to mourn the death of a close family relative. (Remix those metaphors, baby!) Who says that thinking outside of the box won’t help matters? And, for the record, Gonzalez is pro-business. He doesn’t plan on tampering dramatically with current business taxes. He just wants people to have a living wage, and to be able to afford to live here. He’s daring us to rethink our priorities. And the great thing is that if the experiment works, it could make a difference to how things are done nationwide. All Gonzalez asks is that we reconsider our values.
I hereby introduce an eleventh-hour campaign slogan that seems to have eluded Gonzalez’s supporters:
Put Your Balls on the Chopping Block and Vote Matt Gonzalez
Well, Fuck Me
The New York Times: “John Kerry used profane language to assess President Bush’s Iraq policy, and Bush’s chief of staff said Sunday the Democratic presidential candidate was out of line.” (via Ghost)