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The (and, in all seriousness, we really do hate to say this, because he is, after all, our city's mayor) downward spiral of Gavin Newsom continues. Phil Bronstein goes for broke today when he ripped Newsom a new one. Rightfully so. See, in what was supposed to be an interview with FOX affiliate KTVU, Newsom demanded that the interviewer stick to the subject of Muni, the city's public transit system he rarely, if ever, rides. Bronstein says:
The latest news of self-inflicted wounds: A friend of mine connected to KTVU tells me Gavin had wanted to go on Channel 2 this morning to talk about MUNI, but only on the condition he not be asked about anything else. Even George Bush subjected himself to Helen Thomas' pounding once in a while as part of the often contentious press-politician compact.The station wisely declined the mayor's silly demand. Who's the loser? Once more, Gavin holds himself hostage.
This comes on the heels of Newsom's disastrous interview with CBS 5's Hank Plante, a $500 million SF budget snafu, and Willie Brown explaining to Newsom, "You have no idea what it is to really have the press go after you ... Wait until they really catch you."
Gulp.
Still, we feel for the guy, our mayor of San Francisco, our fresh-faced leader. Will he be able to pullout of this free fall? We sure hope so.
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Empty suit is empty.
Don't blame me! I voted for Matt Gonzalez!
Ditto! It's obvious that Gavin has been an ethically compromised narcissist from the beginning.
Gav! Chill! I worked in a job during the dot com crash where, every three or four weeks, the company would announce, "we're going to lay off 1/3 of you soon, but we're not telling you which 1/3."
So the Gav needs to do what we did - just start showing up at the Irish Bank earlier and earlier, until, eventually, the whole company (well, the whole IT dept anyway) had three or four pints under their belt by noon.
@wsanders, throw a little blow in the mix, and you're describing Gavin's first term.
More symptoms of being surrounded by sycophants who just kiss your ass all the time .... send that boy a big dose of humility before he completely buries his own political aspirations.
symptoms? man, it's a disease, and gavin's had it his entire life. i doubt he's capable of humility.
Well, it's more a symptom of the dishonesty of the press. Obviously, he was asked by cbs5 to do an interview on the budget, and the interviewer could not care less about the budget and ambush Gavin on his personal trip to Hawaii. So I don't find it surprising that he would ask the future interviewers to focus on a topic.
Also, whatever Bronstein says, take it with a grain of salt: he hates Newsom. Bronstein went as far as going to Newsom's house to look in his green recycling bin if Newsom composted! That's not journalism, that's stalking.
I see where you're coming from, but... he just cannot make these kinds of demands for a public interview.
Exactly. If he wants to be taken seriously, he should just get the damn questions over with instead of looking like a spoiled brat.
Right on, Ced. He's mayor, right? His job is to run the city. Plante's interview seemed to be more about "Why aren't you talking to me? Don't you care about the feelings of the press?"
Newsom could've handled it better, but both houses deserve a pox.
Generally you have a point, but any promoter of Nanny State rules like the fucking mandatory composting deserves all the trash bin stalking he gets. (That means you too, Ross.)
i'm against nanny statism as well, but composting is hardly that.
composting (like recycling) just makes you more aware of and responsible for YOUR trash. instead of kicking the can down the road to the next guy / system.
Gavin Newsom's Mariah Carey-like Interview Demand
He forbade them from asking about his weight?
So I read Bronstein's post, and the trigger to Bronstein's hate filled commentary on Gavin Newsom (whom he called a Louis Vuitton knockoff earlier, that's pretty emotional) is this: "a friend who is connected with KTVU."
That's a pretty measly source. That won't make it into a serious newspaper for instance, it's short of most editorial standards. But we knew the Chron is not in that category. And it's pretty striking that the former editor would stoop to rumor spreading.
you don't read newspapers much, do you? sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this is a country and an industry where political reporters routinely treat all interview answers as off the record and only publish what is approved, and where people like the vice president's chief of staff demands (and is accomodated) that he be referred to as a "senior administration official." your criticisms are misplaced and ill-informed.
I'm not sure what the "off record" comment is relevant here. My point is that Phil's assertion would not pass the editorial screening of a self-respecting news organization, which would require corroborating sources. See cross-checking rules here for instance for the NY Times:
http://www.nytco.com/company/business_units/sources.html
My comment is thus that the SF Chron is not a respectable news organization, and I believe that, contrary to your assertion, it is relevant and well informed.
So, what's your horse in this race?
My horse? I'm nauseated by the press's handling of the situation. I mentioned looking inside Newsom's green trash bin, but another example: Phil Bronstein blamed Gavin Newsom for leaky sprinklers in Golden Gate park. I shit you not he did! I hate activist journalism under the guise of impartial, unbiased reporting. So I distrust Bronstein until proven otherwise. In this case, it's hearsay from a well known opponent of Gavin, so I won't take at face value until crosschecked.
Your agenda is showing.
so cedichou thinks that dishonesty is comprised of (at least) going through trash and using unnamed sources. check.
seriously dude or dudette, you should quit gavin while you have the chance to leave on your own terms. i know it's a tough job market, but i'm pretty sure the g-man on your resume still has some niche cred.
Manys, boy are you dense. I have no issues with unnamed source. But what part of "uncorroborated" don't you get? Phil has a "friend connected with KTVU," so he heard it from someone who heard it from KTVU. I have no issues with digging through trash to find incriminating evidence, but Phil was digging through trash to find composting. Can you smell the difference?
Also: don't believe everything you read in the Chron, ok?
The only difference between Bronstein and Newsom is that one is wealthy because he earned his dollars and the other is a petulant child who couldn't hold a job at a Subway sandwich shop without his dad vouching for him or buying his way in the door.
Newsom's unjustified arrogance and sheer stupidity is showing and it isn't pretty. He needs to resign before he makes more of an ass out of himself.
And undoubtedly, he will.
Come on, there's no difference. Both are whores. One got his money from the Getty, the other from Hearst. Same dif. Phil made no money doing covering war zones. He made some when he became editor of the Ex and then the Chron and began whoring Fox News style propaganda for Hearst corp.
Next thing, you'll be trying to tell me that Kamala Harris is qualified for her position or some sort of higher office. And half of you will vote for her because it is the only name you will recognize on the ballot.
We all know who the winner of the whore contest is in that race to the bottom. Sucking off Willie Brown does not give one the necessary qualifications any more than being Gavin's lapdog.
I'm just wondering who's gonna own up and be Gavin's Chris Crocker....
LEAVE GAVIN ALONE!
Sorry, but I can't feel sorry for a guy who clearly doesn't want to do his job and thinks the press' job is to be his personal PR department (in addition to the pricey one with all those plasma TVs he has on our dime). It's clear he can't handle being mayor of a mid sized city, and was never ever ready for prime time as a Governor.
Right now he's about as useful as a football bat ,and is becoming the slick equivalent of his nemesis on the Board. That's fine for him, but meanwhile SF is about to finish its circle down the drain, and we don't need a wannabe prince - we need the competent, non-assholey guy we thought folks elected in 2003. Oh well.
Why is it that news outlets now only report on the news from other news outlets these days? Why are you people still watching the TV for your news, or reading SF gate? Let's get SFist to sit down with the Mayor and ask him about his views on hipsters. So much more interesting than his trip to Hawaii... or Muni for that matter.
it's called "blogging," snap-dad, and it's all the rage last decade.
Gavin: If you want to get information out and don't want to be asked questions you issue a press release.
Sorry Nathan's not there any more to tell you that.
An editor of a highly traffic blog once quipped,
And I remember thinking at the time that it would, in fact, end another way. Hell hath no fury, etc.All these liberal politicians who have ran the city into the ground should strung up by their balls. Is sort of funny to hear someone proudly admit they voted for Matt Gonzalez, what a douchebag. San Francisco is a big shithole... Progressives thanks for nothing.... Lets run business out of SF , tax everyone , coddle drug dealers, illegal immigrants and the homeless, no wonder this place is poo poo...