Tag Archives: election

Yes, San Franciscans, There IS an Election on April 8th! Vote for Jackie!

Many people don’t realize that there’s an honest to goodness Special Election on April 8th. There’s been some campaign activity, to be sure, but even with all the nice pieces of mail from the Elections Department, et al, it’s easy to forget. Heck, I forgot to apply for an absentee ballot this time around, and now have to go vote in person!
As I noted on my way more popular blog on all things MUNI, right now we don’t have anyone in Congress representing the 12th CD (which includes part of San Francisco and San Mateo County) due to the death of longtime Rep. Tom Lantos. Now, if 50%+1 of the good people of the 12th CD vote for Jackie Speier, we can send her to Congress immediately (she doesn’t have to pass “GO” and doesn’t need to collect $200), and we can have one of the most effective members of the Legislature (yes, we’ve had a few and she was one of them) be representing us on some pretty important issues right now.
If, however, we don’t vote, and she doesn’t make the threshold, there’ll be a “Special General” election, that will coincide with the June Primary. However, she’ll win that one for sure, but we will not have anyone in Congress representing us. Besides, put it to you another way – how many of the current crop of candidates kicked ass on privacy issues and have a train named after them? Hint: Just one, and isn’t some hippie-dippie Green candidate.
Today (Sunday, April 6th) there’s an event for Jackie at the Machinists Hall down in Burlingame. For a mere $10 donation, you can enjoy a fine spaghetti dinner and meet the candidate and her many supporters. It’s an easy commute for those of you in San Francisco – you can take BART or Caltrain to Millbrae, and walk a few blocks to the union hall.
Whatever you do today, be sure to vote on April 8th! We can all talk big in San Francisco, but now it’s time to do something about all that big talk, and send an effective legislator to Congress who can shake things up. Go Jackie!

You Have To be Freakin’ Kidding Me: Gonzalez for VP? WTF?

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So I’m at lunch and reading email when I notice someone sends me the news that in fact, Matt Gonzalez is running as Ralph Nader’s veep candidate.
Wait, WHAT? This is a joke, right?
See this is what happens when you skip your morning paper and blogs. Beth Spotswood, of course had the funniest and most concise take on the news, and I’m sure others did too (I’ll post links as I find ’em).
To me, however, this news encapsulates just how f*cking stupid Magical Matt really is, and how the local conservatives and whatnots need to give him a medal for helping bring down progressive politickers in 2008.
When people to the left of Attilla the Hun needed someone to run against a damaged Mayor Newsom, Gonzalez pissed away whatever political capital he had left, and made sure that other people’s efforts were stalled. Then, at the last possible moment, he announces he’s not running, but not before wasting a lot of important people’s time, money and hard work.
Let’s not forget the years of gaming the system for Magical Matt. When it was time for someone to make a stand and perhaps have an impact locally, Magical Matt decided to walk away, and stick it to everyone else in the process since he wasn’t the progressive prom queen last year.
The result was an epic FAIL for progressives in 2007, and now, in 2008, when seats on the Board of Supervisors and the School Board are up for grabs, the Mayor and his crew are administering political beat-downs, old school style against anyone who stands in their way.
Unlike, say, in 2004, when, after a close race, Gavin was giving out marriage licenses to our gay and lesbian neighbors, and talking about health care for all. Funny how that worked out.
Whatever. Local progressives and Greens are with Obama this time around and to me that says it all. If the people who know Matt Gonzalez the best aren’t supporting his candyland bullsh*t, why should anyone else?
UPDATE: It’s so funny to see all the status updates on Facebook concerning Magical Matt…Chris Nolan at Spot-On.com dusts off some interesting info about Matt’s past that apparently Ralphie Boy didn’t know about. Calitics also has their take on Gonzalez, too. And a diary at Daily Kos that would appear to be from Our Mayor rings the alarm bells (really Mr. Mayor you should give Gonzalez a foil star for helping ruin local progressives’ chances in 2008). Oh and KPIX’s blog (which I had just discovered a week ago and really dig) was kind enough to link to the blog I write that no one reads
It should be noted that the day before he announced, Gonzalez posted a long, boring piece on why he hates Obama. Funny, he doesn’t ask any questions about his new buddy. I guess leftist hypocrisy is just a natural reflex for Magical Matt.

Epic FAIL: Nader’s Running (again) But Local Greens Are With…Barack Obama!

So it looks like Ralph Nader’s running for President again, and we’re supposed to be worried or something, but I’m not.
True, I’m no fan of this charlatan. On my old blog, I wrote about his extreme dishonesty, and overall lack of ethics, and for a while got a bump on Google Searches. This time around, however, I think it’s pretty obvious his time has passed, and he’s so out of touch, his reasons for running just don’t add up.
My favorite line today was the one about “people being disenchanted with Democrats and Republicans.” Eeeyeahh. Funny thing though: Barack Obama is about to hit the one million donor mark (something Nader’s greedy hands would love to have but won’t because he sucks), and turnout in Democratic primaries have set new records, and blown doors off the turnout in the GOP primaries.
But the most telling sign of the total epic FAIL of Nader has been the response of local Green Party elected members to Nader the Liar. Green Party Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, Green Party College Board Member John Rizzo, and Green Party School Board Member Jane Kim have all come out in force for Barack Obama. Non-Greeen “Progressives” like Supervisors Daly and Peskin also support Obama. Hell, the Bay Guardian, usually the only refuge for disaster candidacies like Kucinich or Nader, endorsed Obama.
It says a lot when the folks who should be on board a supposedly great cause like Nader’s bullsh*t are instead working for a candidate who’s succeeding in ways Nader could never imagine. (Then again it shouldn’t be a total surprise – Nader refused to campaign for Green poster-boy Matt Gonzalez in 2003, because, well, because Nader sucks.)
So let the fool run his little show. Every time he does this, he seems to invent new ways to screw up and fail, and every time he becomes less and less relevant to the national discourse. I can’t wait for him to throw a tantrum about some f*cking debate, and get arrested for trespassing. If good people like those in Our Fair City have decided to tear up their tickets and say “no” to the Nader circus, I think most folks in America will be doing the same.
Trivia Time: Here’s a piece of trivia that most of you might not be aware of (as you’re probably concerned with things that matter, and I mean that in a good way): when Nader’s spokesman ran for Senate, he got very little support for his bid, marred by problems and the fact that as Nader’s spokesman he elevated lying to an art form. He did however get loud and enthusiastic support from someone new to our city: Cindy Sheehan! Apparently she didn’t mind the lying and whatnot and threw her lot with Zeese. Very interesting!