Clinton stumps for Democrat battling Green in SF mayoral race

[unbrand]

(12-08) 20:16 PST SAN FRANCISCO (AP) --

On the eve of this city's closer-than-expected mayoral contest, former President Bill Clinton made a last minute appearance to rally supporters of the Democratic standard bearer, Gavin Newsom, who is locked in a tight race with Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez.

At Newsom campaign headquarters, Clinton was welcomed with thunderous applause and cheers from some 150 Newsom precinct captains, many of whom had waited in a stuffy room for several hours while Clinton's flight from New York was delayed.

"You need to calm down," Clinton joked. "You'll have me thinking I'm president again."

Onstage with Newsom and his wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom, Clinton urged the volunteers to "prove that a candidate who runs on ideas and unity can win."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/12/08/state1847EST0121.DTL&type=printable

-- I happened to be walking by the headquarters and saw a big crowd of these Demopubs lingering outside. It reminded me of a college greek party -- most people in the crowd looked like the monied, yuppified, and all-white-bread soulless scum that they are. My opinion of Clinton has dropped a few notches too.

<edited to add pic>

[tinrobot]

1. If every election...

Was Democrat vs Green, I'd be pretty happy...

[Tinoire]

2. My opinion of Clinton keeps plummetting

And I'm here tonight only partially because I'm a Democrat but because I believe in Gavin Newsom and his politics.''

:puke:

For Clinton to endorse a man who proposes putting the homeless on a barge and cutting off their aid... never mind, I just remembered welfare reform. I really don't recognize my party anymore.

[BayCityProgressive]

3. Go home Clinton.

[unbrand]

4. I saw Newsom and Gonzalez in a debate...

...and he was just as smarmy as he looks in the above picture. Newsom has all the general pat answers that Schwarzenegger had. Sound bites with no substance at all. Newsom is fond of saying he has 22 position papers on his website. Not a single one has any reasonable method for funding it.

I got to ask Newsom a question via email on a radio program: "What do you propose to do to help fill the downtown office space which is currently around 30% vacant?" His response: "We need to make SF more attractive to business." And about 6 more generalities. He's a master at restating the question, but making it sound like an answer through his rapid-fire word salad delivery which is intended to leave you with the feeling of "Oh. Um. Well, I guess since he said a bunch of words really fast he knows what he's talking about."

And about the homeless -- he fully intends to criminalize being poor. Very republican, no?

[Tinoire]

7. Some Democrat that Gruesome Newsom

Here's a guy who gave money to Bush/Cheney, voted for the Iraq war, and dodged a Board of Supes vote on John Ashcroft's Patriot Act. This is a San Francisco Democrat?

A vote for Newsom is a vote to drive the homeless out of town. I hope Newsom supporters can live with themselves and their "neat and tidy" sidewalks. Nothing like just sweeping the poor out of sight so that walk from Nordstrom to the Lexus won't be unpleasant!

[unbrand]

8. Well said.

I was thinking about that very point when I was walking back from my errands today, and I could see the throng in front of Newsom's headquarters about half a block away. I look down and see a homeless person sleeping on the sidewalk, another going through a garbage can, and another standing on the median. No wonder Newsom "cares" so much about the homeless. He can certainly see homeless people every day. And it bugs him! But not in the right way.

[Voltaire99]

11. "I really don't recognize my party anymore."

If it's any consolation, I haven't, either, for a long, long time.

Clinton's shilling for Newsom is shameful. Has he learned nothing in the years since he destroyed welfare, and has he developed no greater understanding of the economics facing workers and the declining middle?

[Terwilliger]

5. LOLOL

KGO radio's Micki Luckoff endorsed Newsom

[dobak]

6. Dump Newsom, vote for his wife!

[Dr Fate]

9. I'm voting Newsome just to keep her around!

!!!

[LeftCoast]

10. Go Matt Go!

:D

[sandnsea]

12. Gore passionately backs Newsom

Seems like the Democrats are all lined up, status quo.

"I'm here because I'm passionately in favor of Gavin Newsom. I want to see him become the next mayor of San Francisco," Gore told an audience at what was ostensibly a public policy forum but quickly turned into a full-fledged campaign rally with cheers and signs."

http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/state/7401889.htm

[union_maid]

13. Been out of the political loop for the last month....

...and I'm on the other side of the country, but I've heard nothing good and lots bad about Newsom from people whose opinion I generally respect, and very good things about how the Greens are going about this election. Clinton disappoints, but it's not the first time.