No intelligent life in San FranCuba. Try Washington DC, Reason.com HQs.
Ever since the Hippies invaded in 67, SF has been an open asylum,
proving radical politics, new-age, etc are the result of mental illness.
These are people who think Nancy Pelosi is "too far right".
Here is some unrelated but interesting SF political coverage from Canada:
network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2008/10/26/san-francisco-wages-politics-its-own-way.aspx
Sheldon Alberts: San Francisco wages politics its own way
Posted: October 26, 2008, 4:03 PM by Shereen Dindar
U.S. Politics, Sheldon Alberts, U.S. election, Ful Comment
Canwest News, Sheldon Alberts, Washington Correspondent
SAN FRANCISCO -- In the most liberal neighbourhood of America's most liberal city, it's possible to
walk for blocks without seeing a single campaign sign declaring support for Barack Obama.
But those 'Cindy Sheehan For Congress' posters? They are displayed in the windows of bohemian
coffee shops and Hispanic diners throughout the Mission District, a community that's long been an
incubator for leftist politics, and a place where the 2008 presidential election has sometimes been
less interesting than the congressional battle being waged in their own backyard.
Here in California's 8th District, the most powerful Democrat in Congress, Nancy Pelosi, is facing
a spirited -- though likely doomed -- challenge from Ms. Sheehan, the 51-year-old anti-war activist
best known for her five-week vigil outside the Texas ranch of President George W. Bush in 2005.
It's a campaign being waged with anti-Pelosi arguments the rest of the United States might be
surprised to hear.
Since become Speaker of the House of Representatives in early 2007, Ms. Pelosi has been a constant
thorn in Mr. Bush's side on an array of issues. She has thwarted the president's efforts for a free
trade deal with Colombia, repeatedly pushed legislation setting a timetable for troop withdrawal
from Iraq and once questioned Bush's basic competence by saying "the emperor has no clothes."
Among Republican fundraisers, Ms. Pelosi has now replaced Hillary Clinton as public enemy No. 1.
The GOP message? Ms. Pelosi is an out-of-the mainstream "San Francisco liberal," who would steer
the national agenda far left if Mr. Obama is elected and Democrats increase their congressional
majorities on Nov. 4.
But the perception in San Francisco itself of Ms. Pelosi is markedly different -- this is possibly
the only city in America where the 10-term congresswoman can be targeted as part of the
"imperialist establishment" without the label being widely disputed.
With its mix of countercultural social activists, sizable gay population and wealthy Nob Hill
liberals, San Francisco has long walked to the beat of a different political drummer.
Only 10 per cent of the city's registered voters are Republican.
For many residents in the Mission District -- which a local study recently found was the city's
most consistently liberal area -- Ms. Pelosi's refusal to initiate impeachment proceedings against
Mr. Bush over the war in Iraq was considered a betrayal.
For several months in 2007, anti-war protesters camped out outside Pelosi's San Francisco home.
"I'm running because she has been funding George Bush's war and she took impeachment off the table.
Since she's been Speaker, she's just been a disaster," says Ms. Sheehan.
"I mean, she approved wireless wiretapping by telecoms. She just approved the $700-billion Wall
Street bailout, which has proven to be disastrous for the entire world economy . . . She's really
not in touch with San Francisco values at all."
Just as Mr. Obama has attacked John McCain by linking him to Mr. Bush, Sheehan's Mission Street
campaign office is adorned with photos of Ms. Pelosi standing beside the outgoing president,
sharing a laugh.
Just how potentially damaging is it for a San Francisco politician to be associated with Bush?
An anti-Bush group gathered enough signatures to force a ballot measure calling for San Franciscans
to approve renaming a local water pollution control facility the "George W. Bush Sewage Plant."
So deep-seated is the antipathy toward Republicans in parts of San Francisco that even otherwise
staid political events can become overheated.
At a recent all-candidates' forum sponsored by a local seniors' group, the 8th District's
Republican candidate, Dana Walsh, was repeatedly booed during a question-and-answer session.
"That is the tenor of political debate in this city, and that's the absolutely ludicrous civil
discourse," says Ms. Walsh. "They are the 'hate America' crowd. They really are. At a certain
point, you can't blame everything on Bush. I don't know what they are going to do when he is gone."
The intensity of liberal sentiment in San Francisco has virtually assured overwhelming support in
the presidential race for Mr. Obama, who raised $7.8 million for his campaign here at a single
fundraising event in August.
"It's very important that Obama wins. Bush's policies have destroyed this country," says Marjory
Nelson, a Mission District resident and a member of Old Lesbians Organizing for Change.
But even Mr. Obama -- who was rated the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate in 2007 by the
National Journal -- fails to excite the most progressive leftists in the Mission District.
Don Bechtel, a local health care activist, decries Obama's health-care plan because the Illinois
senator does not favour a government-run, single-payer system.
"Barack Obama's plan is not universal," complains Mr. Bechtel. "There will still be millions of
people uninsured."
On the other side of the political spectrum, Walsh worries about the nation's direction under a
Democratic-controlled White House and Congress. She cites the San Francisco's politics as an
example of the dangers of one-party rule.
"I've seen what happens in a city like San Francisco, where there is no political opposition that's
able to participate in the process," Ms. Walsh says. "San Francisco has no balance whatsoever,
none. I think it's very bad for society, and certainly bad for our civic culture."
Sheehan, meantime, has been urging Mission District residents to cast their presidential ballots
for Green party candidate Cynthia McKinney, a former Democratic member of Congress.
"It's because Obama is one of the corporate candidates," says Ms. Sheehan.
"Maybe if I lived in a swing state, I might do something different. I might have to search my soul,
that's for sure. But to me, voting for Obama would be a stinky vote."
Ms. Pelosi, who won 80 per cent of the vote here in 2006, has largely ignored Ms. Sheehan's
candidacy by refusing invitations to debate. So confident is Ms. Pelosi of re-election that she
does not even have a campaign website.
But Ms. Sheehan has made waves. Her campaign has raised $500,000, enough for extensive local radio
and television advertising. The Bay Guardian, an independent newspaper that supports Mr. Obama,
recently endorsed Ms. Sheehan over Ms. Pelosi.
Some Mission District voters admit to struggling with the choice.
"I'd really like to vote for Cindy," says Ms. Nelson. "I'm very disappointed in Nancy, but she's
got a lot of power."
Photo: Anti-war protester Cindy Sheehan stands outside her campaign office in San Francisco's
Mission District, recently ranked the most liberal neighbourhood in one of America's most liberal
cities. (Sheldon Alberts)
Post by d***@rocketmail.comIs there such a thing as a gay libertarian? Although I'm gay, I was
under the impression that every other gay person in America voted
Democrat, just like black people. Just the other day I was in San
Francisco and 7-11 ran out of all coffee cups except for the "McCain"
ones, so I'm walking down Castro Street with a cup of McCain coffee
and everyone kept giving me dirty looks like I was the Antichrist or
something. Then a few weeks ago I went to the Folsom Street bondage
festival and all the leather daddies were wearing Obama pins, and the
Obamoids had even set up a booth alongside booths selling whips and
porn. Not one McCain supporter could be found, and certainly nobody
who supported the Libertarian candidate. The Democrats must own gay
people just like they own black people.