Hope Springs Eternal?… Just when you thought the Bush Administration had completely annihilated any chance of Republicans winning the White House in 2008, and Ralph Nader lifts his siphon hose again.  

Well, at least some folks are saying that.  But, let’s not forget that after largely being considered the Gore spoiler in 2000, last go-round Democrats and Greens rejected him in spades and Nader garnered only one-third of one percent of the vote.  That downward trajectory may continue to progress for the progressive.

We can laugh about Michael Bloomberg "leaving" the GOP all we want, but his potential clout would be superior to Nader’s in any vote siphoning scenario.

No, Nader or not, Republicans are going to have to win it on their own.  That starts with the current Administration.  And, that’s what I fear the most.

Sunroad San Diego… Scott Lewis in Voice of San Diego asked the essential question on Friday:

Now that everyone admits the city wrongfully approved the Sunroad tower, are they admitting to liability for it?

He gets a legalese — but interesting — answer.  Read it here.

Sunrise San Diego… County Supe Dianne Jacob, a politico with the "testicular fortitude" (well, ok, perhaps with the guts) to use the term "testicular fortitude."   Read her column on the Sunrise Powerlink in VoiceofSD.  Not to be outdone, the U-T supports Sunrise this morning, but I’m not sure if that puts their manhood in question with Dianne.

52nd Congressional Update… Mark Larson is still mulling it, but insiders say an announcement is forthcoming at any time.  Some say he’s in for sure.  

Jan Goldsmith is not running for the seat and never was.  I talked to him briefly and will catch up with him soon to see what other plans he may have on the horizon.

Thus, the current yeses … Duncan D. Hunter and Brian Jones.  The pendings … Mark Larson.  The possiblies … Ken King and Eric Roach.  As well as a few others that I’d have to classify as wait-and-sees.  (At this point, the difference between a pending, a possibly and a wait-and-see may be irrelevant.)

Sinking or Not, is the U-T’s Ship About to Become More Liberal?… Don Bauder sheds some light on Copley Press’ incoming executive in the June 14 Reader, while noting the sad state of print media in general, San Diego specifically.  Some excerpts:

Harold (Hal) Fuson Jr., senior vice president and chief legal officer of Copley Press, has always called himself "the house liberal" — out of step with the militaristically conservative hierarchy. Aboooouuuut faaaaaace! At the end of this month, the house liberal becomes de facto chief executive of the company.

He takes command of a ship sinking faster than its peers. In 2004, the Union-Tribune, almost all that’s left of Copley Press, was the 19th-largest newspaper by daily circulation. It has now plunged to 23rd. 

Worried staffers say the top brass are huddling in lengthy meetings almost daily, but nothing is ever announced. There are staff meetings at which employees are told they must do more with less, but there seem to be no initiatives to tackle major problems, such as the lack of cooperation between the electronic SignOnSanDiego and the newsprint side. The top executives who were in place during this dismal post-2004 performance remain in their posts.

Read the entire Bauder piece here.

Red County/San Bernardino Blogger Unleashes on Me… My three-part blog "series" (for lack of a better term) on the State GOPs hiring of non-citizens, resulted in the anonymous "SB Insider" on the Red County SB blog opening up on me in the last few days.  Golly willikers, the guy (gal?) even refers to me as a "bespectacled middle-aged mustached ex-pol" and tells the readers to check out my "cheesy Glamour Shots photo on the Flashreport."  

What’s worse, since this is really low, he also says I’m a lackey of Ron Nehring, Duane Dichiara and Jennifer Jacobs!  Oh, the daggers.  Apparently, if I had the guts to go against that SD Power Trio, my "government career" will be over.

It all hurts so much reading it in print, because before this I didn’t know I wore glasses, had a mustache, or had retired from the city council.  And, I had never thought of it before, but somewhere along the line I became middle age!  Ouch.

At any rate, against my own best advice I posted a couple of responses, the last of which has a message for all bloggers, especially in the case of Jon Fleischman’s noble rule of non-anonymous posts:

We’ll have to disagree on the intent of my FlashReport posts on the subject (of the CRP’s hirings).

That’s pretty funny about my government career. It shows the "writers" (not really more than one, I’d guess) know very little about San Diego politics if they believe the majority of the elected board of a local hospital district in East SD County (MDs, RNs and RPhs among them) even know the names Nehring or Dichiara. Quite frankly, I’d have to tell them (sorry for the truth, Ron and Duane!). I will, just so they can get a kick out of this as well.

Speaking of guts, whether I have any or not is irrelevant. I know I don’t have enough. Yet, I do know it takes very little to make personal attacks in writing under the cover of anonymity.

Kudos to those on this and the other Red County blogs (and EVERY blogger and commenter on the FlashReport) that have the guts to write under their own bylines.

Have a great week.  But first, if you think I should change my "glamour shot" on this page to something less cheesy, please let me know.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 24th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.