San Francisco is all abuzz about what the hell is up with their Mayor. His staff is quitting, he's taking unannounced last-minute trips to Hawaii and is generally acting pretty suspiciously.
Websites have been made mocking his melt down.
CBS 5's Hank Plante was granted an interview with Mayor Gavin Newsom yesterday, and the result is shocking. Newsom is asked about his recent strange behavior, and said strange behavior increases twofold. When asked what he thought about all that was being said about him, he replied, "I don't read the press. It's comical, some of the things that have been written."
The laughter that he spills while saying these things is eerie. You can tell the laughter is masking a feeling more along the lines of, "I would like to punch you in the neck right now, Mr. Reporter."
The Mayor says questions by reporters and citizens alike about his absence and bizarre behaviors are, "In a box. That is something else. That is irrelevant."
But Plante doesn't merely have buzz and rumors to offer up. Plante busts out a list of events Newsom's missed, which shows it's not just journalists needed to fill column inches musing about him being MIA. Newsom admits to missing one speaking engagement before 6,000 people due to the flu, but says, "that's the only one I knew I missed." So, he missed others, and didn't even know about it. Comforting.
"I was never scheduled to be there," Newsom argues. "I was at three events at the exact same time." Perhaps someone should inform Mayor Newsom that that is impossible. Unless he's hiding some kind of time bending machine in that hair.
When Plante switches topics to Newsom losing his PR flack, Newsom's body language changes. He's snippy with his retorts when asked about Nathan Ballard's resignation, "Yeah, I've just said I made a lot of changes here." Did the Mayor ask Ballard to leave? Because that is what his answer implies. Somehow I thought it was Ballard's idea.
When Newsom did get around to being asked about the budget, it took some cajoling to get him to speak about it, despite his insistance that that was the only thing he was there to talk about. He was clearly shaken by the line of questioning that preceded the inquiry about the budget, and his words about rectifying the windfall were tinged with bitterness and anger. Not the least bit confidence-inspiring.
The interview was weird. Newsom clearly has a lot going on behind that mask he's wearing, and it's all starting to bleed through the holes.
A commenter at CBS5.com writes:
I thought he was a petulant, petty, selfish, whiney jerk before but
after seeing this I've added idiot, arrogant, stupid and just plain
embarrassing to the list. He has taken a page from George Bush, just
keep repeating the same lies over and over and hope people believe it.
Since he doesn't have the sense to resign, let's impeach him.
Watch Hank Plante's interview with Mayor Gavin Newsom in full, and let us know what you think:UPDATE: In the version of this interviewed that aired on the CBS 5 newscast, you can see Mayor Newsom forcefully remove his microphone and hurry out at the end, but not before telling Hank Plante that he is "amazingly disappointed" in him. On a personal level. He said that "off the record," but to a hot mic and an operating camera. Watch:
UPDATE #2: The website HasGavinNewsomResignedYet.com now recognizes the interview Plante did with the Mayor:
