Gavin Newsom Is The Master At Kicking His Own Ass

<![CDATA[In 1997, Jim Carrey starred in the second of what would be three Tom Shadyac collaborations - Liar Liar. It made a ton of money at the box office and showcased Carrey's physical comedy in a way that was both charming and very funny. Two years before that, Willie Brown, the biggest power broker in California politics, coming off a 14-year run as Speaker of the state's Assembly, decided to hang up his legislator's hat and campaign for mayor of San Francisco. At 60-years-old, he tied up loose ends, ceasing his affair with Kamala Harris, who was 29 at the time. He won his campaign easily, because 1) it was San Francisco, and 2) he was Willie Brown. In his first full year in office, Nancy Pelosi's nephew-in-law, Gavin Newsom, was looking for a government job. Brown appointed him parking and traffic commissioner. It was the stepping stone Newsom needed. He was appointed, then successfully ran the same year Carrey's film came out, for county commissioner. He would parlay that into his own two-term mayoral stint, followed by two terms as California's lieutenant governor, and today is coming down the home stretch of a two-term stint as the Golden State governor. And all along the way, his political career has resembled one of Carrey's most memorable scenes in the 1997 film.     We could talk about the budget deficit in the hundreds of millions he racked up as Mayor of San Francisco, and how thin-skinned he is at getting criticism. ]]>