did Sam Graves watch the video before he approved the message? Does he know how stupid it is?

man. this graves guy is so obviously gay.

Well in my opinion there are a few sad points about this message and others like it. First and foremost it presumes that the voter is ignorant. Secondly that a city as diverse as San Francisco somehow only consists of two staples homosexuals and illegal immigrants and thirdly Republican Sam Graves of Missouri and others like him are nothing more than cowards. By surrendering a genuine presentation of their own core values and choosing to use fear as a scapegoat rather than debate the issues with intellectual honesty they have already failed us as representatives.

The constituency needs to be smarter than this because we can ill afford representatives on both sides who treat us like game pieces in their play for power and prestige. If one wishes to be a representative one should wish to be an honorable servant not a conniving master.

hypnotic you've done it again. yes, yes and yes. also, i think he's just jealous of how much fun we have here. i think this woman should come back at him with a "Branson Values" campaign. she can point out that he loves country stars, goes to their theaters in Branson, lives it up at church on sundays, and drives a PT Cruiser... HOW SCARY!

I can see the reactive temptation to do that yesteryear, but I would rather make him look like a fool for that ad than get down in the mud with him.

Well, if you want to appeal to Republicans all you have to do is mention Nancy Pelosi and San Francisco and they shudder in horror. I completely agree with hypnoticmix's take on it.

And how are "San Francisco values" so horrible? Hmm, accepting people instead of hating everyone. What a concept.

Mandy, are you implying that Republicans hate everyone?

Well, yes I'm implying it, but please don't think that I actually think that. And I used the term Republicans because there is a distinction between the Republican party and conservatives. I'm a little annoyed with the Republican mindset lately and I've been taking it out on these posts!

Got it. Thanks for the clarification. I'm a Republican and they make me angry sometimes too.

oh good lord. How is this not a parody? I don't know if I'm more offended by its insinuations or its production values, which by the way, are also definitely not San Francisco.

When will the Republicans have a come-to-Jesus (forgive the expression) talk with themselves about what their party should look like/needs to look like going forward?

I hesitate to place the blame on the entire Republican party. This is very amateurish. I don't think this would've come from the larger party. I can honestly say this video makes me want to vote for the other candidate.

YEAH San Francisco is definitely much more accepting than the norm. They just LOVE accepting Christians and allowing them to have peaceful, uninterrupted church services. They LOVE military servicemembers and are generally quite respectful of them. They are very accepting of conservatives. I am, naturally, being facetious.
And yes, that ad was like technocolor, cheapie poop.

Thanks for bringing that up foxie. I wanted to say something about that, but wasn't sure how to phrase it without sounding holier than thou, which, of course, I am

foxie: i think you're exaggerating. SF doesn't discriminate against those groups. there are isolated incidents, of course. but would it be fair to judge the entire state of wyoming (which is a LOT smaller, population-wise, than the bay area)on the matthew shepard case??

i will stick with my theory that everyone who isn't from the bay area is just jealous that here we are free to be whomever we want to be. after a while you learn to make fun of the burning man, metaphysical types... because they aren't hurting anyone... they are just clueless.

Considering the Matthew Shepard case is just that: a CASE, and the Bay Area clearly has a TREND... I'd say the two really aren't comparable.
It's lovely that gay people can feel at home in San Fran... I wish more places were like that. HOWEVER San Francisco is NOT the most accepting place (or close to it), so let's stop pretending it is.

"They just LOVE accepting Christians and allowing them to have peaceful, uninterrupted church services. They LOVE military service members and are generally quite respectful of them."

I understand you're being facetious foxie, but this is exactly the mind set that these types of ads generate.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence do not speak for the citizens of San Francisco. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence speak for the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and were chastised by many San Franciscans including myself for that very notable mockery at a Catholic service.

During fleet week delighted San Francisco citizens including myself welcome service members and it is an event that myself and many friends and associates look forward to each year. Besides why would I want to kill my chance to see a man in uniform?

I take issue with that statement foxie, in fact I'm downright insulted by it. I'm from San Francisco--born and raised--and go to church every single Sunday, and there is an amazing, vibrant community of churches here, and a strong tie to the community in each one. Almost all middle-class kids here attend their local parish schools growing up, and the two main high schools here are religiously-affiliated as well.

Except we don't rub our piety and holier-than-though attitudes in other's faces, but accept them and love them for who they are, and try to support them as is befitting of a Christian.

Also, as hypnotic mentioned, we have one of the biggest fleet week celebrations in the country, and our city completely opens its doors and embraces it. Some of my best friends growing up are in Iraq now, and our neighborhood (North Beach) gets together a lot to make up care packages. Everyone I know is so supportive and concerned for our guys over there.

Sounds to me like you're just perpetuated a very Fox-news like stereotype, maybe hence your name.

As far as I'm concerned, San Francisco values are the gold standard(and they're non-hypocritical, imagine that!).

Hear, Hear, City Girl! (or is it here, here? lol)

As fortune would have it, you two aren't the only ones who have lived in the Bay Area. I lived there for 2 years and everything I say, I say from experience.

Hmm, two years vs. a lifetime. . .? I don't know where in the Bay Area you lived (it's a huge place) or with whom you spoke, but I've spent my entire life (minus college) in the heart of the city, and I'm telling it how it is.

Are you serious? What difference does it make whether my experiences happened over the course of only 2 years? Or even a day, for that matter?
You have your experiences, I have mine. If you say San Fran is just an innocent victim as far as its reputation, fine.

Now now ladies lets not loose focus and personalize this. The arguement foxie is not that those elements do not exist in San Francisco it is that those elements do not represent what San Francisco is.

By focusing on those elements you leave out an entire tapestry of other view points and communities including some moderate and conservative that are part of what makes San Francisco a beautiful place to live.

Which goes back to my point in my first topic. "Republican Sam Graves of Missouri and others like him are nothing more than cowards. By surrendering a genuine presentation of their own core values and choosing to use fear as a scapegoat rather than debate the issues with intellectual honesty they have already failed us as representatives." This is what this is about.

Yes there are some loud mouthed cooc's in S.F., but those loud mouth cooc's who have become media misfits and exploited for their extremist views don't speak for the majority of the citizens of San Francisco and if you really lived here for two years than you should know that just as well as I.

Like I said, I wish more cities adopted SOME of San Fran's views. I'm not dismissing the good parts of the area's culture. I am just so sick of people pegging it as the Acceptance Capital of the World. It's NOT. Those elements exist in your city and are a part of your city, like it or not. You don't get to pick and choose the aspects of your culture that you like and then dismiss the rest as unrelated riffraff.

You just made my point foxie this is what I'm saying include every aspect. It is the Congressmen who excluded a majority of what San Francisco is purposefully dissecting out controversial views and presenting them as THE CORE VALUES of San Francisco and that is wrong.

I also agree with you that San Francisco should lead more by example and less by mouth. Arrogance is not the most effective way of sharing values with other communities and I can see how some communities are irritated with that. However, on the other hand you can't fault us for being proud because there certainly is reason to be.

I don't think there's anyone here who said the ad was anything other than complete crizap. I think it's just as dumb for the ad to try to only point out negatives as it is for locals to try to only highlight positives.