Joan Ryan Slams Gonzalez and Supporters

I enjoy reading Joan Ryan's column in the Chronicle, so I was surprised to read her latest: "S.F. voters need to tune in to what's real."

She begins by stating that Matt Gonzalez "owns neither a car nor, it seems, a comb, and who has about him the idealist's air of patient superiority." (Does anyone else find the comments about Matt's hair to be petty and tiresome?)

Ryan decries modern politics for not being "about facts and figures, the black- and-white data that tell us what a candidate actually has done, what a candidate actually plans to do, what a candidate actually stands for." So far, so good. Then she draws a parallel between Matt Gonzalez's campaign and that of Schwarzenegger, who campaigned "on a square jaw and hope." Hmm, this sounds vaguely familiar. Who else is suggesting this?

Ryan then shows her cards, patronizing and insulting Gonzalez and his supporters.

We project onto them the qualities we want to be there. If a guy's quiet, we think he's deep. If he takes us to a burger joint for dinner, we think he's charmingly unpretentious. Then it turns out he's just boring and cheap.

I know, I know, she uses "we," but it's clear she means "you Matt Gonzalez supporters." In case readers think otherwise, she reinforces her point:

He is vague about his solutions to San Francisco's homeless problem, its uneven business climate, its robust drug trade, its struggling schools. So his supporters have had ample room to project on to him all the qualities they want in a politician.

But she saves her harshest words for the final paragraph.

But when personality - or what we assume to be a politician's personality from media reports and opponents' hit pieces - elbows aside measured and thorough consideration of his or her record and plans, then we get what we deserve: leaders unprepared for and incapable of leading.

Is that what Joan Ryan really thinks, that Matt Gonzalez is "unprepared for and incapable of leading?" Is it then safe to assume that Ryan thinks that Gavin Newsom is "prepared for and capable of leading?"

What is Joan Ryan thinking? Ask her for yourself.