Mayor Newsom, attempting to bolster his earlier overreaction to the "egregious" SFPD "scandal", held a press conference tonight at which he defended his decision to overreact by intimating that it was really not his fault but the people of San Francisco. We apparently should be more offended!

"If this occurred in any business in the private sector, none of us, I think, would criticize the company for taking aggressive and swift action...But for some reason, some people have lowered the bar here in San Francisco.
The bar is so low in San Francisco that people think it's fun and games to run over an alleged homeless person, to make fun of different races and communities, to make fun of the police chief ... to enact skits of people not doing their job...''

Wow. Let's tear that apart shall we?

"If this occurred in any business in the private sector, none of us, I think, would criticize the company for taking aggressive and swift action..."

Yes, I would criticize them if they acted as you did and punished the employee without an investigation. You took a punitive action without all the facts. If a private business did that to a union employee you'd have a fit wouldn't you? Didn't you go walk a picket line with Local 2 in support of their rights as workers? Ok,we all know you were really doing it to cheese off the hotels and pimp out some more votes and "street cred" but you see what I mean.

"The bar is so low in San Francisco that people think it's fun and games to run
over an alleged homeless person"

Newsflash Mr. Mayor: No one actually got run over! See, apparently, there are these people who make these things called "movies" and they are often times fictitious. During these fictions, people sometimes are hurt or die, but, due to a quirk in the human humor system, if done well we find it funny. Even the SF Film Commission understands this and they list a film shot here in San Francisco that features people dying in odd or funny ways called "The Darwin Awards". I guess it's only funny to the City if they can charge money for it huh?

"...make fun of different races and communities"

First off, what racial jokes were there? Point to one. Do it. Wait, you can't? Um, doesn't that make your race card gambit kind of moot? I also challenge you to point to a single racial epithet that was used in the videos. All of the videos aired on the news seemed exceedingly benign and if anything made fun of caucasians. As for "communities": What? You're going to say that the footage of a guy in drag is "offensive?" Quick! Let's go arrest the cast of Beach Blanket Babylon, Monty Python and any number of drag shows in the City. If someone being in drag is offensive to you then maybe you are mayor of the wrong town.

"...make fun of the police chief..."

Awww, didums Chief Fong feel bad that she might have been lampooned? Get over it. You're the Chief of Police of a major American city. If people don't make a joke or two about you, then maybe you aren't doing your job. Political satire is a cherished right and practice of Americans, trying to take it away is offensive.

"... to enact skits of people not doing their job"

What the heck is that about? One of the oldest jokes about cops is them sitting around eating doughnuts. Would you have prefered they enacted a skit of police officers doing their jobs? What would be funny about doing one of the toughest, most dangerous and most under appreciated jobs in San Francisco? Oh wait! I have a perfect idea:

[fade up]
[police car exterior, viewed from head on. The cars police lights are on, but there is no one in it. Camera begins slow rotation from the front of the car to the side]
[radio static]
Dispatchers Voice: "Calling all cars, calling all cars. Be on the lookout for a runaway ego. Ego is described as being full of itself, quick to judgement and defensive if disagreed with. If located, return it to the the Mayor of San Francisco. Suspect may be in the company of the thief that stole the Mayor's sense of humor.
[Police lights go out]
Dispatchers Voice: Jokes don't kill people. But the Mayor's decision to suspend twenty-four police officers from an understaffed police department just might have. Did taking twenty-four offices off the job result in crimes that might have been prevented?
[Fade to black]
[Title overlay]
Paid for by the committee to elect the candidate that isn't Mayor Newsom.
[Fade out]

Pretty funny huh?