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	Phil's Blogservations Friday, January 07, 2005 Posted by philgomes 7:08 PM "You're No Jack Kennedy" "You're No Jack Kennedy" In the 1988 VP debates, Lloyd Bentsen threw a withering retort at Dan Quayle during this exchange: Quayle: "I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency." Bentsen: "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy." As most of you know, San Francisco's power couple — Mayor Gavin Newsom and Court-TV-anchor-and- former-lingerie-model-and- anti-dog-mauling-crusader Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom — called it quits after three years. Amicable... Bicoastal careers... Still going to be friends... Yadda yadda yadda... For chrissakes, though, can we just stop it with the Kennedy comparison? The first such comparison, near as I can tell, was in Harper's Bazaar some time ago. Now, a few papers and news services have picked it up, perhaps uncritically. Are we that quick to anoint the next-big-thing? Okay... I get it already. They're both beautiful people. But, rightly or wrongly, the Kennedys are the closest thing to royalty that Sec. 9, Clause 8, of the U.S. Constitution allows ("No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States..."). Could the Newsoms have reasonably achieved such a status in fewer than three years? Granted, the Newsoms never explicitly invited the comparisons. But, then again, the political tie-in, the frequent photo-opping, their relative youth, and just being so damn attractive means that, well, they were kinda asking for it. Anyway... While it's bad enough to have a public divorce, it's positively wretched to have the shadow of the Kennedys hanging over it all. Gotta hand it to their comms folks, though. Timing the disclosure against Schwarzenegger's State Of The State speech and after the close of that business day was a masterstroke. One paper I saw couldn't possibly react quite in time — huge picture of Schwarzenegger on the front page, with the Newsom news slotted into a column-wide, jumped article on the right-hand side. Anyway... Best to the both of 'em... HOME | OBSESSIONS | FAQ | HEROES | CAREER | BLOG | CONTACT Note that the views expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect those of Phil's employer, its business partners, its clients, or anyone or anything that doesn't come from Phil.	ABOUT THIS BLOG This blog not only discusses PR and media matters, but Phil's everyday observations about a variety of topics. EMAIL phil[at] philgomes[[dot}]com SYNDICATE Feedburner ARCHIVE YAHOO! IM SKYPE WISH LIST PITCH POLICY MY PHOTOS www.flickr.com Photostream RSS Enter your Email Powered by FeedBlitz COMMENT AND TRACKBACK POLICY Comments and trackbacks are unmoderated, though I will delete the patently offensive ones. Any comments and trackbacks are the opinions of the individual writer of those comments and trackbacks, and not those of Phil Gomes, his employer, its clients, or its business partners. If you have a bone to pick, bug the people who wrote the comment or trackback.