Bear of the Year – Voice of San Diego

The good news: this year is finally over! The bad news: pretty much everything else. But even though we were worried about our way through 2021, San Diegans had a lot to say. Here is a sample of some memorable quotes:

If you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit next to me!

• “Well, let’s not get carried away here. Let’s just see how it goes with you. –County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher to Jim Desmond, a fellow supervisor and ideological rival, after congratulating the new members of the Supervisory Board in January.

• “I think they are being brainwashed into thinking about something that is not real. – San Diego City Councilor Jen Campbell, who survived an attempted recall, on critics who say the city should simply ban Airbnb-style rentals for good.

I will say no to brainwashing, but a light brain rinse seems positively refreshing.

• “Rhetorical hyperbole, vigorous epithets, expressions of contempt and language used in a loose and figurative sense have have all benefited from constitutional protection. – Superior Court Judge Joel Wohlfeil has filed a libel action against the city attorney over campaign allegations.

“Rhetorical hyperbole, vigorous epithets, expressions of contempt and language used in a figurative and cowardly sense. Or as I like to call it, lunch.

A case of foot-and-mouth disease

Part I: “Recently I called my MP @Lorenasgonzalez to respectfully ask for his approval to replace it each time it no longer represents # AD80. I would be honored to one day continue her legacy in this neighborhood when she is finished. – Former San Diego City Councilor Georgette Gómez, on Twitter.

Second part: “Dude, I’m not dead.”- Gonzalez’s response.

Caltrans: Write correctly. Not bad.

“A wrong way driver wouldn’t even see the sign. It’s the wrong way. “- a Reddit user commenting on the oddly worded local freeway signs that urged drivers to” SAVE LIVES / DRIVE SOBER / NO WRONG ROAD “.

Recall reminder

• “I’m a much better speller now.” – Vista gubernatorial candidate Daniel Watts, who ran on a platform to eliminate tuition fees for public higher education. He appeared on “Wheel of Fortune” in 2003 and failed to solve the “EN_O_ THE SHOW” puzzle. One of his guesses: “Endog the show?”

• “Bestial solutions”- a pledge from Rancho Santa Fe candidate governor John Cox, who walked around town with a real Kodiak bear.

• “No one shall offer for sale, give, bring or maintain in an area under the jurisdiction of this Ordinance, a lion, a tiger, bear, monkey, wolf, cougar, ocelot, wildcat, skunk… ”- an animal ordinance in the city of San Diego that provided an exception for zoos but not for Republicans.

• “In 2018, Gavin Newsom won the governorship by 62% to 38%. Note my words: when all the votes are counted, we believe the recall will show that Newsom has LOST some of that margin! – Conservative talk show host Carl DeMaio, predicting the results of the governor’s recall election. Newsom won with… 62% of the vote.

• “One of the reasons I would be bad at politics is if I was Newsom I would give my televised victory speech in close-up, then, as I finish, the camera pulls back to reveal I’ve been seated at The French Laundry All the time. ”- Local Twitter user Michael Tae Sweeney.

Asset? Uh… hey, look over there!

• “This is a hypothetical question, of course. –Former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, declining to say whether he would like former President Donald Trump’s endorsement in the governor’s recall race. Faulconer backed Trump in 2020.

• “I think it’s safe to say if he won’t say he wants to he probably doesn’t deserve it. “- Donald Trump Jr., on Twitter.

Music to our ears?

• “Singer composer. “- Singer Jason Mraz’s description of himself now growing coffee plants in North County.

I guess it’s really all about the pun.

• “There is so much we can do. Everything happens at the Zoo. “- Lyrics for” The Great Adventure, “a song written and performed by singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins for a television station created by the San Diego Zoo and Rady Children’s Hospital for young patients

Need more Messina.

The more things change …

“As you stroll through Fifth at night, your ear is grated by notes of asthmatic pianos, jarring violins and drunken voices loudly singing saucy songs. The noses are offended by garlic, swill and fried meat from a chophouse. The eye is pained to see drunk men lying on every corner … it is quite as bad as the Barbary Coast in San Francisco. –The San Diego Union complaining about downtown nightlife in 1887, according to a historical VOSD flashback.

Worse yet, it takes 20 minutes to find a free place to park your horse.

Department of Crime and Punishment

• “Like the Swiss Army Knife, the famous AR-15 rifle is a perfect combination internal defense weapons and national defense equipment. Good for home and battle…. Yet the state of California makes it a crime to have an AR-15 type rifle. – Local federal judge Roger Benitez in a ruling that rejected the California assault weapons ban.

My Swiss Army Knife faithfully defended me against many unopened bottles.

• “It was nacho average DUI crash. The DUI driver crashed into the @tacobell in San Ysirdo. First lettuce taco on DUI. Not to spread the fuse, but in 2018, 29% of road deaths were due to driving while intoxicated. – one of a series of San Diego Police Department auto crash tweets. They were quickly deleted.

Mists have been made.

• “Apparently disclosure is not a violation of HIPPO. – LA Times reporter Phil Willon after the governor announced that two gorillas at the San Diego Zoo were infected with COVID-19.

Yes, policeman? I would like to report a linguistic crime. I swear I’m not a lion! [Click] Hello?!