The happy couple (image online here):
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| 87 years old and still dying her hair |
Rich folks, not progressives - trading the portfolio while Speaker. You look at that stuff and feel the Bern.
Strib, per an NYT carry; Paul Pelosi had a car wreck, pulling out in front of an oncoming Jeep while driving drunk, and -
The speaker swung into crisis mode. By Sunday afternoon, Larry Kamer, a crisis manager who has a home in Napa and has worked for high-profile clients including Harvard University and Nike, was retained. The family also consulted with John Keker, one of San Francisco’s most prominent defense lawyers, and Lee Houskeeper, a longtime public relations executive for San Francisco political types, including former Mayor Willie Brown.
The newly assembled team had to deal with a few unwelcome certainties: The accident would refocus attention on Paul Pelosi’s troubled driving record, including a crash when he was a teenager that killed his brother. It would also send reporters — from TMZ to The Napa Valley Register — scrambling after every detail.
And it would shine a spotlight on the Pelosis’ California life, where the couple inhabit two homes, including a 16.55-acre gated estate and mingle with other rich residents, at a time when economic hardship is straining many people of lesser means.
Ultimately, a representative for Nancy Pelosi gave a terse statement emphasizing Nancy Pelosi’s distance from the accident.
“The speaker will not be commenting on this private matter, which occurred while she was on the East Coast,” it read.
‘Everybody in San Francisco now has a Napa place’
The Pelosis have had a weekend home in Napa Valley since 1990, when they spent $2.35 million for their property, which came with a Palladian-style villa, guesthouse and pool.
“It’s not a palace,” Brown said. “If you go up there, you will notice that some people have places with caves for the wine and all that kind of stuff. That’s not what they have. They have a place you can actually live in, without servants. You wouldn’t bring the Three Tenors to sing.” But the Pelosis do have a vineyard, from which they sell grapes.
“Everybody in San Francisco now has a Napa place,” Brown continued. “Everybody who can afford it.”
All that damage control expenditure, lawyering up to the gills, in order for what? The advice to say, "No comment." How stupendously clever. Never would have thought of that, myself. There's more -
[...] Among the powerful political and social figures who inhabit the Pelosis’ world, there was abundant sympathy and some protectiveness after what happened over Memorial Day weekend.
A person who witnessed the accident said both cars were totaled, and that Paul Pelosi simply sat in the car, seemingly frozen, for several minutes, until the sheriff and members of the Fire Department arrived moments later.
Neither Pelosi nor the driver of the Jeep was injured.
Some friends felt that Pelosi’s full night in custody at the Napa County Jail after the accident was excessive. Others were puzzled why their friend hadn’t preempted the whole ordeal by simply taking a car service home.
And some local residents suggested that, in an earlier era in Napa, driving after drinking was met with understanding, rather than criminal charges.
“I feel just awful about what’s happened because there was a time when if a thing like this happened, the cops would take you home,” said society doyenne Diane Wilsey, better known as Dede.
Privileged for so long that Dede wonders - why did the cops not simply drive Dad Pelosi home after the unfortunate meeting of two motor vehicles? Things were better back then.
Totaled a Porsche, so give him a lift.
Pick a different color for the next one?