PITY THE POOR THIEVES: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom continues to offer himself up as poster child for everything that's wrong with the worldview that pompously and pathetically calls itself progressive. Newsom says he's convinced that some cable car conductors are stealing fare money. Here's how he put it:

"I am convinced, based on my own personal experience, (the money) is not going to Muni, but it's going in the pockets of some of our well-meaning operators."

Notice the reflexive attribution of good intentions to the alleged thieves. They may steal, but heck, they mean well. This from a guy who famously advocated violating civil marriage laws in the name of a higher, better good. (Unlike Rosa Parks, Newsom conveniently didn't volunteer to go to jail when he violated San Francisco statutes.) Here we have the very essence of the disease that rots the left and the once-great Democratic Party. The rules that ordinary people must follow don't apply to us. If Enron's Ken Lay were to say the acts for which he now stands indicted were motivated by a higher purpose, do you suppose Gavin Newsom would simply shrug and say, "I can see his point. Sometimes there's just no other choice."