So the conservative jackass mayor of the conservative jackass town where I grew up turns out not to be quite such a conservative jackass after all. Two years ago, when running for mayor of San Diego, Jerry Sanders was firmly supportive of civil unions and firmly against gay marriage, which played well with the conservative jackasses who populate the city. Yesterday, in a moving, tearful speech, he explained he has had a "change of heart," and revealed for the first time that this issue hits home for him:

"I have close family members and friends who are a member of the gay and lesbian community. Those folks include my daughter Lisa, as well as members of my personal staff.

"I want for them the same thing that we all want for our loved ones — for each of them to find a mate whom they love deeply and who loves them back; someone with whom they can grow old together and share life's experiences.

"And I want their relationships to be protected equally under the law. In the end, I couldn't look any of them in the face and tell them that their relationship — their very lives — were any less meaningful than the marriage I share with my wife Rana. Thank you."

If you want to read a complete transcript of the mayor's comments, don't bother with the Web site for the San Diego Union-Tribune (San Diego's only major newspaper); they don't have it. Don't go looking for full video of the mayor's speech on any of the Web sites for San Diego's TV stations, either; they don't have it. For a transcript, you'll need to turn to an alternative paper's site or a blog, and as for the video (don't miss!), San Francisco's CBS station has it. I think it speaks volumes about San Diego that the city's local media can't be bothered to provide full coverage of the mayor's watershed comments.