Gore Vidal, who called the Persian Gulf War "a CNN light show" would seem to count, where Powell is concerned, as among the ranks of the unimpressed. But with others, like San Francisco Board of Supervisor Tom Ammiano, Powell, the "hero of the Gulf War" has proved himself to be at best a miserable fumbler; at worst a bigoted goofus

Ammiano prefers, it seems, not to kiss up to bigoted goofuses, no matter the missions of mercy they later peddle. Powell, who recently reiterated that he would not run for the presidency in 2000, would not have received Ammiano's vote anyway.

But San Francisco Supervisor Gavin Newsom, a new board member who has already been dubbed the "straight white male," wanted the city's Board of Supervisors to thank General Powell for his mentoring and educational works on behalf of youths.

Shouting that pitted pro-Powell and anti-Powell forces turned, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, into "a Desert Storm in San Francisco politics."

"You have to realize," Ammiano told Newsom, "the name of Colin Powell for better or for worse, is a red flag…at most it's insensitive. There are many gays and lesbians who thought…Colin Powell's remarks about the inappropriateness of gays in the military shames those people."

The Board of Supervisor's President, Barbara Kaufman, was asked by Supervisor Susan Leal, to declare Newsom out of order.

Newsom insisted that Ammiano's opposition to Powell "just reeks of hypocrisy," because, "he said, "the president was in a position to do something about gays in the military, and didn't." Newsom challenged that Board members would be unlikely to ignore the president. He asked if every political move made in San Francisco had to be hamstrung by a litmus test.

Even so, the Board seemed to side with Ammiano, who was successful at returning the matter to committee where, it is believed, it will die. Supervisor Katz said,"It's difficult when someone (like Powell) has hurt so many people."

Supervisor Jose Medina explained his support of Ammiano's position this way: "If Anita Bryant raised $500,000 for children, it would still not make it more palatable."

Another Supervisor, Leslie Katz, said that although she and others on the Board of Supervisors favored the work Powell was doing, that the general himself had become the issue.

Newsom said he disagreed with Colin Powell on gays in the military, but that he didn't want to ignore him and refuse to comment on other issues, like the youth programs, about which the two do agree. Newsom appeared aggravated by the suggestion that he was attacking gays and lesbians.

"Tom and I disagree on a lot of things," reflected Newsom, "I care deeply about these issues, as he does. Tom, with all due respect, doesn't have a corner on issues related to gays and lesbians."