Well, California voters proved Yogi Beara wrong. It wasn’t deja vu all over again.
For the second time in 20 years, a Democrat governor has faced a recall election. Except this time, Gavin Newsom was more victorious that Gray Davis, who for some reason was recalled within the first year of his second term, after being re-elected in 2002.
Let’s face facts. The reason Davis was recalled was because he was a Democrat in one of the most populous states during the middle of two wars the Republicans had started to make a terrible President seem more like a leader. During the 2002 election, Republicans picked up seats all over the country piggybacking off the deaths and injuries caused by 9/11.
But the main reason Davis lost was that one of his challengers was popular. Let’s face it, Arnold Schwarzenegger could’ve been running as anything (a Socialist, a Green Party representative, whatever) and still would’ve won because voters aren’t so smart. Or at least they weren’t 20 years ago.
And that might be why Newsom is resting comfortably for another year. I don’t think Schwarzenegger was a good governor. I think he’s learned the errors of his ways and rejected the Republican Party in the last five years. His openness after the Jan. 6 insurrection coup attempt was very brave to admit he was a victim of child abuse and witnessed domestic abuse growing up. His metaphor for the sword getting stronger every time it’s beaten was inspirational.
But he still wasn’t a good governor. He was popular. Based on his popularity in 2003, he attracted voters.
So, why couldn’t the Republicans wait until November of 2022? It’s just 14 months away to the general elections, so why couldn’t they come back harder next year?
Because Republicans are already on life support. The same voters who were so willing to send Davis away and vote Schwarzenegger in are now in two areas – more experienced or dead.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. As as Roger Daltrey said, “We won’t get fooled again.”
With 46 candidates facing Newsom, including conservative talk show host Larry Elder and former actor and athlete Caitlyn Jenner (neither having served in any elected office), voters weren’t ready to make the same mistake again. It didn’t help that Trump came between the two recalls elections to prove that popularity isn’t the same as leaderships.
Republicans were so willing to prove the 2020 election were fraudulent that California would recall those “cheating Democrats.”
Only they didn’t. About 70 percent of the voters cast their ballots for “No” as of this posting.
Now, the Republicans have one huge egg on its face and is doing what the Party always does – screaming fraud.
It doesn’t matter if it’s true. They can scream it long and loud enough only if a certain group people will believe it and they will scream it long and loud enough, so they’ll demand changes to the voting laws.
But as Covid-19 cases are killing about 1,100 a day, how much longer are people going to care about fraudulent election results? Not one person who was supportive of the recall has said anything concrete that Newsom was doing as governor that warranted his removal. People are speaking about cities like Portland, Ore., as bad, but not giving examples.
Because I said so seems to be their political stance. They don’t like an elected official.
Now, what does this mean for the 2022 election? At this point, I don’t know. It’s still a long way and it seems the GOP is running around like that one tattler in your school looking at anything people are doing wrong to tell the administrators. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez goes to the Met Gala with a dress reading “Tax the Rich” and everyone loses their mind.
Yet, how many of them even knew the Met Gala existed this time last week?
They apparently didn’t mind the Trump Administration grifting the American public for four years.
It’s obvious the recall is a black eye for the GOP and one they didn’t need. It seems their attempts to hold the majority are failing. What’s worse is how much longer are voters going to accept their tokenism?
Elder is black. And Jenner is transgendered. It seems they were trying to get “woke” voters. However, not a lot of people like Jenner. And just six years ago, conservative and Christians were calling her the worst of names just because she got the Arthur Ashe courage award over a veteran with a prosthetic leg.
Elder is another problem both conservatives and black people are going to have to have a “Come to Jesus” moment. I’m not saying that black people can’t be conservatives. In America, you should be to have any political ideology you want. However, black Republicans have built up the Angry Black Man and Angry Black Woman stereotypes so much, it’s becoming parody.
Worse, they are fighting amongst themselves. Candace Owens and Kimberly Klacik are fighting amongst themselves. They’re both black and they’re both conservatives. It seems they both want the spotlight.
While black conservatives blame the Democrats for using BIPOC for their political gain, the GOP has been doing it so badly that they’re trying to use Nicki Minaj’s comments on not getting a vaccine as Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. It seems anytime any black person comes out to question the Democrats, conservative pundits jizz a little in their pants and cherry pick their comments.
It’s complete tokenism as its worst. Did the Republican Party think that California’s BIPOC voters would immediately vote for Elder just because of skin color. They do this a lot. In 2014, the Republicans in Oklahoma had its first black Speaker of the State House T.W. Shannon run for the U.S. Senate. Shannon’s black and a conservative. I’ve often thought it was a ploy to build him up over the next two years so they can run him in the 2016 Presidential election.
But, voters were smart (and being Oklahoma a little racist) to vote James Lankford, a white person, over Shannon. It didn’t work because Trump came out in 2015 with his intentions to run and that fucked up everything because Trump became popular so much he ended up winning the Presidency.
And I’m sure Republicans will try to bring up one more token black politician before their eventual demise, which should happen sometime over the next 10-15 years. Not for the Presidency. They’re not that stupid.
But still, when Barack Obama chose Joe Biden over Hillary Clinton as his running mate, the Republicans chose Sarah Palin as John McCain’s because she was a woman, plain and simple.
Losing a recall is something the Republicans didn’t need because come the general elections in November of 2022, voters will still remember it. And Republican were banking on regaining control of the House of Representatives and Senate, but it might hurt them more.
And if they lose in 2022, their chances look worse in 2024. If that’s the case, the 2026 elections will be their last chance if Libertarians haven’t taken over. (And Libertarians themselves will have to have a CTJ moment themselves to acknowledge their misogynistic ways. Jo Jorgensen was way more qualified than Gary Johnson, but you didn’t hear near as much of her as Johnson.) I honestly think we’ll have a Libertarian President within 20 years if not sooner and possibly a Democratic Socialist President.
Republicans have become the party of far extremists and racists. They’re a dying species and a dying species will do anything to fight for its existence.
And they’ve lost yet another battle. How many more do they got left in them?
Zane Says 