So you’re telling me Republicans are more interested in rehashing the past than about focusing on the future? I am shocked.
Yes, that was sarcasm, everything the Republicans do is about focusing on the past and not the present. Every decision they make is about reliving the past (recalls, audits, etc) instead of ever offering a compelling vision for the future. The reason is simple, they don’t have a coherent vision of their values anymore, and they don’t live or act in any kind of morally consistent way.
The recall was a legitimate political process and a check and balance, and was done through collecting signatures from registered voters to trigger it.
I may have missed it, but I do not recall anyone saying it was illegitimate - just dumb and a waste of Californian tax payers money. My point is that all of the rhetoric these days coming from the Republican party is entirely focusing on the past. I used the recall and audits as examples of how they are more focused on looking at something that has already happened, in the past, rather than focusing on what to do to win an election in the future.
Everything's a waste. Under Newsome's watch, the EDD paid out $31 billion in fraudulent unemployment claims. This recall was based on Newsome's record with crime, homelessness, COVID and the forrest fire mismanagement causing rolling blackouts. That and he was caught dining at the French Laundry with energy company execs who got breaks from liability from causing the fires. I don't know how this is a "focus on the past" at all. Its continuing policies. Lockdowns, defunding the police, restorative justice DAs, and what not. Apparently California wants that all, so be it.
The recall was a partisan attempt to circumvent normal election rules and install a Republican governor in a state in which a Republican otherwise would have no chance at winning. And again, I never said it wasn’t legitimate, nor did I say there weren’t reasonable complaints on Newsom and his leadership and or policies. But what I stated was it was dumb and a waste of money, and that point still stands. It accomplished nothing, was a waste, and if anything just makes Republicans look bad and petty. If Republicans wanted to actually governor seriously and be taken seriously, they would have to participate in government in good faith. They don’t, and don’t have sound policies based on mountains of evidence, are petty, generally incompetent, and incredibly corrupt. Democrats are far from perfect, but at least there is still a contingent of non-fanatical morons in the party. I would consider voting for Republicans if the tried to have a compelling set of policy proposals that made any kind of coherent sense - and most importantly if they started taking climate change seriously.
Would you say the Trump impeachments were a waste, accomplished nothing and made the Democrats look bad and petty? IMO, the dems were searching for reasons to impeach. Same thing. No chance to succeed, waste under your criteria. This was more of a grass roots efforts by citizens who didn't agree with Newsome and his lockdowns, shut down businesses, etc. It was during this climate when the whole recall movement started. If anything, it showed the power of the people more than anything as it was even a miracle we got enough signatures to get it to this point.
Right. Except this was the sixth attempted recall by California Republicans. It had nothing to do with any of those things, because the recalls started before he had any record as a governor. That happened long after the most recent recall effort had begun. It's so cute how you keep trying to pretend that any of the recalls were tied to anything Newsom did or didn't do, aside from being a Democrat. Republicans largely don't like Democratic policies. Thanks for such a trenchant insight. Yes, California wants liberal policies because it's a liberal state. Even 40% of Republicans in this state agree with mask and vaccine mandates. Trump-style national Republican politics make no sense here, as Elder discovered.
Big deal, Arnold had 7 recall attempts. Same with Pete Wilson. It's filing paperwork. Recall attempts happen a lot, it's amazing it even qualified to a vote.
My point is that Republicans spend more time thinking about and reveling in the past rather than the future. They pine for the 1950s back, so it’s no wonder they don’t spend any time focusing on the future.
The Impeachment process was preceded by investigations that proved corruption whereas none of this happened in the Newsom recall attempt.
No worries, I take it you're admitting that the recalls had nothing to do with anything Newsom did. It was just the opposition "filing paperwork" because they can. It's not that amazing, considering there was a pandemic. The pandemic creates a perfect situation for a governor to cause discontent no matter which policies he adopts: aggressively use mandates to try and limit the virus, you piss off conservatives and business, who want the economy completely open no matter what's going on. Don't aggressively use mandates and everyone else is pissed off that you're not taking the pandemic seriously. It was tailor-made for a recall petition to get enough signatures. The actual vote showed that California as a whole was in no way down on him.
A 1950s that only existed in their minds. The 1950s featured a 90% marginal tax rate on the highest bracket. Conservatives today would call that full-blown communism.
