The California press corps, or, as Hair Gel called them in his train-wreck video, the “home-grown team,” has been the group asleep at the wheel regarding the Recall of Gavin Newsom.
The L.A. Times editorial board comes rushing to the defense of Governor Newsom as the recall looks like it could potentially go either way at this point. https://t.co/qqj1s2uixF
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) August 13, 2021
Now that it’s a good possibility that His Hairfulness could lose, they want Californians to WAKE UP! and pay attention to how they feel about it.
Why, if Newsom gets recalled, they might actually have to do some real journalism for a change.
Oh, the humanity!
This is the price that you pay for not waking up and paying attention to the will of the California people.
WAKE UP, CALIFORNIA!
Our @latimesopinion editorial board's view of the proposed recall of Gov. @GavinNewsom: https://t.co/BVqJ71ouoI
— Sewell Chan (@sewellchan) August 13, 2021
Sewell Chan and the rest of the Los Angeles Times Opinion Editorial Board think that replacing Newsom now would be a disaster.
Did I use the word, “think”? My bad. Because there wasn’t a bit of thought put into this screed. It reads like a text thread or a listicle made on a drunken Friday night.
It begins:
Removing Newsom and replacing him with an untested and unprepared alternative who wouldn’t represent the values of most Californians would be a disaster. It would doom the state to months of political and bureaucratic dysfunction and economic uncertainty.
As I asked of PTSD Ann O’Leary, I ask the same of Chan and this bunch: What planet do you live on? Whose values are you talking about? Whether they think Newsom should be removed or not, I know very few people who think California values are being represented by His Hairfulness. Even some of the progressives I know want him gone.
One of my Twitter followers made this salient point:
When progressives hate Newsom as much as the GOP, it’s time to acknowledge he may be in trouble. In the fall I repeatedly stated that Dems made an error and they should have put up a progressive challenger. I was laughed at by tons of journos. “Oh, you don’t get it.”
No, they were the ones who didn’t get it—but now they do. Instead of acknowledging their arrogance and short-sightedness, they want Californians to WAKE UP!
Two days in a row we’re getting that hair-on-fire rallying cry. Wonder which California Democrat genius came up with it?
And last I checked, we are already in the midst of political and bureaucratic dysfunction and economic uncertainty with Hair Gel at the helm. Stimulus checks and free lunches notwithstanding, could we do any worse?
The Op-Ed Board goes on to rattle off all the things that Newsom doesn’t get right:
- He’s is a muddled communicator. <*clutch the pearls!*>
- He doesn’t play well with the Legislature. You could have fooled me, since they have done nothing but rubber stamp Hair Gel’s every move up to this point.
- He has “occasionally” promised more than he could deliver. Yeah, that 2020 State of the State speech comes to mind. What about that homeless problem?
This is the most laughable:
His prodigious fundraising has raised legitimate concerns about the role of money in politics.
Jason Kinney, his friend, lobbyist, and “fixer” of almost 20 years has made some questionable moves and made a crapton of money because of his proximity to Newsom.
Newsom has done the bidding of the California Teachers Unions and kept children out of school unnecessarily, among other egregious and intrusive policies that have made parent’s blood boil. The CTA and ATF just dropped $2 million into his Stop the Republican Recall coffers. If Hair Gel survives this, what do you think he will give them?
“Legitimate concerns”, has left the building; all that’s left is corruption and malfeasance.
These are things that voters would appropriately consider during a regular reelection campaign, but they do not justify using the extraordinary power of recall to remove a legitimately elected governor in favor of someone who may only have a sliver of support from voters. Indeed, by our reckoning, Newsom’s missteps are minor when compared to the good he has done for California as one of the nation’s strongest leaders on the COVID-19 pandemic. In our hyperpolarized time, sadly, decisive leadership has also enraged and galvanized the governor’s critics.
Interesting that these Leftist journalists think that FL Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decisive leadership is horrible and that he is a dictator. But these same people are saddened that Newsom’s “decisive leadership” has “enraged and galvanized the governor’s critics.”
There’s quite a bit of confusion between “leadership” and “dictatorship” these days.
The 46 candidates vying to replace Newsom — most of them men, most of them Republican, and most of them utterly unqualified — offer an endless litany of grievances that are little more than objections to his liberal policies — policies, we may add, that were clear to everyone when 62% of voters chose Newsom in the 2018 election. The whole thing would be comical if the stakes weren’t so high.
The critics paint a picture of a state teetering on collapse that is wildly irresponsible and in many cases just flat wrong: The streets are overrun with criminals thanks to Newsom! (Nope.) People and businesses are fleeing California in record numbers because of his terrible policies! (Wrong.) Newsom caused the state’s massive wildfires because he mismanaged the forest! (Ridiculous.) He kept changing the rules during the pandemic — but he also didn’t change them enough! (What?)
Do they smell what they’re shoveling here? Or are they nose blind from breathing in pee and feces from the homeless encampments?
These crises were years in the making and — let’s face it — Newsom inherited them from his Democratic predecessor, Jerry Brown. But Newsom had the misfortune to take office just as they reached the boiling point. And then, the pandemic hit and forced Newsom to pivot into emergency mode and set aside the usual business of governance to focus on addressing the emerging and not fully understood threat of COVID-19.
So, His Hairfulness had no powers as Lt. Governor to influence then-Governor Jerry Brown? If Newsom was so concerned about being saddled with these problems when he became governor, why did he not focus on solving them? I am old enough to remember that the press slathered over the Lt. Governor and his obsession with legalizing cannabis, as well as penned perpetual puff pieces about when he would announce his run for governor.
Give me a frickin’ break.
Newsom’s biggest error was a momentary lapse of judgment. As governor, he issued tough public health restrictions intended to limit the spread of COVID-19, including a limit on more than three households gathering. But he didn’t always follow his own guidance; in November he and his wife dined unmasked and shoulder to shoulder with 10 other people in a private semi-enclosed outdoor room at the French Laundry, a high-end restaurant in Napa Valley. It was a mistake, for which Newsom apologized — but it was in no way a fireable offense.
By whose standards, Sewell? And why is it that the PG&E deal that Newsom brokered may have benefited the French Laundry birthday boy Jason Kinney? The L.A. Times wrote about the blurred ethical lines in their relationship back in December 2020. Why no follow-up? Because the local Sacramento ABC10 actually has real journalists, that’s why.
I won’t tax you with the rest of the drivel. Go over to Sewell Chan’s tweet if you want to read the train wreck in its entirety.
But here is the interesting tidbit about all this. Mr. Sewell Chan is leaving California to become the new editor-in-chief of the Texas Tribune.
Another state where Leftist journalists hate the governor.
T-Squared: Sewell Chan is The Texas Tribune’s next editor-in-chief
Well, with this guy at the helm, they’ll continue to clamor; because if they want “credible nonpartisan journalism”, he ain’t the one.
How hypocritical of Chan to demand Californian’s WAKE UP! and Vote “NO” on the Recall, when he will not even be here to deal with the consequences of either choice. Twitter account “Rosie memos” was feeling me on this one:
The head of @latimes editorial page, who told us today that we better not #RecallNewsom, is moving to Texas in October. Here’s an idea Sewell: if you don’t even have to live with the consequences of Gavins terrible “leadership” stop telling other people to. https://t.co/xf8TD0OuZM pic.twitter.com/6lo0xxRFvM
— Rosie memos (@almostjingo) August 13, 2021
And while the Texas Tribune may want him, actual Texans wish he’d just keep himself in California.
@sewellchan , leave your liberal political crap in California or don’t move here.
— Longhorn Nation 🤘 Native Neanderthal Texan (@Longhrn_Nation) August 13, 2021
We don't want him here.
— Yiskah (@yiskahlife) August 14, 2021
Yeah, he’s all yours, Texas. Good luck with that.
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