Charles Pierce: The California Recall Results Were a Resounding Win for Common Sense

[Nevilledog]

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Charles P. Pierce
@CharlesPPierce
It was a ringing endorsement of masking, and of vaccine mandates, and a well-deserved thrashing for the pro-pandemic propaganda of the conservative media ecosystem.

The California Recall Results Were a Resounding Win for Common Sense
It was a ringing endorsement of masking, and of vaccine mandates, and a well-deserved thrashing for the pro-pandemic propaganda of the conservative media ecosystem.
esquire.com
8:11 AM · Sep 15, 2021

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a37608877/california-recall-election-results-lessons-gavin-newsom-larry-elder-covid/

It appears that, as talented as it is at infecting humans, and in making conservative pundits look even more like idiots, the old Covid-19 virus is as terrible a general election candidate as Barry Goldwater or Walter Mondale were. Operating within the looney-tunes recall system to which California continues to cling like a faded dowager to her jewelry, the pro-contagion forces were thoroughly routed by incumbent Governor Gavin Newsom and the No Deadly Virus Party by a mere 30-odd points or so. From the Los Angeles Times:

The recall offered Republicans their best chance in more than a decade to take the helm of the largest state in the union. But the effort was undercut when Newsom and the nation’s leading Democrats, aided by visits to California by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, portrayed the campaign to oust the governor as a “life and death” battle against “Trumpism” and far-right anti-vaccine activists.Appearing resolute, Newsom cast the rejection of the recall as a vote in support “of all those things we hold dear as Californians.” His victory, he said, was a victory for science-based COVID-19 vaccines to end the pandemic and abortion rights for women, as well as economic and racial justice.

(Before moving on, let’s pause for a moment to throw more rocks at California’s recall process, which enabled this $300 million tantrum in the first place, a system so ass-backwards I’m amazed that we don’t have it up here in the Commonwealth—God save it!—and something that passed its sell-by date sometime around half-past William Howard Taft. As Rep. Karen Bass pointed out to Joy Reid on MSNBC, the gubernatorial recall was one of 60 (!) undertaken in California on Tuesday night. From this, Bass concluded that some highly organized shenanigans were afoot.)

All of which is true, and certainly the homestretch appearances by the president and vice-president were more than merely helpful, as was Newsom’s deft hand at hanging the former president* around the neck of his closest competitor, veteran talk-show nuisance Larry Elder. But more than anything else, this was a triumph for the common sense regulations necessary to combat the still-surging national pandemic. It was a ringing endorsement of masking, and of vaccine mandates, as well as a well-deserved thrashing for the pro-pandemic propaganda of the conservative media ecosystem. Elder got wild applause from his campaign audiences for saying this kind of thing. From Newsweek:

"I don't drink coffee, I drink tea, and when I become governor, assuming there are still mandates for vaccines and mandates for face masks, they will be repealed before I have my first cup of tea…"I have been vaccinated. I am almost 70. I am in a high risk category. I have a rare blood disease. My doctor strongly advised me to get vaccinated. But a lot of people feel very differently. Isn't this America?”

*snip*

[highplainsdem]

1. +1,000,000

[markie]

2. hate to be negative

but it was still 30% irrational... and that is too many to have a good healthy democracy/civilization