knowing that this is both material for a reality television show and a complete plane crash of a campaign, which is essentially material for a reality show. pic.twitter.com/y0Rn8V0ECn
— World Famous Art Thief (@CalmSporting) April 24, 2021
So, Californians… just how likely is it that Gov. Gav will be recalled?
I know Jenner has a forty-year rep for toxic attention-seeking — there were SNL skits! — but is this really the best she can do, now?
Also, doesn’t Mary Carey already hold the trademark in your glorious state for running a gubernatorial campaign based on the slogan LOOK! TITTIES!… ?
Well done Caitlyn Jenner, running for governor wins you the one medal you never got: stupidest motherfucker on earth. Running as a Trump Republican & entering a world that hates you.
— Ron Perlman (@perlmutations) April 24, 2021
Dear @Caitlyn_Jenner: District Attorneys are elected by voters, not appointed by Gov @GavinNewsom.
Also, do you know how a bill becomes a law? Here is a cool Schoolhouse Rock video for you to educate yourself. https://t.co/E0hiH96QDw
Do you know what “veto” means? Or “budget”? https://t.co/wwfvQ5XM6I
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) April 25, 2021
Oh, look! She’s scored a high-profile political manager!
With Brad Parscale involved – what can go wrong? https://t.co/uiQ4fIuqp6
— Susan Del Percio (@DelPercioS) April 23, 2021
Alas, Caitlyn Jenner hiring Brad Parscale is just as promising as Trump hiring Rudy Giuliani and Gaetz hiring Roger Stone
— Lindy Li (@lindyli) April 23, 2021
raven
huh?
HumboldtBlue
She’s just the clown show, Gavin’s going nowhere.
Woodrow/asim
This is horrific on so many levels it’s hard to measure. As someone whose Mom got wrapped up in GOP grooming ala “Jane Roe”…yeah.
I don’t want to take Mz. Jenner’s agency, and right to make decisions, away. This just feels off.
West of the Rockies
Gavin won with 7.5 million votes. The recall is a thing because 1.5 million Trumplings had a hissy fit. Jenner will not win. Nor will John Cox or anyone else with an R next to their name.
Bruuuuce
So let’s review:
1. The big-name GOP candidate for CA governor is a crazy woman whose party members almost certainly hate her for being trans but is willing to use her to replace an liberal Democrat
2. The big-name GOP candidate for NY governor is the son of the crazy man who thought Four Seasons Landscaping was an appropriate venue for a press conference to continue pushing electoral lies
3. The big-name candidate for GA Senator is a political novice living out of state, with big-name recognition from sports among the olds but whose time was decades ago. Who is, of course, a blah man, and, like the trans woman, probably hated for what he is by most party members simply for existing.
Oh, these are going to be interesting races.
dmsilev
He’s a lot more popular than Gov. Davis was, and CA is quite a bit more Democratic now than it was back then, so I’d say ‘possible but not likely’. And certainly not by someone who has chosen to cover herself in Trumpstink(tm).
MagdaInBlack
I’m with Ron Perlman.
HumboldtBlue
Here’s a woman worth saluting, the christening of the USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) named after the first woman to earn the Navy Cross.
mrmoshpotato
When a Congressman decides you need to watch some Schoolhouse Rock to educate yourself…
NotMax
@HumboldtBlue
Cannot help it. Every time that surname is seen I mentally slide over one lane and flash on this.
:)
debbie
She labels herself as a “compassionate disrupter.” FSM help us.
HumboldtBlue
@NotMax:
Well let us all say the name together!
mrmoshpotato
@debbie:
WTF? She, Jill Stein, Susan Sarandon, Vermont Jesus and George Warcriminal Bush can all flinge themselves into the Sun.
feebog
As a lifelong California Democrat, here’s my take. First, this has little to do with Newsom’s handling of covid, the recall started almost upon his being sworn in. Second, California is now has the lowest positivity rate in the nation. I check this stuff daily, in LA county we are at .09%. Not bad for a county with 10 million people. Third, the earliest a recall election could be held will be November. By Mid-June every adult that wants to be vaccinated will be. The economy is going to come back big time over the summer and into the Fall. Fourth, support for the recall right now is around 40%. That is going to drop incrementally as the state fully reopens. Fifth, there are going to be multiple Republican candidates, who will be splitting the vote. In the unlikely event Newson should be recalled, someone like Tom Steyer (whose name has been dropped by a number of people) would grab a huge share of the votes. Chances are slim and none that Newsom loses a recall.
Earl
Newsom is relatively popular here. The last recall election — Davis in 2003 — was shaped by the absolute bedshitting of our utilities markets. tl;dr — many of us saw our power bills triple and the CA government allowed Enron free reign over the utilities market. So that’s not an ideal climate for running a campaign.
That said, if this comes to a vote, it will draw the freaks like a Trump to cocaine. There was more than 100 candidates on the ballot last time. So anything can happen.
Sister Golden Bear
I think a number of cis people are gonna be hesitant to point out her utter lack of qualifications because they’re afraid of being called transphobic. Likewise with her being a Trumpe. So it’s gonna fall to us trans folx (who pretty much despise her).
Cis people, it’s not transphobic, she is utterly unqualified and a Trumper. Point it out.
#HowCanWeNotMissYouWhenYouWontGoAway
Martin
I’d say unlikely the recall will succeed. Gavin and Biden are both popular. That said, recall elections are complete dice throws because they’re such odd things. But I’d say no chance Jenner wins.
opiejeanne
@debbie: I hate the use of “disruptor” as if it’s a positive thing.
West of the Rockies
@Sister Golden Bear:
Thanks, Sister. I am sure we will hear some transphobic bullshit and looks-shaming and such, but I hope it comes from just Repubs.
You’re right. Jenner is utterly unqualified.
JanieM
@Bruuuuce:
I’m old, and I was a pretty avid sports fan earlier in my life, and a quick Google search yields no one I’ve ever heard of.
So…who is this big-name person?
Earl
ps — the wildcard is that Gavin is a rich asshole. Previously he was unfortunately our mayor in sf, and was tapping his campaign manager / close aid / “friend” ‘s wife. While she also worked for him.
I’m not sure if it made national news that he rolled into French Laundry — an $850/head prix fixe restaurant — during the middle of covid in absolute violation of all his lockdown nonsense. But it sure played on a loop on news here. And just like cops being pricks on camera, you’ll never convince me that the one time he did it he got filmed.
So if one of his I’m too rich for rules moments comes out in the middle of this campaign… who knows what could happen.
Sister Golden Bear
To echo what fellow Californians have said. Gavin ain’t going anywhere.
Gray Davis got elected by a bare margin, while Newsom won by a pretty comfortable one (around 10 percent I think), and his popularity has consistently been higher than Davis.
Republican haven’t held any statewide offices for years, so it was combination of hissy fit and trying to sneak in a Republican governor without having, ya know, winning a majority of the electorate (i.e. they’re following the Bernie Sanders strategy of winning with a bare plurality).
IndyCat32
@JanieM: Herschel Walker.
opiejeanne
@Earl: I regret that my husband didn’t run for Governor, just so he could talk about that time he ran for Governor of California.
Gin & Tonic
@Sister Golden Bear: Arnold Schwarzenegger was completely unqualified too.
2liberal
@JanieM:
https://sports.yahoo.com/senator-herschel-walker-it-could-happen-191742260.html
herschel walker
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Jenner is there to peel off some number of the hyper woke – enough to give some evil culture war GOP fuckhead a shot. They’re imagining some nonzero number of morons who will say “oooohhh – trans. How brave! I have to support the movement!”
Gin & Tonic
@Earl: I’m just pissed off that he got in to FL at all. Every time I went out to the Bay Area I tried to score a res, and every time I failed. Oh, well, Manresa is plenty nice.
Earl
@Gin & Tonic: If you get a chance, make sure to try Saison.
Gin & Tonic
@Earl: Yes, I’ve eaten there, too.
Sister Golden Bear
@Gin & Tonic: I wasn’t a fan of the Governator, but I will say Schwarzenegger was minimally qualified. Unqualified as per holding any prior office, but he had actually run a successful business as a movie producer — rather than just being a reality star. Plus, IIRC he’d been moving in political circles for a number of years.
And unlike Jenner, he was pretty damn liberal by Republican standards — not sure where he’d fall on the European political spectrum — but he was an actual example of the mythical economically conservative/socially liberal.
Rand Careaga
Well, I’ve lived in California for all but one year since my birth late in the Truman administration, and I think it unlikely that Newsom will be recalled, a couple of own-goals notwithstanding. He’s actually done better in office than I expected: formerly I—and Jerry Brown, for that matter—regarded him as a showboater.
I feel compelled to add, however, that I’m the guy who said of Ronald Reagan when he failed to wrest the GOP nomination from Gerald Ford in 1976, “Well, thank god we’ve seen the last of that clown!”
My political prognostications should be weighted accordingly.
debbie
@Earl:
It even made news in Ohio.
Bruuuuce
@JanieM: The Former Grifter is pushing Herschel Walker
ETA: And I see that while I was cooking a snack, several folks already answered. Thank you
Joe Falco
@Bruuuuce:
Georgia races are going to be real interesting next year. So far, you have Vernon Jones, a blah man who is a Democrat turned Trumplican, challenging Governor Kemp. And then there’s Representative Jody Hice (R-Gilead), a dyed-in-the-wool Trumplican, who announced he would be running against Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger so as to defeat the apostate Brad and usher in a thousand years reign of his Lord and Savior, The Former Guy. And then there’s loser ex-congressman Paul “Lies from the Pit of Hell” Broun who’s running for his old seat his buddy Jody kept warm for him when Broun went on his own quixotic quest for higher office. Georgia politics will be anything but boring in ’22.
J R in WV
@HumboldtBlue:
I spent most of a year at the Ingalls yard in Pascagoula, Mississippi~!~ it was the worst year of my short Navy career. Pascagoula in 1972 was still pretty much living in the Jim Crow era.
A friend my parent’s age was visiting family in the area, and knew from my parents that Wife was working at the Pascagoula library, and so dropped by to visit her. She had worked with him in the past, knew him because he lived near her grandparents in my hoe town.
So she was home sick, and delighted to see him. Ran up to hug him in fact, white haired gentleman. After a few minutes he left, and the head librarian attempted to fire Wife for “An unseemly demonstration of affection to a black man!” A chancre on the ass of the Confederacy, if you ask me.
Couldn’t fire her, of course, as the Civil Rights Act was still in full effect… but they could certainly make her daily job unpleasant. A few months later I was (finally) discharged and we returned to WV. But I will always despise Pascagoula, Mississippi.
J R in WV
@IndyCat32:
Not only totally unqualified, but also mentally ill, perhaps from many blows to his head while active in the NFL. No chance!
Bruuuuce
@Joe Falco: Definitely living under the cliched Chinese curse in Georgia. Who knows, maybe we can kick some coccyx there on the state level.
HumboldtBlue
@J R in WV:
Helluva tale.
And fuck Pascagoula.
rp
Greenwald supports her, so there you go.
namekarB
That is the way my tea leaves read also. Democrats are 46.3% of the voters, while Republicans have 24%. Independent (no party) is now 24%. So the anti-Newsom voters need all the Republicans and Independents. There are some minor parties in the mix, Greens, Libertarians, Peace and Freedom but if Newsom carries the Democrats and grabs enough independents, it should be a cake walk.
Mary G
In 1999, when I was living in South Pasadena, my handyman, a complete loon, started a run for governor in the 2000 election. It cost him $3,000 and he needed a small number of signatures. He got onto the ballot and received several hundred votes.
Current law from CA.gov
So Caitlyn’s run so far has cost her pocket change. Republicans are trying the Sarah Palin play and we all know how that turned out. The fact that no serious candidate has thrown in so far shows it’s just another mechanism to fleece some rubes.
Gov. Gav. has moved on to things Californians care about, as the covid will be old news here by Nov.
I’ve always thought of him as an idiot with a pretty face, but that’s enough to beat any Republican unless something big changes.
LeftCoastYankee
I suspect we’ll be getting a wave of dumb celebrities who see Trump’s election as a result of his awesome celebritude, and that they can parlay their notoriety into political success (i.e. money more than electoral success).
And she’ll get attention because according to Conserva-logic, Libs should love all transgender people, even the awful and incompetent. They’ll loudly support her on social media as long as they can howl their silly takes about “Libs are hypocrites on transgender rights because they don’t love Caitlyn Jenner, something something something”, until she has no chance, and then they’ll move on to the next loud and shiny thing.
kindness
There is no way Newsome goes Gray Davis. The problem is the threshold for getting a petition on the ballot is ridiculously low for such a high population state. Republicans had petitions out to recall Newsome the day after he was elected. It’s just sand in the gears. The assholes.
Mary G
@Mary G: Democrats are also fundraising on the recall – I cannot tell you how many people from all over the country have asked for money to split with him, and to all I say newp.
namekarB
@Mary G: Well said. I’m a lifelong California Democrat and am no fan of Newsom (or DiFi). To me, he seems like another rich white dude Bro but he does push the policies I support so I don’t think he has much to worry about the recall
surfk9
@Sister Golden Bear:
i worked for the state when he came in and he was a disaster far worse than the public knows
JanieM
@IndyCat32:
@2liberal:
@Bruuuuce:
Ah, thanks. Yes, I’ve heard of him. ;-)
Google gave me two other names that I’ve already forgotten.
L85NJGT
Remember when she skated on vehicular manslaughter?
FelonyGovt
I agree that the recall is likely to fail. Gray Davis was a boring bureaucrat and people were mad as hell about the electric grid and the fact that Texas companies were screwing with California. And Arnold was very famous, if pretty unqualified, and developed kind of a cult following.
In contrast Newsom is pretty popular with Democrats. As to Caitlyn Jenner, I can’t figure out who her constituency is. Liberals won’t vote for her and Republicans are not likely to accept her.
Hoppie
Agree. I preferred Villaraigosa, but Newsome has been okay, particularly after he walked back his misinterpreted waffling on high-speed rail and has been strongish on Covid control.
Repubs are previous-trick ponies. Most of their crap is hail-marys or go-for-brokes. Usually fail these days
To FG: too much of our world is people for whom no publicity is bad publicity. Several Jenners fit that.
SectionH
@Mary G: I blame Kevin fucking Falconer myself. He was a big pusher behind getting the recall thing started. Sadly, he’s not as stupid as Issa, who thought He was gonna win after Davis was recalled. He’s kept a pretty low profile, but in not-unlikely-enough event* that there IS a recall election, he’s the asshole I’d worry the most about. And still not too much.
The Moar You Know
Lotta people don’t like Newsom for closing things. I think Newsom is not particularly good at anything save self promotion. He was an awful Mayor in SF. I want to see his nascent attempts at the presidency crushed right now, But I’m sure as shit not voting for a recall. We’ll get a Republican lunatic that way.
I don’t know if this will succeed or not. Pray it does not.
SectionH
*I’m no handicapper, but 35-1 odds maybe? Nah, longer than that. It should be anyway. But the recent example(s) make(s) me – many of us – nervous. I mean the Davis recall and TFG’s win…
Y’know, Newsom doesn’t strike me as someone I’d like to deal with (never mind wanting to have a beer with him, although we can be extremely snobby about beer down here), but he was actually being a decent governor well before Covid. I was thinking he was better than I’d expected. (I know, what do I know?)
I also think a lot of people are just Another Recall? Uh, no. A lot of things went to shit after that, let’s don’t go there again.
KrackenJack
@feebog:
This.
Plus there needs to be a constitutional amendment to make the outcome of any successful statewide recall the same as the normal succession. Lt Gov., Senate Pres., Speaker of the House, etc. No stupid-ass jungle election. The legislature can add a ballot initiative with a two-thirds vote of both houses. It only needs to be a short paragraph.
Hoppie
@Rand Careaga: The Hollywood joke back in the day was: No! Jimmy Stewart for governor, Ronald Reagan for best friend. So your sentiment was widely shared.
different-church-lady
@mrmoshpotato:
I so want flinge to be a real word.
Poe Larity
The Davis recall was a Cheney-Gas Supplier conspiracy to make sure he would not be relevant in 2004. CA Democrats fell for it.
Gavin isn’t important nationally so most don’t care one way or another, so he’ll survive.
different-church-lady
@rp:
That’s pretty much the final proof that he’s just a troll.
Hoppie
@KrackenJack: Also would like an amendment that initiatives can only be through true citizen involvement. NO PAID signature gatherers. Letting wealthy ashholes and corporations buy initiatives is EVIL. Looking at you, Uber(alles).
meander
It will take a decent Dem turnout to reject the recall, and it looks to this Californian that the Democratic machines are starting to come to life to get out the vote. I’ve received a few text messages already. Also, that the recall proponents are true Trumpers will be a big help — one can’t get enough Trump rejection.
But it is a weird type of election, and anything can happen. (How about a ballot initiative to make it a lot harder to recall the gov? Or at least one that makes it much harder to run for gov in a recall?)
William D
thoughts
Ruckus
@West of the Rockies:
Aw, John Cox. When he was running last time he sent me an email about how great he was. I informed him he was full of shit and that he should fuck off. And unsubscribed to his crap email. I go another one. I translated everything into 4 letter navy speak and sent him a reply to really, really, really fuck off. He sent out one more supposedly from his wife chiding every for treating him so badly. I upped the tone on the reply to that one to maximum. And never got another email from Mr or Mrs cox.
I can’t wait to see what comes along this time from the theft and hate party.
sempronia
@different-church-lady: That would be a great portmanteau word: “flinch” plus “cringe”.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@HumboldtBlue: Yes, if that’s the best the GOP got, then they know the recall isn’t going to work.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Poe Larity: and even then Arnold basically stole the recall from the GOPers who thought it was their moment to reclaim California.
Hoppie
@Ruckus: Con jocks. Spoonerisns can be thought-provoking, eh?
KrackenJack
@Hoppie: The bar definitely needs to be raised in a way that doesn’t privilege wealth. I’ve thought allowing both sides to collect signatures and net them out to see if they clear the threshold would be entertaining. Not effective, but entertaining.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@The Moar You Know:
Fixed it for ya, most everyone else understood that closing stuff down was necessary.
Morzer
I suspect that Caitlyn Jenner will live to regret aligning herself with the Kook Kux Klan. And no, she’s never going to be Governor of Cali.
Chris T.
@Earl:
Which, I would note, was actually Pete Wilson’s fault. (Davis could have responded better but the bulk of the problem was baked into stuff he had no control over.)
Not that voters recognize this sort of thing.
Chris T.
@Poe Larity:
Relevant to what? Gray’s first name fit him well: he was as boring and dull as you get.
Jinchi
@Earl:
That election was my first opportunity to vote in California and I remember thinking it was utterly insane.
Two questions:
(1) Should we fire the governor? (majority rules)
(2) Which of these clowns should replace him? (plurality rules and the sitting governor is not an option)
With 135 names on the ballot it was possible that 49% could vote to keep the sitting governor and he could be replaced by a person winning less than 1% on the second question. In the end, 44% supported keeping the governor. Schwartzenegger’s name recognition kept his numbers on the second question high, which kept the whole thing from looking like a complete mockery of democracy. But nobody voted on Schwartzenegger vs. Wilson. There were almost certainly many people who voted for both of them.
Jinchi
@Morzer:
To me, Jenner’s announcement certified her as a true Republican. Anti-trans legislation has become a centerpiece of the party’s agenda, but she’s happy to literally hire the Trump team to run her campaign. As a wealthy white celebrity who can be a useful idiot for them, they give her a pass. The fact that they are literally destroying the little people doesn’t concern her.
She’s got hers. Screw you.
Anya
What’s with the use of “blah” instead of black? I find it super disrespectful, tbh.
Anya
@Gin & Tonic: But Arnold is a lot smarter than Ms. Jenner and a lot more informed. Caitlyn Jenner is one ignorant bitch and I am assuming co-signing Trump’s toxic politics is not going to help her in California.
Ramalama
@Bruuuuce:
Caitlyn Jenner, by virtue of becoming trans, is also a lesbian. Even if she won’t admit it.
To see what all the fuss was about, one time I watched the Kardashian show, which weirdly had me watching several episodes back-to-back, the mother Kardashian told the-then-still Bruce that she was not a lesbian. So Bruce would have to find enjoyment and succor somewhere else.
After several hours of watching complete inanity, I had to cleanse my eyeballs. So I then watched a documentary with Russell Brand where he goes to garbage pits in India. I felt cleansed afterwards.
But yes, the candidate who states that she believes in the Constitution has a couple huge marks against her. But then again, she isn’t poor or Black (or both), which are the worst crimes in America.
Steeplejack
@Anya:
It’s a mocking callback to a dumb-fuck racist politician [checks the Google: ah, Rick Santorum] who tried to stop himself in mid-sentence from publicly saying something racist. It has become a running joke here and a few other places.
Denali
I find it insane that Caitlyn Jenner is running as a Republican. But I thought TFG was totally unqualified and had no chance, and that Ronald Reagan was an actor and really dumb. So what do I know?
Matt McIrvin
@Anya: It’s an old in-joke referring to some Republican politician or pundit’s use of “blah” as a signifier for an arbitrary group of people when he was clearly talking about black people. I can’t even remember who it was any more! It’s likely well past time to retire it.