I knew she would be good, but if you want to see a politician at the top of her talents whose goal is to come off as the ultimate straight shooter, watch this news conference from yesterday. After the presser, she gave her first interview to her home town newspaper, and broke a little news:
I also believe that there will be a need for masks in the fall for students. I don’t see how we get around that. That should not be viewed as extraordinary in light of what we’re doing. And everyone wants their children to be safe, as well as our teachers and anyone who works in the school building.
In a sane world, 50 state governors would make the same statement.
I also like how aggressive she was at the news conference about the 14 day delay in Cuomo’s resignation. She said she’s ready to go now, and it wasn’t her preference.
Ken
She sounds over-prepared.
hells littlest angel
Rachel Maddow did a segment on Hochul’s rise, noting how she has always been in the right place at the right time when some man in New York politics is exposed as a pig or a criminal. (There’s nothing wrong with being lucky.) I look forward to having a non-corrupt governor for a change.
Dagaetch
as someone who hasn’t been following it very closely, what’s the explanation for the delay? I could understand 24-48 hours, but two weeks seems like Cuomo wants time to evaluate which art he steals from the governors mansion or something.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I wouldn’t be surprised if most governors have said something similar, even if they haven’t mandated it (and how many can?). DeWine, Hogan, Baker and Whosits in VT have generally been not-crazy, I believe, and even Hutchison in Arkansas said he regrets signing the ban on local mask mandates
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@hells littlest angel:
That might not be luck. That might be strategy. In other words, she may have known very well that these folks were corrupt and going down eventually. She made sure she was ready and strategically placed when it happened.
West of the Cascades
Moar state money for the new Bills stadium?
hells littlest angel
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: You mean she’s Francis Urquhart? Yikes!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@hells littlest angel: You might very well think that. She couldn’t possibly comment!
A Ghost to Most
My BIL, in Waterport, has nothing bad to say about her, which is surprising. That won’t last long.
Kay
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
They’re such dopes. All the far Right governors had to say was “I’m leaving it up to districts”. That’s probably the correct legal interpretation – schools have police powers other governmental entities don’t have AND it aligns with their (alleged) ideology. It’s cowardly because it makes the district deal with the screeching Trumpsters, but they had an easy out and instead they doubled down.
Kay
They should poll on whether most businesses appeciate state mask mandates, instead of finding the 5 bar owners with the Trump flag behind the bar. I sure did. It’s easier. I’m just following the law. It’s a layer of insulation from the Right wing nuts, which, frankly, we all need. Of course the far Right governors are such chicken shits they’d much prefer I deal with their lunatics than THEY deal with their lunatics so they ran away and stuck me with their problem and their job.
topclimber
Save NY’s only football team!
Ken
@Kay: Same with businesses, really, and on both the employment and customer side of things. Businesses can require employees take drug tests, but can’t require masks? They can refuse to sell to gay customers, but can’t refuse maskless customers?
Mike in NC
As state governors go, it seems that Abbott (TX) and DeathSantis (FL) have sucked up almost all of the oxygen in the room and left precious little space for non-insane governors to talk about.
Betty Cracker
@Kay: This is what mystifies me about DeSantis’s insane response. He had an easy out. It’s not like he has to seriously defend his candidacy for reelection, so why is he doing this, unless he’s looking to head off someone even more irresponsible, like Noem, for 2024. But doesn’t he have to win Florida again first?
This seems like a miscalculation. Or, to indulge my paranoia, maybe he figures the voter suppression measures he took are enough. But still, this seems like a miscalculation to me.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@Dagaetch:
Cuomo’s an asshole is the underlying reason. His stated reason was that it gives her time to get up to speed.
Lt. Governors in the Cuomo administration were put on the ticket for geographic balance. Cuomo sent them around the state performing ceremonial duties, but otherwise didn’t consult with them at all. Hochul’s last call with Cuomo prior to his resignation was months ago (February I think). Everyone knows this, so it wasn’t shocking that he built in time for her to get up to speed. She’s a former county clerk and has been in NY politics for most of her life, so it’s not necessary, but here we are.
Nicole
@Betty Cracker:
He strikes me as very good at telling white bigots what they want to hear, but not so good at lots of other things.
On the other hand, he may be counting on Delta blowing through the population and being in the rear view mirror by the time he’s running again. And that may not be a terrible strategy. For him, of course. It is a terrible strategy for everyone who will die or get seriously ill.
mrmoshpotato
@Ken:
Dude! You’re making me want to slap Upchuck Todd again!
Oh wait, sorry. I never stopped wanting to slap Upchuck Todd.
Nicole
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix:
The reason we have her at all is because the last Lt. Gov got fed up with not letting him do anything, right? Hochul really has been in the right place at the right time. And now she’s made a bit of political history.
(None of that is criticism. I’m quite optimistic about her vision for the state and glad for her good luck.)
Professor Bigfoot
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony: “Fortune favors the prepared mind,” n’cest pas?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Nicole: I think the R bet has always been that Covid will hit “demographics” that don’t vote for them– a la Jared’s “blue state” predictions– but Delta may blow a hole in that. Of course, there may be a double calculation that when Bubba loses Meemaw, Li’l Dub and half of Lurleen’s good lung to Covid, he’ll still blame Biden and Obama.
RaflW
One would think. But of course (Republican) governors like Greg Abbot and Ron DeSantis most assuredly do NOT want children to be safe, nor could they give a toss about our teachers and school employees. One entire political party, with maybe 40% of the electorate, is utterly indifferent to your child dying of a preventable disease. Or actively making their illness more likely.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@Nicole:
Bob Duffy’s stated reason was that he has a bad back (he does) and all the traveling was aggravating it. I’m sure a good part of it was the do-nothingness of the job.
Karen
I read that she has a conservative, anti-immigrant views in the past.
hueyplong
@Betty Cracker: Of course, the fact that he’s “calculating” at all about a life-and-death emergency is outrageous, but we’ve been numbed to that aspect of things for a while now.
zhena gogolia
@Betty Cracker:
You’ll like this story.
RaflW
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: “Hutchison in Arkansas said he regrets signing the ban on local mask mandates.”
My sense is Asa regrets that his name is on the document, but mostly because it has left finger prints. Not that he gives a sh*t about anyone’s wellbeing. If he did that, he’d demand the lege get back in session and send him a repeal bill.
Spanky
@Ken: Kudos on the Baud-like #1.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Help me out here: didn’t a federal court just rule that he could enact a mandate on his own damn boats?
hueyplong
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Possible that dude wants to be able to tell complainers that he’s obligated by law to enforce a mandate.
Also possible that the defining characteristic of this age is cowardice.
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Reading the interview, it seemed like he was arguing for vaccine mandates across the board, not just for people on his ships.
RaflW
@Kay: I’m kind of with Ron Filipkowski on this. Governors like DeSantis want this chaos. They are just doing the next ratchet up of social discord, on purpose.
Kay
@Betty Cracker:
I think so too, but I have an explanation. The crt panic and the mask panic are about getting rid of public schools. They saw an opening with CRT and then covid to drive a wedge between parents and public schools – Right wing education policy hacks admit it and crow about it.
That’s what he’s up to. He wants screaming mobs at school board meetings. The more negativity and chaos and division they can engender in public schools the better.
I think they just got over their skis on it, as they tend to do. They took it too far. Bashing AA civil rights leaders in the CRT panic is one thing but infecting 2nd graders with a virus is another. They’re now in the ridiculous positon of saying “the virus won’t KILL kids so what’s the harm?”
Generally people don’t want their kids to have viruses. “Less infectious disease spread in schools” is probably a goal most parents will get behind, whether the kids are dropping dead or not.
Betty Cracker
@Nicole: I think you’re right — he absolutely figures it’ll be over with by 2022. But still, picking these big, high-profile fights with the cruise lines, school districts, etc., seems unwise and unnecessary?
I know Americans — and this is probably even more true in Florida — have the attention span of a goldfish, but maybe this sort of thing sticks. We’ll see soon enough, I guess.
@zhena gogolia: Thanks for that link! What a fucking nut.
Ruviana
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I so so so wish there was an upvote button for this!
WereBear
@RaflW: I’m not overthinking the Red State governors trying to kill the people of their state. Since I’m certain they aren’t thinking, at all.
They are stuck with the salted slug reflexes of not doing anything the liberals want to do, and forging ahead to do whatever the liberals warn them not to do.
Even if, as TFG suggested, their voters should drink bleach and take fishtank medicine.
Quiltingfool
I listened to Governor Hochul and was struck by one thing she said – she listens, then makes a decision. I worked for a school superintendent (female) who did just that. She listened to people, then she made her decision. Usually, it was a decision with which I agreed; but if I didn’t, I knew she did indeed let us have a voice, and I liked that. She was in charge, the buck stopped at her desk, and, like most rational adults, I know everything isn’t about me! The superintendent was only at our school for a year; she got snapped up by a better paying, bigger district, and good on her. We were lucky for the short time we had here. Best superintendent I ever worked for.
I hope this will be good for New York. And, dear God, can we please get someone half as good for Missouri? Every time I see a photo of Governor Parsons, the phrase “shit-eating grinning possum” goes through my brain.
RaflW
@Betty Cracker: I have a friendquaintance in central FL who identifies as a Dem. He’s a parole officer. Seemingly nice guy, loves kayaking, riding his motorcycle, and visiting parolees out in the swamps.
In a long thread on his FB yesterday, he and many of his FL friends were saying a ton of good things about DeathSantis. I pondered unfriending him, since who cares about a middle school buddy I haven’t seen in person in 40 years.
But I’m weirdly curious wtf these people see. I may snooz the guy for a month, though.
Ugh. (I had to unfriend another person who has gone anti-mask. They’re a transman in Oregon, cannot really understand what’s happened other than they’re a loner type and kinda far-left, like heading around that corner to wack now. Thankful that I have like 400 sane, vax’d FB friends.)
Ken
No. Sorry.
— God
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@dmsilev: I try to follow my own advice and not DEMAND! Biden do things by fiat that he’s already working through a difficult and complicated process, but I do wonder why an FAA rule hasn’t been enacted for passenger flights. ETA: A proof-of-vaccine mandate, I mean.
Quiltingfool
@Ken: You are correct, Sir. The majority of Missourians seem to delight in cutting off their noses to spite their faces. And, it seems that Eric “Sexual Assaulter” Greitens thinks that making children wear masks is a horrible thing to do, so he’s probably got the Senate primary locked down. When I think of my state, it brings to mind a quip I read in a novel – “Jesus loves you, but the rest of us think you’re an asshole.”
eclare
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Okay, that makes sense. It also explains the “emergency voucher approval” program the wingnut legislature enacted so that anti-mask parents can move their kids out of public schools that defy DeSantis and impose mandates.
I hope to Christ there’s gigantic blowback next year. I don’t see how America can remain a going concern if people like DeSantis not only get away with this level of extremism but are rewarded for it.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@Karen:
In 2007 as Erie County Clerk she opposed giving driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. She reversed her position when the “Green Light Law” was passed, which allowed the undocumented to get licenses. She wrote a good editorial on it and also was pretty forthright about it at the press conference.
Also, FWIW, even our Democratic County Clerk (now County Exec) in Monroe County had issues with the Green Light law when it was passed, mostly administrative.
Betty Cracker
@RaflW: The folks I know who are parole officers, cops, DOC employees, etc., tend to skew wingnut by 90% or so. Relatively small sample size, but that’s what I’ve seen. Even folks I know who went into those careers from a neutral place evolved in that direction.
cain
@Nicole:
Covid is never going away – it will still be here. Given there is still plenty of dry tinder (eg unvaccinated) for it to spread – we are guaranteed this will continue to exhaust everyone and more people will continue to die.
joel hanes
Is really good
Backwards, in heels
It is always thus.
Nicole
@cain: I agree with you, but it will come in waves and none will likely be this high again, as Delta seems to be making sure people end up with antibodies (or dead) one way or another (dead applying only to the unvaxxed). And then it’s on to the next evolution of the virus. DeSantis may be gambling on us being in a lull when 2022 rolls around.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Correct, BUT what I think he wants is a diminished pandemic. Travel industry was expecting a huge rebound of travelers resuming this fall. A resurgent COVID mutation is upending all of that and creating its own lockdown – cancellations of bookings made in the late spring are off the charts.
The Countess is a high value senior sales agent in the industry but currently, and is really going through some things regarding the long term viability of international travel and tourism, particularly in her strongest markets (Asia, Australia, Africa, India). While she does the rest of the world, her big money was in those, and she fears that the long term loss of some flight schedules is going to build in a 5-8 year delay on resumption of anything close to what existed in 2019.
And yeah, I’m having to hold myself together while propping her up through bouts of anxiety and despair over what feels like the loss of a 30+ year career.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Nicole:
“Here in the summer of 2022, the economy is on the rebound, school is around the corner and bars, clubs and restaurants are packed. Now, some of you may feel some kind of way about your Memaw choking on her own phlegm in an unairconditioned hospital tent over in Ocala last summer, but wouldn’t you rather have been free instead of wearing a mask or getting a shot that you were sincerely opposed to?”
– Ron DeSantis
cain
@Nicole:
Each iteration will be more deadlier than the last as nature figures out how to get around the current antibody regime. The consequences will be more severe. He’s not going to win against a virus especially one that seems to constantly evolve.
Worse, if he turns Florida into a petri dish where a new strain is created – you can bet that he will be blamed by the feds, and generally the world over if that strain ends up in other countries causing more death and economic devastation.
He’s a fool and an asshole. 70% of this country are vaxxed and he’s not going to win any of us over to vote for his lame ass as president. Even worse, if he manages to create strains that jeopardizes our vaccinated state.
owlbrick
Speaking of governors and covid, I need to harp on the issue of California’s recall. Newsom is in real danger of losing his seat in this insane and transparently manipulative recall election and it’s kind of freaking me out. They’ve been whipping up the fervor of the faithful to get him out, and the special election is coming up sooner than anyone seems to be acknowledging. Newsom won his election by a landslide in a regular election year, but most people are tuned out from politics at the moment. If turnout is low, they have a real chance of overturning the election and installing a rightwing political hack who will use and abuse every bit of executive authority to undermine public health and turn the power of the state as far against the populace as possible. Dems have a veto-proof majority in the Legislature, but the Governor is in charge of the actual response to disease, as well as the rest of the actual functioning of the government. I shudder to think of what will happen to CDPH, CDSS, and CalEPA under Governor Larry Elder.
cain
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
That fool wants to be president. He can kiss that good bye.
Betty
@Betty Cracker: It’s the company they keep. My cousin is devastated that her beloved grandson has gone QANON since joining law enforcement.
Betty
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Sorry to hear this. So many repercussions to the pandemic most people don’t even think about.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@owlbrick:
“Larry Elder”.
I can see him throwing monkey wrenches into 2024.
Tazj
I’m glad Hochul’s news conference went well yesterday and she talked about the need for masks in schools. I don’t understand parents who are against this, I don’t understand them at all.
The grocery store where my vaccinated teenage son works has a mask mandate for employees now so no more arguments from him.
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix: That’s good, I didn’t know that.
Betty Cracker
@Betty: How terrible! I hope he regains his sanity. There’s a huge Reddit community of people with family members who’ve gone off the deep end with Qanon. It has destroyed so many families.
Ruckus
@Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix:
So you are saying that Cuomo knows he is a less than stellar governor and is actually doing the right thing by giving her time to see everything he never let her see before, because she very likely would have been far better at the job than him?
owlbrick
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: It would be bad enough if Caitlyn Jenner had been able to gain any kind of momentum (fat chance, among bigoted Central Valley and foothill Republicans), but Elder is leading currently among the Republican candidates, and there’s no way this goes any kind of well for anyone if that happens. Last time we got lucky with Schwarzenegger, who wasn’t as bad as he could have been; but Elder’s a different thing entirely.
Ken
@Ruckus: You might think that; I couldn’t possibly comment.
(Ripping off Jim Foolish Literalist, ripping off FU.)
JPL
The local Fresh Market has a sign asking patrons to wear masks. There was only one shopper without a mask.
Fair Economist
IMO saying Hochul is great because she’s willing to support a simple easy action to prevent a catastrophic epidemic in schools is grading on an extremely generous curve. She’s not a death cultist; good, but that doesn’t discriminate much among basically decent people.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@owlbrick:
Imagine, if you will, 1000 ALEC and Koch affiliated goons prowling administrative regs and drafting executive orders, shoving them under his nose to sign.
Ruckus
@owlbrick:
Keep harping.
The election is just over a month away and there are many who don’t like Newsom, because he isn’t perfect. But he’s not as bad as governors we’ve had in the past and he’s far, far better than the turds running to replace him. CA has been crippled before by republican governors, badly crippled, and it doesn’t need to happen again. Turnout is the key.
Tell all your friends, shout it from the roof tops, this is a must win event.
Kelly
Same.
Shakti
@Betty Cracker: I think he’s running for President. Or Fox News and OANN et al is definitely working overtime to anoint him as the guy running in 2024 instead of TFG.
All of his big splashy moves are aimed at out of staters. Signing a voter suppression bill as an exclusive with Fox, shutting out local news? Making it legal to run over protesters? Trying to stop cruise companies and other businesses from checking if their customers are vaccinated or making them wear a mask?
The entire bullshit with the school systems’ safety measures while quietly asking for ventilators and other medical equipment?
Who knows if he’s running seriously or just grifting, but the people who appointment watch Tucker are starry eyed and panting.
Scout211
@Ruckus:
@owlbrick:
I suggested we could use a front page post on the recall a few days ago in another Cuomo thread. Hopefully, this will happen soon. Hint, hint, to any front pager reading this. ;-)
Yes, Election Day is next month, but the mail-in ballots are being mailed next week in most counties. So it is urgent to get Democrats more energized to vote right now.
I personally do not agree with the state Democrats and Newsom’s team that we should leave the second question blank, though. If by some awful chance the recall is successful, I don’t think we as Democrats should throw away our vote for who may be our next Governor. It does not make sense to me
CaseyL
@Betty Cracker: I knew someone who was a cop for about 3 years, and quit because he could feel himself changing into a very different (bad) type of person.
He said much of it was because, as a cop, you rarely see people at their best. You mostly see them at their worst. And that becomes your daily reality.
It’s hard enough to stay positive, hopeful, and compassionate when most of your waking hours are NOT spent dealing with the dregs of humankind.
Mike in NC
Read an article today about the federal mandate to wear masks in airports and other public areas. The biggest scofflaws? Cops, of course!
Jonas
@owlbrick: If anyone’s wondering how batshit insane Larry Elder is, just remember, he was once Stephen Miller’s mentor. (Yes *that* Stephen Miller.)
owlbrick
@Ruckus: At first I was skeptical of Newsom, with his slick style and whatnot, and wasn’t certain of his goals or his convictions; but he’s proven to be far better than I expected. His trust (and even understanding!) of actual data and reliance on actual public health professionals during this era has been impressive, and his broader general public policy achievements have far surpassed my expectations. He’s actually a good governor, it turns out.
Major Major Major Major
Curious if she’ll try/manage to unfuck the MTA, but not holding my breath. She can start by canceling the AirTrain.
owlbrick
@Scout211: After the last recall, there was a ton of post-mortem investigation of what went wrong, and something they found over and over was that people were confused about how the recall worked, and that the structure of the ballot itself led people to think that if they didn’t vote yes on the recall, their vote for a successor wouldn’t count. By campaigning for Bustamente to replace Davis, they opened the door for Schwarzenegger. They determined that this time they would focus entirely on the first question, because no matter what the second does, it will throw things into disarray. The only way to make sure it doesn’t go wrong is to defeat the recall itself, and the way to do that is to get people to vote entirely on that first issue and defy the second.
joel hanes
@CaseyL:
[cops mostly see people at their worst]
This is one reason that I advocate for the Sunnyvale CA “Public Safety Officer” model: new recruits must fully train as firefighters, EMTs, and police, and stand duty in each role. (I believe they are allowed to choose one after some time, but I’m not certain about that)
I think that the work as firefighter and EMT, trying to save people who one cannot regard as perps, makes the occupation less toxic.
The Sunnyvale PSOs I’ve known are damned impressive people. Of course, if one demands triple expertise from employees, one must pay them commensurately.
WaterGirl
I don’t recall who said it, but on a previous NY governor thread someone from NY was very lukewarm on Hochul and said she is no great shakes, and I think said that she is fairly conservative for a Der, and that has left a lingering doubt about her in my mind.
That’s not what I’m seeing in this thread, however, so now I am perplexed.
JPL
Cobb County sent home a letter stating that, if you child comes in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid, they should quarantine except to attend in-person school.
link
Frank Wilhoit
@RaflW: The French have a phrase for it: “le politique du pire”, literally the politics of worse. It was the strategy pursued by the French Communist Party during the Fourth Republic: make things worse, on the assumption that they would be able somehow to take advantage of the resulting crises.
Nicole
@cain:
I’m happy with De Santis tanking; you and I both want the same thing, but that’s not really how successful viruses evolve. A virus being super deadly is of no use to the virus’ long term survival because it runs out of hosts (see: the sweating sickness of medieval times). An ideal virus evolves into something very contagious, but not necessarily deadly, as that way it survives to pass itself along to new hosts. At this point, Delta appears to be much more contagious, but not any more deadly. I think Covid will evolve to get around the current vaccines (ergo booster shots for the rest of our lives) but I’m not persuaded it’ll become more lethal.
Mike in NC
@Betty Cracker: One of the craziest people I ever encountered in my life was captain of prison guards at San Quentin. Makes some sense considering that no sane person would want to work in that environment.
Ken
@JPL: Bit of a conundrum if the school activity is a field trip to sing carols in a retirement home.
laura
@Scout211: I took a highlighter and red pen to my CA recall voter guide. There is not a scrap of legitimacy for this bullshit election nullification, just a word salad of vague phrases that we can all recognize from the right. I’m bristling with rage about this second attempt to deny the legitimacy of a Democrat who won 61% of the vote three years ago. When my ballot arrives I’m filling it out immediately and if possible I’m going to write in Gav as my Gov. He’s done as good a job at Covid as can be done and I have zero complaints about him or any of my other elected legislators.
Hurrumph!
Scout211
@owlbrick:
Thank you for explaining that. I couldn’t find the Democrats’ reasoning for this in any of the articles or statements I was reading. I still will vote on the second question but I do now understand the recommendation.
I still hope we have a front page post about this soon.
Stories in the local news like this are full of Newsom’s mistakes or missteps but there are zero stories on any of the other candidates and what they may or may not bring to the office of Governor. That right there is exactly like Davis’s recall. All of the other candidates do not even have to campaign, they just rely on the negative stories about Newsom. There seems to be no scrutiny on any candidate, except for Newsom. Sigh.
Mike in NC
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: I liked that movie about Larry Elder. I think it was called “The Black Klansman”.
Major Major Major Major
In other New York news. The delta wave in NYC looks like it’s crested, even in Staten Island, knock on wood. I imagine this is true in many places that have reasonably high vaccination rates plus a fair bit of infection-based immunity. (Antibody tests are coming up 70% positive right now, but that’s kind of a weird figure to reason with.)
Ken
I guess we’ll have to hope COVID is successful? Versus, say, accidentally evolves a variant that spreads with horrifying rapidity and kills 98% of its hosts, thus dooming itself in the long run (not that it has any concept of “long run”, or of anything at all).
EDIT: Sorry, on re-reading that could sound like an attack on you. Not intended.
Mike in NC
@Jonas: That fact is well covered in a book called “Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda” by Jean Guerrero.
jnfr
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I don’t doubt they’ll still blame Biden and/or Obama, but I still say with a couple percent excess deaths in red counties, it could swing some close races.
owlbrick
@laura: Unfortunately, per the recall provision in the law, Newsom is not eligible as a write-in candidate for the second question. Writing him in wouldn’t invalidate the vote on the first measure (I don’t think… god, I hope not, because I’m sure there a lot of people who would do the same thing), but it wouldn’t be countable if the first part passes.
The Moar You Know
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: He doesn’t regret it. That statement merely allows him to have it both ways, as he intended from the start.
mrmoshpotato
?Shut the fuck up, and put on your mask, then flee to Russia, you fascist bitchass?
trollhattan
@owlbrick:
It’s a shitty, shitty thing–and an expensive one–but here it comes.
The California Democratic Party is urging voting no and leaving the candidate slate blank. I think that’s dangerous, but understand their rationale.
Two significant items are different from the last time:
No high-profile Democrat is on the ballot (Bustamante was Lt. Gov and campaigned “Vote no on recall, and vote for Bustamante”). This evidently confused voters. (Please don’t think too hard about that.)
Second, Arnold was a phenomenally high-profile “screw government as usual” candidate. Vote for him as a lark. “Wouldn’t that be hilarious?” [uh, no] This time there is no attractive or high-profile Republican on the ballot. Jenner has a screw loose if she thinks today’s Republicans are voting for a trans Kardashian.
My concern is if Dem voters do not select a candidate from the list of 46 then each Republican vote’s value is magnified. Should Newsom be recalled, that gives us some lunatic to be governor for a year. Trust me, even with a Democratic legislature and all constitutional offices filled with Dems, he would create a LOT of problems, beginning with replacing every appointed state position.
Benw
@Major Major Major Major: in my personal experience, on top of high vax rate, folks in NYC were still pretty careful with masking and distancing, even after the mandate was ended this summer.
And don’t you DARE take away my AirTrain!
Major Major Major Major
THERE, I gave you your recall thread.
Almost Retired
@Scout211: That’s the point Michael HIltzik made in this morning’s Los Angeles Times: Not voting for the replacement increases the (hopefully minimal) risk that we end up with Larry Elder for a couple years. I’m voting no on the recall, of course, but I can’t quite bring myself to vote for Kevin Falcouner, lest it boost his career (he could be a threat in the future). I’ll settle on one of the other not-completely-insane options after further consideration.
Fair Economist
@laura: Don’t vote for Newsom in case the recall succeeds. Vote for one of the Democrats here.
Major Major Major Major
@Benw: The LaGuardia airtrain plan is a $2,100,000,000 train line that should be a bus lane.
Ken
@mrmoshpotato: Didn’t that news break, like, two days ago? Did it take that long for it to percolate into his brain? Or maybe he got the latest numbers and realized the “symposium” grift was losing money?
Feel free to add your own baseless speculations, remembering that the real story is undoubtedly far more bizarre.
mrmoshpotato
@Ken: Not sure, but fuck him and all of the Rethuglican party. I hope Dominion takes everyone to the cleaners.
owlbrick
@trollhattan: I agree with all of that, completely. I think it’s foolish not to at least vote for someone in the second part, simply because there’s a chance it will happen, and it’s probably better to have some say than none. But the problem is that campaigning on that is proven to be counterproductive and confusing, so we have to hope there are enough voters smart enough to figure that out on their own while we focus efforts on the first part.
Jenner would have been bad enough, but there’s no way she’s going to be the one. Once Brad Parscale made off with the bulk of the war chest and Ari Fleischer grifted away the rest, she was donezo. The conspiratorial paranoid side of my brain almost wonders if her entire candidacy was promoted as a part of an effort to lull CA Dems into complacency… thinking they only have to fight the clownshow slate of candidates rather than the abstract yet very much more real threat of the recall itself. Republicans don’t actually care who would replace Newsom, just that he’s taken out.
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
@Fair Economist: Jesus Christ – what idiot designed that recall process?
Benw
@Major Major Major Major: oh the LaGuardia plan. Taking the bus from Woodside could be improved with a lane; I thought you were cancelling the JFK train.
RaflW
@Betty Cracker: I’m not surprised. But this particular friend supported Biden, yet likes DeSantis? I’m not gonna dig into the psychic dissonance there, but yow.
Nicole
@Ken: No worries; I didn’t take it as an attack. Yes, Covid evolving unsuccessfully could be devastating in the short term, but as its more established relatives in the coronavirus family are fairly mild I am hopeful it will also evolve to be perhaps more contagious but less virulent. But in the meantime, we need to vaccinate and mask up to reduce the number of footholds it can get.
Major Major Major Major
@Benw: ohhhh haha no!
Nicole
I just watched the video, mistermix, and you’re right; she did great. I particularly liked her saying it wasn’t her position to talk about impeachment; that belongs to the legislature. It’s nice to see the (future) head of the Executive Branch acknowledge that the Legislature has its own job, too. Oh my God- a governor who might legit try to work with the Legislature, instead of working around them? Could it happen?
Betty Cracker
@RaflW: Yeah, that’s weird. As I’ve said here before, DeSantis got some positive press before the pandemic by breaking the Republican mold on a couple of issues, specifically, teacher pay and the environment. Lots of low-info voters therefore got the impression he was more independent or less wingnutty than he actually is. But I can’t understand how his performance over the last 15 months or so has not thoroughly disabused anyone of that illusion.
Citizen Alan
@owlbrick:
Why didn’t the Dems just announce “Vote No, and then the Lt. Governor” since she’s also a Dem and would become Gov in literally any other situation in which Newsome was removed!
Gravenstone
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: He wants to be able to hide behind “the big bad government thugs made me do it” when the MAGAts come calling for his head later.
owlbrick
@Citizen Alan: They tried that last time, and it caused a huge amount of confusion. The recall ballot is confusing, and a surprisingly large number of people thought their vote on the second part would only count if they voted yes on the first part; and people figured that the recall was popular enough that they might as well go with voting Davis out and replacing him with the Lt. Governor. They campaigned on a No/Bustamente platform, but enough people voted Yes/Bustamente that it pushed the question over the top. By campaigning for Bustamente, they inadvertently opened the door for Schwarzenegger. The party is determined not to repeat that, so no prominent Dem is running. The message is overwhelmingly “vote no on the recall,” without any qualifications to confuse the issue.
Soprano2
@Quiltingfool: At least Parson isn’t anti-vaxx, or telling schools they can’t have mask mandate. It’s a low bar, I know.
yellowdog
@Betty Cracker: It’s voter suppression all the way down. That’s why the crazy is coming out. They know they will win, no matter what.
WaterGirl
I put up a Lurker thread a bit ago, and I would love to see some more faces to welcome the new folks.
Wyatt Salamanca
Kathy Hochul was absolutely pitch perfect in her news conference yesterday and I’d be thrilled to see her win this office outright! My biggest concern is that Tish James and others will enter the race and create a nasty, bruising primary contest that leaves the nominee weakened thus enabling a Republican to win.
WaterGirl
Sarah Palin gave one good speech, and she was absolutely awful.
Does anyone know about Hochul’s positions? Is she progressive? Does she have experience running a large bureaucracy?
One good speech does not a good candidate make.