I can imagine why there are some Republicans who are uneasy with the campaign to recall California’s Democratic (and increasingly unpopular) Governor Davis. The recall effort is being pushed by a shockingly partisan right wing representative, Darrell Issa, who’s main claim to fame is that he made his fortune selling car alarms after he was arrested several times for stealing cars.
What really must worry them is the precedent this will set. The governor is mired in a horrific economic crisis. This alone seems to be enough to set off a recall effort. Imagine, then, if he were not elected by a majority, but rather was put into office by a court stacked with his party’s faithful? Imagine that he presided over the largest deficit in the history of his state? If, in response to that deficit, he cut taxes on the wealthiest residents? That he squandered in one year the biggest surplus in history? That in order to satisfy his personal vendetta and fulfill a questionable political agenda, he selectively intepreted intelligence to take his state into a war that has deteriorated into a guerilla conflict with no end in sight?
After all the posturing and rhetoric coming from the right at the end of 2000, calling for Al Gore to drop his challenges and deal with the reality of Bush’s ill-gotten gains, did you ever imagine that the Republicans would engage in something like this coup?
Gee, are my metaphors clear enough?