It Wuz All About Incumbents
You may have heard the recent statement by Howard “Not Just a River in Egypt” Dean on how the recall was all about voter dissatisfaction with incumbents of all stripes, and not a massive spanking for the Democratic Party. When I first heard that explanation I thought it was sour grapes. I now think he was sincere, however, as one of my sources has leaked a copy of the statement he was planning to make earlier, when he expected the recall to fail. Here it is:
Today’s recall election in California was not about Gray Davis or Arnold Schwarzenegger. This attempted recall was about how happy so many people are about the way things are going. All across America, George Bush’s substantial tax cuts for everyone (including, but not limited to, the wealthy) are leading to more investments, the creation of new jobs, and a reduced dependence on social services, thereby obviating the need for increases in local property taxes (which, under Prop 13, would not have been allowed in California anyway). Were recalls held in every state, it’s quite possible that 50 governors would find themselves receiving the same vote of confidence Ol’ Joe just got, allowing them to take all the credit for one president’s wildly successful national economic policies. Tonight, the voters in California re-affirmed their commitment to the status quo by sending a vote of confidence to their incumbent governor. Come next November, that big love for incumbents might be directed at a different incumbent … in the White House. Damn, there went my campaign.
October 8th, 2003 at 12:47 pm
That’s the official party line on the recall.
McAuliffe said the same thing, as did Mulholland and several other observers/operatives I’ve seen in papers.
October 8th, 2003 at 1:07 pm
I am astonished at how prevalent the meme of “it was the incumbent they were after and Bush is next” has been across the left half, I mean third, of the blogosphere.
October 8th, 2003 at 8:09 pm
Speaking of our friend Bob, he was on Hannity and backed off the “we’re gonna recall Arnold” line. Hannity made mention of Baghdad Bob. I guess Mullholland didn’t get it and it must have been explained to him.
Later he was to appear of John & Ken of KFI and John introduced him as Baghdad Bob and the first words out of his mouth were a demand for an appology from John for the introduction.
The answer: “NO”
Baghad hung up. Length of guest appearance 8 seconds. Length of laughter 1 min 30 seconds, number of replays, six.
I think that new nickname is sticking and he doesn’t like it!
Pass the word along.
October 8th, 2003 at 8:21 pm
From now on, he shall be known as Baghdad Bob Mulholland.
October 8th, 2003 at 8:31 pm
Either that or Boob Mulholland.
October 11th, 2003 at 12:15 pm
it may very well ahve had a lot to do with disatisfacion with incumbants and the political process–that way it is a double edged sword for bush in my opinion…i cant see him taking CA in 2004 in any event, people were pissed at sacramento, in 2004 the same people could be pissed at DC