The Rhetorican

The L.A. Times blames the voters.  How dare they exercise their right to choose?!  Outrageous!

The NYT and ABC don’t seem too happy either.

How typical.  More from Jennifer Rubin:

[M]edia coverage of the California tax propositions’ crushing defeat is predictable. You see, this is a rebuke of Arnold Schwarzenegger personally (who in defeat now has “Republican” affixed to every mention of his name). Or it’s the fault of the “fickle“ voters somehow, who are too dense to see that the way out of an enormous deficit pit in a recession is to raise taxes — lots and lots.

Don’t media types think of themselves as enlightened and broadminded?  Talk about inflexible views.

I wonder how authentic this pro-tax attitude is.  If taxes are too low in some journos’ opinion, do they purposefully overpay their taxes every year, just to help alleviate the problem?  You don’t have to claim any deductions if you don’t want to, you know?

UPDATE: American Power links back.  Also linked at Instapundit.  Thanks for the links, Professors!

MORE: Ace links (thanks!) and makes some excellent observations.  Yes, we California voters are to blame for where the state’s finances find themselves.  But it’s not that simple.  It’s easy to vote for fiscal conservatives and low spending, but even when we do that, we always get out-organized and out-voted by California’s public employee unions, including the teachers union.  They are the ones who run things in Sacramento.  The Legislature and the governor largely work for them and their interests.

ANOTHER ONE: Tim Cavanaugh: “Don’t believe post-election spin that argues California voters rejected the slate out of pique at having to vote so often…[V]oters were sufficiently attentive to the import of these initiatives that they said yes to one and no to all the others. They may have resented the initiatives on the basis of fatigue…but they rejected the measures on the basis of their content.”

ONE MORE: Ed Driscoll links with related content.  Thanks!

AND ANOTHER ONE: Michelle Malkin on the Sacramento Bee editorial board’s pathetic Jekyll-and-Hyde move.