LA Times veteran George Skelton:All we hear...is that such-and-such a proposal — banning assault guns, for example — won't eliminate murder. Well, duh. We've had killings ever since the first human crawled out of a cave.
But we can lower the kill rate by reducing the firepower and doing a much better job of keeping weapons out of the hands of mental misfits.
Republicans...blew yet another chance to be relevant in this blue state by not capitalizing on their clout over a two-thirds vote. A little give here and there and they could have had pension rollbacks, business regulatory relief and even a spending cap. All for just putting a tax question on the ballot.
Democratic legislators essentially did their job. They basically cut in half a $26-billion deficit, mostly with spending cuts principally aimed at the poor, the disabled, the aged and the tuition-paying university students. Republicans wouldn't even vote for all that whacking.
[O]nly 55% of registered Republicans [in California] have a favorable impression of the GOP; 39% look on it unfavorably. By contrast, 75% of Democrats are favorably impressed with their party.
