Issa On Ice

Darrell Issa, the first man in the running to replace Gray Davis and the only one who's really done anything to earn the job, has withdrawn from the race.

The Republican U.S. Rep. "fought back tears" while making his announcement, say The Washington Post's Rene Sanchez and Kimberly Edds. That could be interpreted in various ways. My suspicion has always been that Issa didn't harbor any serious gubernatorial ambitions and was instead interested in becoming the leader of the Golden State's Republican Party. If so, then the tears are just there for our consumption, to show that he's willing to make great sacrifices for the good of California. By making the recall happen, he's made himself the de facto party leader, no matter who gets the governorship.

On the other hand, Issa has been subjected to severe media beatings ever since Debbie Schlussel gratuitously dubbed the Maronite Christian politician "Jihad Darrell." His new nickname in Sacramento is said by Jill Stewart (and by the way, when's she gonna announce?) to be "the smoldering ruin." If this interpretation is more accurate, then he was crying on the inside and the outside. "As they have pounded on my personal past," Issa says, "and they have pounded on my party and my motives, I have known all along that our motives were good for California."

Either way, the Republicans would do well to make this the beginning of an effort to clear the decks. Bill Simon, the schmuck, couldn't beat Gray Davis mere months ago, and the party should absolutely savage him for even thinking about running again. Dick Riordan, God bless him, couldn't even beat Bill Simon. Go away, Peter Ueberroth. Sayonara, Jack Kemp. If the Republicans can't keep these jokers off the ballot, it just proves that Darrell Issa is the first breath of competence the party has drawn since the mid-90s.