It's largely a contest of also-rans, since it is missing Larry Elder (R), who currently leads the field of potential replacements for Gavin Newsom (D), and is also missing celebrity candidate Caitlin Jenner. So it will largely be about bashing Newsom. (Newsom is not showing up to the debate, either.)
Some of the candidates will take shots at each other, or at their absent competitors. But as I noted this morning on AM 870, the recall election works like a cycling race (hopefully without the doping). Republicans need to work as a team to put the vote against Newsom over 50%; only then will it matter which Republican candidate is the top vote recipient among replacements.
So I'm hoping for more focus on Newsom's flaws than the kind of internecine warfare typical of primary contests for races in ordinary, non-recall elections.
The recall debate is live on Fox 11 Los Angeles, at the following link:
https://omny.fm/shows/the-morning-answer/morning-answer-08-04-21-joel-pollak
This week's show will be slightly different from the norm: we'll focus on clips and topics, rather than guests -- and that, hopefully, will mean more input from the callers (unless you are all watching football on opening weekend).
Topics:
Tune in: SiriusXM Patriot 125, 7-10 p.m. ET / 4-7 p.m. PT
Call: 866-957-2874
This week's Torah portion includes several laws about conduct in civic and personal life, the common theme of which is boundaries -- setting bounds to what one may do at home, at work, and even in the battlefield.
One noteworthy passage concerns Amalek, the evil nation that attacked the Children of Israel as they made their Exodus from slavery to freedom. Deuteronomy 25:17-19 commands Jews to obliterate Amalek's memory.
The South African government accused Israel of genocide on the basis of a story about Amalek in the Book of Samuel, in which King Saul was commanded to wipe out the entire evil Amalekite nation.
Because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quoted this week's portion -- "Remember what Amalek did to you" (25:17), the South African government claimed he was commanding soldiers to commit genocide.
It was an absurd and malevolent misreading of the Bible and of Jewish tradition. The commandment, as observed by Jews today, is to remember the evil of Amalek and fight ...