Nicholas Goldberg: I oppose the gubernatorial recall. Does that make me a hypocrite?

When I wrote recently that California's recall election process was terribly flawed and in need of serious reform, the angry messages came flowing in, calling me a hypocrite. The writers didn't believe for a second that I objected to the recall on principle -- they assumed that as a loyal Democrat, I was just shilling for Gov. Gavin Newsom. "You're in his pocket," said one dismissive tweet. Would I still be vehemently opposed to the recall if, instead of being used against a Democratic governor, it was targeting a Trump-supporting right-wing governor -- someone who, say, was unleashing the fossil fuel industry, hoping to do away with the minimum wage and fighting mask and vaccine mandates? Would I still feel the recall was a troubling, badly structured, overused, undemocratic tool that should be reformed or abolished?