EDITORIAL SPOILSPORT POLS.

THAT loud, whiny sound you hear is the bellyaching of state Republican Party operatives, furious that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger had the nerve to appoint - horrors! - a Democrat to be his chief of staff.

For their own good and the good of the state, they need to get over it.

It would be one thing if the party hacks were objecting to some matter of policy, but they're not. This is just about a childish refusal to work with ``the other side'' - and never mind that Kennedy fully backed the governor's reform agenda in the special election.

In politics, there's a term for people who are so petty, so quick to vilify those who disagree with them, so absurdly rigid: permanent minority.

Knock it off, guys. You're embarrassing (and marginalizing) yourselves.