California: California Democratic Party criticized for calling recall "coup"

The California Democratic Party has been criticized for calling the recall effort against California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) a coup. The LA Times and others has criticized this language and the party seems to have backed off. 

Here's some of the relevant language from the LA Times:

We fear that party leaders might not have access to one, based on their imprudent decision to dub a recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom the "California coup," thus likening a perfectly democratic process enshrined in the state's Constitution to the act of forcefully or even violently seizing government power.

Here's what the party could have said instead: Recalls, though allowed by the state Constitution, ought not to be used lightly and certainly not to settle political scores. These powerful tools of democracy are expensive and distracting, and they ought to be used only in situations in which a sitting official has committed malfeasance or is no longer capable of governing, not simply because you don't like that person's policies.