Posted on 03/13/2002 6:39:01 AM PST by Aunt Polgara
Bouncing up fresh from the thorough trouncing of his man Riordan, Gerry Parsky instructs Bill Simon on how to win.
William E. Saracino
William E. Saracino is a member of California Political Review’s editorial board.
You have to give Gerald Parsky points for persistence. The corpse of the Riordan for Governor campaign was not yet cold when Generalissimo Parsky announced that the only way for Bill Simon to have a chance in November was to emulate the campaign Dick Riordan had just run. The day after the election Parksy — the man whose mission, remember, it is to make us more “inclusive” — had not a single complimentary or “inclusive” thing to say about Bill Simon or his campaign.
Instead he appeared to be in full snit mode, snarling to a reporter that Simon couldn’t win if he was “an extreme conservative.” Kind, wasn’t it, of our Inclusiveness Czar to repeat last week’s Riordan smear and next week’s Davis attack line for the media. But Parksy wasn’t through. He then informed the reporter that the only way Simon could beat Davis was to “adopt the formula I describe to broaden the Party.” So now not only must we “broaden” the Party, but it must be done exactly along Duce Parsky’s guidelines.
Uhm Gerry, I know it’s a tad embarrassing to be repudiated by 70 percent of your own Party, but let’s do a reality check, painful as it might be, for just a moment. First, the campaign that you and the other “idea-phobes” ran for President “W” in 2000 managed to lose this state by 1.3 million votes. Your boy Riordan turned a 40 percent lead into an 18 percent defeat. Do we really have to go back to those kinds of campaigns? If I promise to take a feminist to lunch can we forgo the ritual torture of another vapid, hopeless campaign? Pretty please?
Though I will give Commander Parksy and his hand-puppet Riordan this; all Riordan’s harping on the abortion issued finally did have an effect on women voters. The effect, though, may not have been what they had in mind. On Tuesday last, Bill Simon beat Riordan by 16 percent among male voters. Among female voters his margin was 20 percent. Earth to Gerry ... does this tell you anything? Anything at all? Please note, Excellency, that these votes were cast by women registered as Independents as well as those registered in the GOP.
In fact, nearly 15 percent of the total vote in the GOP primary came from registered Independents. Heads up Gerry: these are precisely the people you and your former “can’t miss, heck you might even say he’s a cinch” guy Riordan told us were the key to victory against Gray Davis. Well, as poker players are want to say, “read ’em and weep.” The exact voters you say are essential to a Republican victory in November rallied to Bill Simon’s conservative banner, not the jumbled, “gee, what should I believe in today?” agenda of Dick Riordan.
Don’t want to talk about women anymore? Okay, let’s talk about broadening the Party with minority voters. In particular, let’s talk about appealing to California’s largest minority group, Hispanics. We can adopt the approach favored by Parsky and the rest of the $2,000 suit crowd. Their idea is to throw some high dollar contracts at the usual suspects and, basically, say to the Hispanic community: “Ola amigos, voten para los Republicanos por favor.” Then it’s back in their private jets and on to their private clubs, from whence to dispense advice on how to appeal to average voters.
Or, we could try appealing to Hispanics with ideas and issues that matter to them. In 2000, Proposition 22, the Defense of Marriage initiative, received 65 percent of the vote statewide. It received 80 percent of the Hispanic vote. Supreme Leader Parsky, I don’t mean to be insolent, but if eight out of 10 Hispanic voters agree with us on an issue, might that be a worthwhile thing to talk about with them? Or would that brand us as being “extreme conservatives”? And by the way, slightly smaller but still huge majorities of Hispanic voters also agree with the GOP position on abortion and gun rights. Ideas have consequences Mr. Parksy, even ones you disagree with.
The next eight months will be a test not only for the Simon campaign, but also for Gerry Parksy. He has stated in the past that his only interest is in seeing the GOP succeed in California. Well, Gerry, the time is now. We have a nominee fresh off a landslide primary victory. We have a weakened incumbent Democrat. Time to stop bitching about the primary, strap on the harness and help pull the wagon to victory.
Only time will tell if Parksy is willing to put aside his own ideological blinders, put the Party’s interest ahead of hurt feelings from the Primary, and put his shoulder to the wheel as a constructive member of the Simon campaign team. The answer will tell much about the man and about the future of the California GOP.
Regardless, I would agree that Riordan would have made a decent candidate except 2 things happened. One is that Riordan's attractiveness as a candidate was that he could beat Davis. Polls have shown that is no longer ture. The second is that the claim that a moderate can only win CA is bunk because candidates like Matt Fong and Tom Campbell have been crushed, not edged, but crushed just as bad as more conservative candidates like Dan Lundgren.
Yes, it would. It's breathtakingly sad.
I agree with your basic analysis about defining the candidates, but I think Simon will have greater success than Davis in this. People don't really care (sadly) about abortion; pro-gunners are far more passionate about gun rights than the anti-gunners are about stealing them; and pro-lifers are more passionate about saving babies than pro-aborts are about killing them.
What I mean to say is, the pro-lifers and the gunners will be mobilized to vote and volunteer for Simon; but the majority of the voters don't care about the issues. The radical pro-aborts and anti-gunners will never ever vote for a Republican (even a liberal like Riordan) ... so we shouldn't even worry about them. They are solidly with Davis.
Most people will be going to the polls mobilized by issues other than abortion and guns. These are the people who either agree or disagree with Davis' handling of the budget crisis, the energy crisis, and the education crisis. People CARE about how their money is managed, and in all three, the state's fiscal house is in complete disarray due to Davis' gross mismanagement.
And, those people who don't see anything wrong with Davis' gross mismanagement of our resources, perhaps his corrupt administration will cause them to stay home on election day, or vote for Bill Simon even though they don't agree with him on abortion, guns, taxes, etc.
With that being said, Davis will lie, cheat and steal to win. Simon's team needs to be aware that Davis will not go down without a fight -- an underhanded fight, with stolen votes, corrupt government officials, union strong-arming, and out-right voter fraud.
So not only does Simon have to win legitimately, he has to have at least a 5 pt cushion to compensate for Davis' Democrat shenanigans.
Go Simon! Kick liberal butt!
Bump for a "Truer words were never spoke" byline.
Regards,
TS
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