WHO RUNS CALIFORNIA?

Townhall.com ^ | April 13, 2002 | Robert Novak

[Vis Numar]

LOL, there's some truth in that.

On Rove, I think he is betting that Simon gets beaten badly, and then will say "I told you so" to the conservatives, via Parsky.

[Carry_Okie]

So what do we do about a Republican Party leadership that would rather see a Republican loss in the nation's largest state, perhaps our last chance to save California, than admit that they were wrong?

[Wolfstar]

To all posters on this thread: Do you people seriously believe Novak?! I don't know when the man last had anything positive to say about any Republican. Somewhere along the way, Novak has turned into a sour, rather mean old man whose "reporting" is suspect. Perhaps when his long-time partner, Rollie Evans, died, Novak lost a significant tempering influence on his outlook.

As a Californian who is an active volunteer in local Republican politics, and who supports Simon, I can tell you there has been a long-standing divide between the center-right and hard right in this state. They spend more time squabbling amongst each other than they do uniting to defeat the increasingly hard Left Democrats who currently dominate this state's politics at every level. The differences among people on the right side of the political spectrum are vastly fewer than the differences they have with the hard Left. But they rarely get past their own internal squabbles to concentrate on winning elections. I have seen this time and time and time again in this state. Either the hard right takes a walk because a candidate is not "pure enough" on every issue. Or the center-right takes a walk because they think a candidate is "too conservative."

Simon needs EVERY Republican vote he can get, and he has to peel off lots of independents and at least some "moderate" Dems in order to have a chance of winning. But if he and his people are either unwilling to or do not know how to put together a winning coalition, he'll just go the way of so many other Republican losers in this state. Because I live here, I want to see sound conservative Republicans win lots of elections at every level. I believe it's the only hope this state has to avoid descending into a complete Leftist bannana-republic status. But I also understand that political progress comes in steps, that the battle to keep taking steps forward never ends, and that you never even obtain the power to take foward steps unless you WIN elections!!!!!!!!

[homeschool mama]

Much of what Doofus does is done in the dark of night...like a cockroach. Please know there are many well informed Californian's attempting to get the word out as to Doofus's shenanigans.

[Bonaparte]

"The old Reagan place is for sale."

No one but Count Dracula would be interested. Maybe Van Helsing would bring him back for a modest fee.

[Carry_Okie]

RINOS don't win here. Neither Zschau, Huffington, nor Campbell ran a decent race. There are ways to bring new constituencies into the Republican column for Simon other than sacrificing on principles. If you don't understand that, you had best start learning how to apply those principles or at least show a little more faith in them.

BTW, my family has lived here five generations.

[weikel]

Communist?

[monkeyshine]

How do you figure? Bush didn't win California the first time... and if he can hold Florida it should come down exactly as before. Plus, several states were very close... OR, PA, WI, MN and a few others as I recall. If Bush can swing them his way he can afford to lose Florida. California would only be icing on the cake. It will be tough, but it's not impossible. This state (California) had 16 consecutive years of Republican leadership, sent Reagan to the WH, and has some very conservative areas aside from LA and San Fran. The leadership just needs to get behind candidates that the voters want, not who the party hacks think deserve a chance.

Simon's ascendency to the nomination should be a wake-up call to the party leadership! He energized the masses big time, and everyone should be pulling for him now.

[dr_who]

That's been my feeling.

[Wolfstar]

Who said anything about sacrificing principles or electing RINOs? Stopping the intra-party squabbling and building a winning coalition is my point. If YOU can't understand THAT, then you don't understand politics.

[Jimbaugh]

Thanks. I more I know about Parsky the less I like.

If this guy is Mr. Bush's friend then

I can't support Mr. Bush.

[eureka!]

Re#19 If true, how petty. And at such a cost.....

[d14truth]

Republicans that aren't 'right' should be LEFT, IMHO. The current fact that the 'California demographic' doesn't favor thinking, much less 'right thinking' does not mean we lack the 'right message'. It means we lack the 'right marketing'. How many Simon ads will be shown to the 'cableless' households, in Spanish, in the Los Angeles area? When you don't have cable, that is the bulk of stations you get. Of course, the 'rich Republicans' don't see such opportunities and thus ignore them at their 'Kalifornia' peril.

[d14truth]

Gray is NOT colorless, just SHADY!!!

[Grampa Dave]

If anyone believes a single word that the Rat Novak prints, they really need to see a shrink to reduce their gullibility level.

First of all Novak is not a conservative, hell he ain't even a Rino. He hates GW more than Tommy Da$$hole does. GW has placed him on a persona non grada basis like the other east coast phoney conservatives who work for the Slimes or the Compost as token conservatives.

If you can find as Riordian supporter, ask them how much support they got from the White House.

Carrie Okie has this nailed re the real trouble makers in Kali who claim to be republicans.

Novak would love to see Davis re elected!

SIMON THE SANE ONE!

[Redcloak]

A note to the Simon campaign: Take Parsky's money. Smile and nod when he tells you what he expects in return, then do as you bloody well please. When he complains, look concerned. Express your sympathy. Ask for more money. Repeat as necessary.

[Gophack]

We can't dump our President because he made a poor decision with Karl Rove. I agree wholeheartedly that Rove is a problem. But Bush is a great leader for the most part, and he is deep down a Christian and a conservative and we must support and pray for him.

If conservatives bail on him or start to attack him, he'll fall right into the eagerly awaiting hands of the RINOs. We must be diplomatic, respectful, kind and consistent; he must know we are with him and not against him.

And, of course, behind the scenes we should do everything we can around the country to encourage the early retirement of Mr. Rove.