While I admire his success, the majority of people can be led by whatever the media wants them to believe. If the media says, "look how filthy rich he is, how he must not care about the little people, how Davis really cares about raising taxes to help you; you should vote the dem. ticket," many people might actually believe that spin.
George W. Bush's personality, or simply the many issues in the last presidential election, kept attention away from the custom home he was building. His new home probably didn't help him gain any votes in CA. Bill Simon doesn't appear to be quite as good at deflecting attention away from unimportant issues, and Davis is much more vulnerable/desperate than Al Gore was. Davis will do anything to attack Simon.
I have the impression that this is not an image voters like. They would rather think you have an average suburban place somewhere, instead of your own Gulfstream jet.
I think that's why Simon doesn't want to release his tax returns - and I don't blame him one bit.
I think you're right. Since Simon has refused to release it, he should stay true to his word; if he later releases his tax returns, then it will appear he flip-flops on issues, or that he's uncertain or unconfident. We know Davis flip-flops on important issues (like first doing nothing about energy, and then rushing to stem the disaster); there's no reason for Simon to cave into the media provocations to act like Davis.
if there's demand, I'll post it when I get home.
I think you should keep it to yourself. If you meet other Simon supporters in-person at rallies or FReeps, perhaps you can show them, but if you post it here, you save reporters and the Davis camp all the trouble of finding it themselves if they want to portray Simon as out-of-touch.
Davis' consistent policy has been not so much to reverse his policy on issues as to have no clear policy to reverse until he gets a 2x4 hit to his face. (Maybe that's why he's such a cadaverous fellow). Once he gets the 2x4 hit, he moves in fits and starts, considering the short term above all. I'd count this as a very dangerous attribute for someone with the power he has.
I'm sure Davis' staff has as many pictures of his house as they need. My impression of reporters is that they wouldn't think of something as easy and silly as finding the candidate's house and snapping a digital photograph.
For exactly the reasons you cite, I wasn't even sure if I wanted to admit I'd gotten the photograph. But I have to admit I was sort of proud of myself for having the gumption and energy to go out and do it. Anyway, if anyone wants to see it, I'll send it out in email but not on the thread.
Thanks for your thoughts.
D
Actually Davis doesn't flip-flop, he IGNORES important issues and problems facing our great state because he spends so much time fundraising and shaking down businesses in exchange for his influence (signature/veto? Oh, what to do? How much?)
Davis is corrupt. When problems reach crisis level, he uses the heavy hand of government to "solve" the problem, blame the Republicans (or Bush, or the Free Market, or the right wing conspiracy), then goes back to raising money, giving huge pay raises and benefits to his union buddies, and ignores the fact that his makeshift, panic-driven so-called "solutions" are worse than the problem in the first place.
Gray Davis ... the man who turned a $13 billion surplus into a $22 billion deficit.
Dump Davis!