GOP INFIGHTING COULD DAMAGE SIMON CAMPAIGN

The San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 6-25-02 | Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer

[evilsmoker]

An increasingly nasty brawl in the California GOP is quickly spinning into a public embarrassment that some Republicans say threatens the party's biggest goal -- electing businessman Bill Simon governor.

The troubles involve state party chairman Shawn Steel and conservative backers who have focused their wrath on influential presidential adviser Gerald Parsky -- architect of a Republican reorganization designed to help the state GOP better appeal to moderates, women and Latinos.

[evilsmoker]

Are the liberals in the GOP deliberately trying to sabotage the Simon campaign so they can "prove" to GOP primary voters that we should've gone with their guy Riordan?? I can think of no other reason for these constant media stories (always sprinkled with quotes from "moderate" Republicans) portraying Simon as some sort of right-wing kook.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for posting this article.

calgov2002:

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[eureka!]

From the Chronicle, no friend of ours...

[evilsmoker]

True, but why do the Parskyites keep feeding them ammunition?

[Map Kernow]

Sounds like the California Republican party alright. Why d'you think Ron Reagan formulated his "Eleventh Commandment"? It's because California Republicans have long been a bunch of petty, wheedling backbiters and backstabbers.

[eureka!]

"True, but why do the Parskyites keep feeding them ammunition?"

Heaven knows. Egos can be such a terrible thing. *sigh*

[TheRedSoxWinThePennant]

Are the liberals in the GOP deliberately trying to sabotage the Simon campaign so they can "prove" to GOP primary voters that we should've gone with their guy Riordan??

this sounds very much like what happened to schundler in new jersey with their rino canidate who lost to him in the primary (franks I believe was his name can remember for sure though)

[Poohbah]

Are the liberals in the GOP deliberately trying to sabotage the Simon campaign so they can "prove" to GOP primary voters that we should've gone with their guy Riordan??

So why is a conservative the one doing the trashing?

Reagan had this problem--it's why he formulated the 11th Commandment.

[evilsmoker]

"We took a terrible beating in California in the last election because our candidates were much too far on the right," Ford said. "It's only when we got pushed way over to the far right that we lost. And we aren't going to win again till we get back in the middle, period."

And this is such a load of bull. Is he deliberately lying or is Ford so old his memory is failing him and he can't remember the moderate Matt Fong and liberal Tom Campbell campaigns?

[Redcloak]

Are the liberals in the GOP deliberately trying to sabotage the Simon campaign so they can "prove" to GOP primary voters that we should've gone with their guy Riordan??

I think that you just got it in one. Parsky is one of those RINOs who'd rather see a liberal Democrat in office than a conservative Republican. The biggest problem is, however, that their strategy doesn't even work. I can't recall a single RINO winning statewide office here; so it's not like they can point to election wins and claim that this is what's needed to win in California. Parsky's "Dem-lite" strategy has been a miserable failure in the past and it will continue to be a miserable failure.

[B Knotts]

I no longer think it's a strategy.

I now believe that liberal Republicans oppose conservatives because...well...they're liberals.

So, they would rather have a liberal Democrat in office than a conservative Republican. Duh.

[My2Cents]

Good point. The Chronicle will take the slightest thread of controversy and blow it up into something bigger than it is, just to undermine the Republican Party, and the Simon campaign in particularly. I'm particularly incessed as the headline language the Chronicle editors use when reporting on the Israeli/Palesitinian situation, always couching the Israelis as big bullies. The Chron makes me sick.

[My2Cents]

The ironic thing is that in California, the formal party leadership (in both parties) has never been very influential, other than in terms of cranking out volunteers and whatnot. Statewide campaigns run virutally independent of party leadership.

[Gophack]

You're partially right, but I think the press is trying to blow it up into something big ... they LOVE when Republicans fight.

Democrats fight, too -- all the time. The press just doesn't cover it.

I do agree that many liberal Republicans want to say "I told you so" if Simon loses. Fortunately, I think that Simon's campaign consultant is smart and doing the right things. He doesn't have control (unfortunately) of the CRP and some of the people that are coming from there.

[Gophack]

Statewide campaigns run virutally independent of party leadership.

You're right.

[Carry_Okie]

He doesn't have control (unfortunately) of the CRP and some of the people that are coming from there.

He also knows who pays his bills on the next campaign and has to tread lightly. This election is up to us.

[MattinNJ]

That's exactly what happened. The RINO's wanted Franks, the conservatives wanted Schundler and we wound up with McSleazy. If the RINO's had shown up Schundler would have won and sent shockwaves throughout the country-a true conservative winning on a statewide level in the Northeast is almost unthinkable.

[evilsmoker]

You're right, the press barely reported the fact that a member of Davis' own party basically called him corrupt (and when they did always mentioned that Florez was only doing it to advance his own political future). And yes, a quote from a has-been like Ford wouldn't have even registered a blip on their radar if this had been a Dem problem. And of course the liberal media LOVES this story, but I have seen too many of the Simon-is-too-far-to-the-right quotes from Republicans to expect the press to control themselves.

And I also agree that Simon has done nothing but reach out (probably too much for some conservatives) to libs in the party and doesn't deserve this treatment.

[Charlotte Corday]

Former President Gerald Ford weighed in with his concern on the party fight and its effects on Simon. Appearing before the National Press Club, he appeared to warn conservatives to back off.

"We took a terrible beating in California in the last election because our candidates were much too far on the right," Ford said. "It's only when we got pushed way over to the far right that we lost. And we aren't going to win again till we get back in the middle, period."

Yeah Jer, just like you won big in '76 after knocking off that far right guy (what was his name now??) in the primaries...