Posted on 01/19/2008 5:47:51 AM PST by barryg
While the once-imperiled California condor has made a striking comeback, there is another ailing bird in the state that should probably be considered for the endangered species list: California Republicans.
As the 2008 Republican presidential contenders turn their sights toward California on Feb. 5, they might want to take stock of the sorry state of the GOP in the Golden State.
Registered Republicans now constitute barely a third of the electorate in the biggest state — 34 percent — a decline from 39 percent just two decades ago.
Even in Orange County, regularly described as “the most Republican county in the U.S.,” Republican registration has fallen below 50 percent.
The Republicans haven’t controlled the state Senate since 1970. They have controlled the state Assembly for only one year — 1996 — since 1970.
In the past three general elections, Republicans have lost 20 of the 24 statewide constitutional offices up for election. In both 1998 and 2006, the GOP lost six of eight statewide offices.
In 2002, Republicans were shut out of all statewide offices for the first time since 1882 — despite a Democratic ticket led by an incumbent governor up for reelection with job approval ratings in the 30s.
Other than Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 2003 gubernatorial recall election, the only non-incumbent Republican to win any statewide office whatsoever since 1994 was a multimillionaire high-tech maven who in 2006 was elected insurance commissioner.
Republicans have lost — count ’em — seven straight U.S. Senate races in California dating back to 1992, the last four by double-digit blowouts.
In the two most recent races in 2004 and 2006, the sad sack GOP nominees didn’t even have the money to air a single spot on broadcast television — a first in the modern era for either major party.
The Republican nominee against Sen. Dianne Feinstein in ’06 ran his own campaign out of his house.
Of the 53 members of Congress from California, only 19 are Republican, the party having lost four GOP-held seats in 2000, a newly created district in 2002 and another, supposedly rock-solid, Republican seat in 2006.
But perhaps one of the biggest, and potentially most fatal, errors over the long term is the state Republican Party’s refusal to allow independent voters to vote in its presidential primary elections.
“Republicans have lost — count ’em — seven straight U.S. Senate races in California dating back to 1992, the last four by double-digit blowouts.”
When the GOP can’t win against a week candidate like Barbara Boxer, people have to start to wonder, why?
The standard answer is that our candidates aren’t conservative enough?
In California the party is all about cronyism and nepotism. Principles have no place there.
Oh sure...the “cure” for the GOP is to let “Independent” voter (ie undercover Democrats) vote in the Republican primary. That way John McCain could get the nomination after opposing everything the GOP tried to do in D.C. the past eight years. He’s the ideal Republican candidate according to Democrats in the msm.
Tom McClintock is a principled conservative and lost statewide as Lt. Governor. Schwarzenegger is a moderate and won by a landslide. How do we spin that?
You just made my case.
Schwarzenegger is a leftist (not "moderate") member of the Kennedy clan backed by party sycophants seeking favors and appointment.
Nepotism, cronyism, no room for principles.
I was following this guy up until he said “extra-chromosome-conservative state Sen. Tom McClintock.”
That’s just vile.
But no, the answer isn’t that GOP candidates aren’t conservative enough.
Tom McClintock ran for Lt. Governor and was trounced. And he’s certainly a true conservative.
The main problem with California is that people here are sheep. The worst thing for a Californian is to be unpopular, and nothing makes you more unpopular than being a Republican. It’s become a cultural thing. It doesn’t even have much to do with actual ideology. The state is under the thumb of a fascist pop culture media. It’s really that simple.
California is pro-abortion, because well, people here love promiscuous and casual sex without consequences. Sure they try to couch it in terms about “a woman’s right over her own body” but that’s pretty disingenuous when you get right down to it, isn’t it? It’s not like abortions are being forced on women against their will, or that they are being enslaved to baby farms. What it really means is unprotected sex without being inconvenienced by the unwanted side effects.
But other than that, California is actually ripe ground for Republicans. The state is anti-tax, believes in property-rights, is pro-military in most places, and most importantly, wants the government out of their business.
But here the fascist media portrays politics only in the narrow constraints of culture wars. The Apple ads ought to just replace Mac and PC with Democrat and Republican, because that’s about as deep as it goes here. It’s all image, and the left are masters of image manipulation in the same way as Apple.
Of course Republicans play right into it, particularly on the social issues. In California there is basically the “extreme right,” who sound just like Alan Keyes, and everyone else. In California, the GOP has basically been reduced to “The Abortion Party.” That’s why when you have a Republican who is pro-choice like Pete Wilson or Arnold Schwarzenegger, they win overwhelmingly by a landslide. Republicans in California should just give up on abortion. Yeah, I know that’s not going to happen because the only Republicans left who control the state party are all single-issue abortion politicians and social crusaders and they’ll never let go of their issue, so they will continue to strangle the GOP in California. And frankly, I don’t think they care. They are the types who feel martyred by being in the extreme minority.
I voted in the 2004 GOP primary for Toni Casey, a fiscally conservative, socially moderate pro-choice normal female person, because I felt she could have beaten Barbara Boxer. And she could have. But she only got 6% of the vote in the GOP primary. Bill Jones got 45%, in a field of 10 candidates. Bill Jones is the candidate the article talks about who ran his campaign out of his home. His website basically just went on about abortion was the single biggest issue to him. He then got his ass handed to him in the election.
This is what’s wrong with the California GOP. The state party seems to be oblivious as to what state they are in.
They could run on the full Republican platform with the full spectrum of Republican issues, as long as they dropped the abortion issue. Or at least deemphasized it. A lot. That’s the kind of candidate and governor Ronald Reagan was, and California could — and would — elect another Ronald Reagan.
“Abraham Lincoln recognized that we could not survive as a free land when some men could decide that others were not fit to be free and should therefore be slaves. Likewise, we cannot survive as a free nation when some men decide that others are not fit to live and should be abandoned to abortion or infanticide. My Administration is dedicated to the preservation of America as a free land, and there is no cause more important for preserving that freedom than affirming the transcendent right to life of all human beings, the right without which no other rights have any meaning.” —Ronald Reagan
As can be seen from lots of people who post here, there are many Republicans who would rather lose as conservatives than win as moderates.
The result is California.
And as I’m sure you know, Reagan did not run as an abortion crusader for California governor. He even signed into law the most permissive abortion laws in the country.
As long as California Republicans go around acting like there is no issue that matters other than abortion, they will continue having no say in California regarding any issue, including abortion. That is where California is, and campaigning on the overwhelmingly unpopular side of a single issue will never change that, and you will forever be locked out of power completely.
Schwarzenegger is a leftist, not a “moderate”. His (waning) popularity stems from his movie star status, not his lack of principles.
our governor got castrated by the dems in 2005.
Yep, that’s exactly it.
But what I’m saying is that Republicans can win as conservatives in California, on every issue except for abortion.
And they don’t even need to be liberal on abortion, just moderate. Maybe talk about other issues instead. Californian are quite fiscally conservative. They could run on cutting the state deficit, and lowering taxes. They could run on beating the ever intrusive government back, and supporting law enforcement.
And they would win overwhelmingly on those issues. As long as they didn’t suddenly burst into a tirade about the holocaust of the unborn like Alan Keyes having a Tourette’s episode.
He even signed into law the most permissive abortion laws in the country.
The Reagan hater never tire of that disingenuous smear.
It’s true, and I’m no Reagan hater.
But California is what it is.
Those few California Republicans left can either give up on their abortion single-issue stance that has destroyed the party statewide, or they can continue being locked out of power completely as Democrats tax, spend, and regulate the state to death.
Sooner or later they have to decide what is more important — pushing a losing issue for the sake of losing, or concentrating on the areas where they can make a difference and have a positive impact.
"Now, with regard to the permissive bill I supposedly signed, let me give you the correct history of what took place early in my term as governor. A bill was introduced that was permissive, indeed was abortion on demand. Naturally, there was great controversy about this bill. The author finally sent word that he would amend his bill to anything the governor would sign. Faced with this responsibility, I probably did more study and more soul searching on the subject that I had done on anything in my eight years as governor. I came to the conclusion, as I have already stated, that it [abortion] could only be justified to save a human life. The matter of health—meaning the permanent damage to the health of the mother if she went through with her pregnancy—was brought up. It seemed to me that the mother would have the right to protect herself from permanent damage just as she would be able to protect herself, even if it meant taking a life, from someone threatening her with mayhem, so I agreed to that provision. I thought there was adequate provision in the bill requiring responsible boards in the medical profession to declare such permanent harm would follow the birth of the child. Perhaps it was my inexperience in government, but, like so many pieces of legislation, there were loopholes that I had not seen, and the thing that made the California abortion bill become somewhat permissive in nature was violation of the spirit of the legislation by the groups that were supposed to police it. This was particularly true in the case of psychiatrists. If faced with the same problem today, I can assure you I would make sure there were no loopholes in the bill…" --Ronald ReaganHmm, who should I believe? Ronald Reagan or some abortion promoting Reagan smearer?
“We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals as our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the Party over to the so-called moderates wouldn’t make any sense at all.” —Ronald Reagan
The author of this article (not stated) is: Garry South
>>
“Garry South is a longtime Democratic strategist, opinion writer and frequent public speaker who lives in Santa Monica, Calif.”
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Oh yeah, like this guy has deep, sincere feelings for the GOP — NOT!!
Republicans are in denial in California?
Barry - I don’t know about Californians. I live in the state of Washington.
The Last Conservative in California ... escaped to Nevada last Tuesday
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