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Governor's mild advice snowballs into hot-button issue(AP misquotes Arnold)
Sac Bee ^ | 12/23/04 | Dan Walters

Posted on 12/23/2004 9:27:31 AM PST by Pikamax

Dan Walters: Governor's mild advice snowballs into hot-button issue By Dan Walters -- Bee Columnist Published 2:15 am PST Wednesday, December 22, 2004 Everyone knows the snowball syndrome - how a tiny chunk of snow picks up weight as it rolls down a snowy hill and expands into a large snowball.

The same thing can happen in politics; a tiny nugget of fact, or even supposition, expands with every recounting until it becomes a hot - albeit inaccurate and misleading - political issue, as the following sequence illustrates. One day last week, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was interviewed by two reporters, one from China, the other from Germany. The latter, Marc Hujer, wrote an article for Sueddeutsche Zeitung, a Berlin newspaper, that focused on Schwarzenegger's suggestion that his Republican Party could prosper by emulating his ideological centrism, especially on environmental issues.

This is what Schwarzenegger said in the transcript of the interview, which was conducted in English: "I think that right now the Republican Party is all the way from the right to the center. And the Democratic Party is all the way from the left to the center. And I like the Republican Party to cross that center line. Keep it to the right where it is, but I mean cross over that center line a little bit, because that would take immediately away 5 percent from the Democrats and be home free for good. That's the trick."

(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: misquotes; schwarzenegger

1 posted on 12/23/2004 9:27:31 AM PST by Pikamax
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To: Pikamax

Excellent advice from a RINO. How to get Democrats in office with "R" on the name tag.


2 posted on 12/23/2004 9:34:20 AM PST by Still Thinking (Disregard the law of unintended consequences at your own risk.)
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To: Pikamax

They did misquote him then, but I still disagree with his basic premise.


3 posted on 12/23/2004 9:34:39 AM PST by Jaysun (DEMOCRATS: "We need to be more effective at fooling people.")
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To: Pikamax

Well I agree that Republicans are right to center I disagree that Democrats are anywhere near the center. Sure there are some in Montana or Nebrasks or such but certainly not nationally. When the Dems are trying to pass Hillary off as a centrist then they have no centrists.


4 posted on 12/23/2004 9:54:59 AM PST by byteback
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To: Still Thinking

The demoncratic lefty lunatics will not move to the right to get to the center since they know no other way of living except by the acceptance of falsehoods and misconceptions,ie;Hilary clinton and her debunked health care plan.

Movement to the left, even a teensie little bit may be too much for some Republicans, but President Bush has shown them the way. The might also study the sayings of President Ronald Reagen as well which are a light in the liberal lefty darkness of our nation.

All in all we live in very exciting times which should be enjoyed to the fullest. Have a very Merry Christmas, yu'all


5 posted on 12/23/2004 9:57:47 AM PST by zoosha
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To: Pikamax
It would seem that we got nearly 5% of the middle to left of center voters.

President Bush's personal character brought voters to his side in 2004. Even those who might not support his every position respected him enough to give him their vote.

6 posted on 12/23/2004 10:01:21 AM PST by OldFriend (PRAY FOR MAJ. TAMMY DUCKWORTH)
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To: OldFriend

We don't need to be political girly-men...


7 posted on 12/23/2004 10:19:54 AM PST by talleyman (Merry Christmas! ("And God bless us every one!"))
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To: Pikamax

If 1/100th the effort that is put into bending the wording of our Constitution into extra-, and un-, Constitional that enables a dreadful decline of leftists' "living" in moral decadence, were instead applied to simply adhering to the Constitution and when desiring change, doing so lawfully, as the Constitution proscribes the manner by which we are to arrive at a compromise on the issues of the day ... we would be saving more than "just one child."


8 posted on 12/23/2004 10:43:41 AM PST by First_Salute (May God save our democratic-republican government, from a government by judiciary.)
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To: Pikamax

I may be able to understand Arnold's perspective, but I certainly do NOT agree with it.

You have 2 options to gain more ground in politics,

1) You change your position (as advocated by Arnold)
2) You change the electorate's position (my preference)

The first is simpler, and is a short term fix. But it causes too much compromise and too many longer term problems. It also creates the possibility of more infighting and more ideological divides.

The longer term fix is to EDUCATE the electorate. And then the other side just plain dies. It takes longer, and is harder work, but it is a LASTING change that affects at least a generation or more.

We have seen this with both the homosexual issue (heterophobia on the left), and with abortion... Where Americans were once "tolerant" of these ideas, they are becoming more and more passionate and disaffected with them. They are turning on the pet projects of the left.

The more people educate the public about other issues, such as the fictitious separation of church and state, and the ridiculous gay marriage issue, the more the DNC collapses and is FORCED to change. Changing the electorate (which has been a longer term VERY successful GOP strategy) changes the entire political landscape.

For the Republican party to move a little to the left changes the party and causes disenfranchisement of the core of the Republican base.

See the ANTI-DNC Web Portal at ---> http://www.noDNC.com


9 posted on 12/23/2004 11:47:24 AM PST by woodb01 (See the ANTI-DNC Web Portal at ---> http://www.noDNC.com)
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