Posted on 12/05/2005 2:17:33 PM PST by NormsRevenge
I am going to apologize in advance for the metaphors to follow, but they do make the point.
Politics is a lot like football. It is a team sport for individuals with similar goals. The team advances its agenda, sometimes in small increments, moving the ball toward “victory.” The only real difference between football and politics is that the players can change positions frequently. Sometimes a politician is the quarterback, sometimes he or she is the lineman. In all cases, everyone wins if they effectively execute the play that is called in the huddle.
I know I am a lineman in the game of California politics. I’m willing to get stepped on, smashed up, or hurt for my quarterback, as long as I know he is going to advance my team down the field to victory.
I have been loyal to our Governor because I have always believed that he was throwing the ball to our team. I have not always agreed with his strategy, but I have been confident we were on the same team. Last week, I lost that confidence.
I endorsed the Governor in the recall because I thought, at the time that the best thing for conservatives was to win the recall. We started it back in February of 2003, and we needed to ensure we finished it by defeating Gray Davis. Many Republicans opposed the recall because they believed that it was too risky and that it might ultimately strengthen Democrats. I was told that by prominent Republicans leaders that my early support of the recall was foolish. I thought it was the right thing to do.
At the time I endorsed Schwarzenegger for Governor, he and Cruz Bustamante were tied in the polls. If the recall had resulted in a Governor Bustamante, it would have destroyed the influence of conservatives in California. Schwarzenegger won, running on conservative themes of fiscal responsibility and opposing taxpayer benefits for illegal aliens. The conservatives who began the recall were vindicated.
During my time in the Legislature, I have given this Governor my unqualified support because, despite our differences, I thought he would throw the ball to our team. I would get my fingers bloodied and my nose broken, blocking the bad guys, to advance the ball. I thought the people of California owed this Governor the benefit of the doubt, because I believed he was trying to do the right thing.
Years ago, in the days of less-sophisticated mining technology, miners would take a canary into the cave with them to detect dangerous gases. If the canary dropped dead while they were working, the miners knew to get out of the mine immediately, because they were being exposed to dangerous gases.
The canary is demonstrating serious signs of distress in this administration. It may be too early to draw the ultimate conclusion from the appointment of Susan Kennedy, but Kennedy was at the center of the Oracle scandal, the energy crisis, and the budget debacles of the Davis Administration. She is the hazardous gas we must watch in this dangerous mine of government.
I am always willing to be a lineman on the football team, but only if the quarterback is intending to throw the ball to my team. This week, the Governor deliberately threw the ball to the other team. The “benefit of the doubt” has now been eliminated. Time may ultimately prove me wrong, and this appointment might be a creative strategy that advances the agenda in which I believe, but I don’t trust Kennedy to advance that agenda, and I’m reluctant to put my faith in a quarterback who would put her in charge.
The canary is on life support. It is now time for the people of the state of California to pay attention. We can no longer take it for granted that the ball is going to be thrown to our team.
Personally, I think the canary died.
He was a trojan horse with kennedy string pullers. What conservatives now realize is that he doesnt need us anymore. We stay home, he pardons the Crip killer b*stard and wins the lefties support. My wallet is now closed to all republicans.
Glad you woke up, Ray. Some have been paying attention all along and he's been throwing the ball to the wrong team for over 2 years now.
Considering the number of Democrats in Arnold's gubernatorial redoubt, I seriously believe that in this regard Mr. Haynes is either incredibly credulous or genuinely disingenuous.
I once had more respect for him than that.
Well then Mr. Haynes, you have forgotten the first law of California politics: It can always get worse.
A Bustamentalcase would have manufactured a conservative majority in a heartbeat. Meanwhile, the pubbies would have tied him in knots in the legislature.
Man, what a rich article. I haven't seen so many stupid truisms in ages. Shows what living in an "us v. them" world will do to an otherwise intelligent human being.
Tookie must die!
Arnold must go!
Oh please. The canary died with Prop. 58.
One needn't wonder what sort of nitrous is in this gas bag, seeing as he's been getting the shaft for over a year and is (supposedly) only now getting suspicious.
I supported his reform plans - and the issues he dealt with were necessary.
But .. just because he lost the first time around, he shouldn't be so willing to give up.
He's lost my support with the appointment of the ultra-leftwing babe. I no longer trust him, and I will not be voting for him in 2006 [and I didn't vote for him in the recall].
"He was a trojan horse with kennedy string pullers. What conservatives now realize is that he doesnt need us anymore. We stay home, he pardons the Crip killer b*stard and wins the lefties support. My wallet is now closed to all republicans."
I also wonder if he underestimated the actual business of being in politics. He might be in over his head and hearing how he campaigned in New York during the recall election IN CALIFORNIA makes me wonder if he really is fit to hold office. I believe he got in on his famous name, come to think of it, that's it.
"Tookie must die!
Arnold must go!"
I agree with you on each point. Tookie MUST die. If he is spared, it will only be a matter of time before he manages to get released. Then he will be running the Crips directly and we are definately doomed. It will also embolden many many of the thugs that are still loose.
According to the guards, he is still calling hits from prison.
Trite, but true!!! (snort) I lost respect first for Assemblyman Tim Leslie and for Assemblyman Ray Haynes.
Leslie laughed at me when I suggested he get on the Recall bandwagon initiated by Sean Steele and Malanie Morgan!
Now Ray Haynes writes this crappola!!!
Tom McClintock was the FIRST elected state of CA official to publically support the historic CA Recall election!!!
I was never so shocked in my life when suddenly the majority of CA FReepers ditched the most fiscally conservative candidate who was actually candid... Yet they swooned for Schwartzenrenegger like flies to roadkill!!!
How is his "CA Border Police" initiative doing? The signature deadline is MONDAY Dec 12th. I haven't seen any updates for a month.
The social conservatives are too fickle to be reliable.
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