It is so amusing. Simon has every one in his campaign contacting eveyone from Rush to Jerry Falwell to try to get them to help poor Mr. Simon take on Davis. It is amusing to hear people like Rush give him lip service. Rush put one of Simons groopies on to say, "Simon is going to win this fall." Rush replied, "I am not going to tell you that you are wrong." I could not believe that Rush said that. When someone tells you they are not going to tell you that you are wrong, they believe you are wrong. They just don't want to hurt your feelings. When I was learning to do talk shows I was taught to respond to such nonsense by saying,"You may very well be right" You were to leave unsaid, "You may very well be wrong." When a talk show host says "I'm not going to say you are wrong" he is conveying the message that while not saying it, he is certainly thinking it. Rush makes 200+ mill a year. He can aford to put down callers. But it likely went over most listeners heads.
What Rush was doing was puting on something to please a number fo viewers. If Rush felt Simon had a chance he would say that he felt Simon had a chance to win. His screener would be prepared with a caller to recite some anecdotal evidence that Rush was correct that Simon was going to win.
When a talk show host doesn't think a guy has a chance, he put a groopie on, and then lets her say it. Then the host politiely refuses to disagree with her. It had to be a woman. Becuase men disagree with men. But gentlemen do not openly disagree with ladies. Rush has to preserve his reputation for being right. But enough of doing talk shows.
The only reason Davis spent 10 milllion dolars trashing Riordin was he was pretty sure Riordin could beat him. That means the polls showed it. The polls and focus groups also showed that the Repubilcans in California could be manimpulated into nominating a Republican the research said could not beat davis. It could not have been a two or 5 point thing. It had to be twenty. Democrats don't spend 10 million dollars to get a couple of point advantage. 10 million spent said it was a slam dunk. Otherwise the 10 million would have been put to other use.
Davis had to feel he had just one chance. He had to get Simon nominated. So he spent 10 million and got it done. Now Simon is crying for everyone to come help him.
For 200 years it has worked like this... When a president ask for something and people do it, he helps them. Typically when he asks someone not to run, and they don't they get rewarded. When they don't follow his advice he does not help them. In the past some presidents hurt such people and their voters. LBJ comes to mind. He moved a military base and put lots of people out of work because they nominated a guy LBJ did not want to be nominated.
At this stage it is up to Simon to figure out a way to win. He proved he could win with lots of help from Davis. Now he has to prove he can win with Davis against him. If he can't no one out side his base in California will lift a finger for him.
That is just the way the game is played. Simon grew up in politics. He knows the rules. He can't plead ignorance. Most likely his political career will be over this fall. Davis will be elected and no president or governor in the future will even answer his phone calls. Prhaps he can get a show in MSNBC.
Politics in the United States has been a team sport for over 200 years. To get to the top one has to support and follow the directions of the guys who are currently at the top. Fail to do that and you have no where to go in politics. No one will in the party will use you or help you again. Loyalty ain't everything. It is the only thing. No one wins at the polls with out it.
Simon must believe that his 6 months of fame in California will be worth it. He certainly knows the score.
Neither, so I stay home now AND in 2004 if this is how my "pro-life, pro-freedom" President uses his political capital.
Don't principles matter? If not, screw 'em all. That's not why I'm involved in politics, to cater to some Mafia boss at the top whose name is Clinton, Johnson, or Bush.