Posted on 08/30/2003 12:28:55 PM PDT by 45Auto
Arnold Schwarzenegger's failure to move beyond the 22 percent to 25 percent range in most recent California surveys is sending the Republican Party's country-club establishment into panic. Schwarzenegger, after all, fits that mold perfectly. A so-called "fiscal conservative," but "social moderate," the Terminator was supposed to be the great white hope of the comatose California GOP. We all know true conservative Republicans can't win general elections in the Golden State, so the Republican rank-and-file were supposed to play good soldiers, follow the lead of the moneyed party elite, and joyfully climb aboard the Arnold Express for the only train back to the statehouse.
Well, as is usually the case, the GOP establishment was wrong. Its great white hope isn't quite catching on. Between his questionable choice of advisers (one a prominent Democrat who wants to scuttle Proposition 13) and his liberal views on a host of issues, ranging from abortion, gun control and gay marriage, to his support of new high-spending big government programs (i.e., Proposition 49), the Terminator is a hard pill for the hard core to swallow. And, if the polls are correct, they're not swallowing.
The Los Angeles Times poll showed Schwarzenegger drawing only 39 percent of the Republican vote. This despite the fact he's a household name, a movie celebrity in a state where Hollywood is king, the massive media buildup prior to his announcement ("will he or won't he?"), and the subsequent Arnoldmania that has swept the state. Yet, fewer than four in 10 Republicans in California are biting.
This fact alone proves once again that the Republican elite is all wet and that it's the grass-roots Republicans -- the precinct walkers and envelope-lickers -- who are the real representatives of the state GOP. It proves conclusively that one endorsement from the California Republican Assembly is worth a thousand endorsements from the Lincoln Club of Orange County.
Now, the party bigwigs are desperate to save Schwarzenegger. As Cruz Bustamante roars ahead of the Terminator, are the bigwigs having second thoughts about the actor-turned-politician they have put their money on? Have they seen the light and are they perhaps reconsidering?
No way. This gang is temperamentally incapable of admitting error. They have decided instead that the only way to salvage their political mistake is to demand that the real Republican in the race for governor, state Sen. Tom McClintock, drop out and toss a life preserver to their golden boy.
Yet, why is Arnold's weakness the fault of McClintock?
Is it McClintock's fault that Schwarzenegger's negatives are almost as high as his positives?
The truth is that voters are beginning to recognize that the Hollywood megastar is, to use Texas terminology, all hat and no cattle. Any individual who seeks to be governor of California but has to seclude himself for 10 days with consultants and counselors to tell him what to think simply cannot be taken seriously. You just can't cram for the governorship of the nation's largest state (and one that's suffering the worst financial crisis in history) like you would for a 10th-grade history exam.
McClintock doesn't need anyone to tell him what to think or what to say. Motivated by a strong Jeffersonian philosophy of limited government and with a 20-year track record of carefully dissecting the problems confronting California, McClilntock is perhaps overqualified to be governor. And, look what his dark-horse candidacy has accomplished in less than a month:
With a limited campaign budget (and no personal fortune to pour into the contest), a small staff and no box office sensations to his credit, McClintock is quickly becoming the candidate to watch in the recall race.
Doubling his voter strength in the Times poll in just a few weeks, McClintock is generating the kind of enthusiasm and excitement among rank-and-file Republicans not seen since Ronald Reagan's first campaign for governor in 1966.
Actually outraising Democrat presidential candidate Howard Dean on the Internet, the insurgent Thousand Oaks senator is attracting the support of Californians fed up with the deceit and doubletalk of conventional politicians and seeking a breath of fresh air. McClintock offers them that and more: He's an authentic populist who, if elected, will shake California's political establishment to the core.
And, isn't that what the Gray Davis recall is all about? A true populist uprising against the same kind of corrupt politicians beholden to special interests that Hiram Johnson, father of the recall provision, railed against in the early 1900s.
With an agenda that is simple and direct, McClintock is rallying Californians fed up with high taxes, out-of-control spending, a laughable public school system and stifling bureaucracy. He is offering hope to voters in a state where cynicism reigns. He is speaking truth to power. And, in the year of the unprecedented recall election in this, the trendsetter of states, that could just be the ticket to victory.
-- Andrew Russo, of Salinas, is a California political consultant and former executive director of The Lincoln Club of Monterey County.
Schwarzenegger Wrong for Gun Owners, Wrong for California
By David Codrea August 28, 2003
“Where else do gun owners have to go?”—Former Republican Party National Chairman Lee Atwater
-- In their zeal to rid California of the catastrophic Gray Davis and to prevent the equally loathsome Cruz Bustamante from assuming the governorship, the Golden State’s “centrist” Republican establishment has cast its lot with Arnold Schwarzenegger. On the surface, their reasoning is obvious. Famous, rich, successful, admired by millions, the superstar actor had but to cast his hat into the ring to command international attention and a multitude of star-struck followers—without ever defining where he stands on the issues beyond platitudes and sound bites.
Proving yet again how they value power over principle, the state GOP leadership has been quick to fall behind the Schwarzenegger campaign—and to discourage principled conservative candidates from running, while chastising their supporters not to “split the vote.” The alternative, they tell us, will be to retain Davis, or to give power to turncoat underling Bustamante, either of whom, they assure us, will be disastrous for California.
The problem is, a Schwarzenegger victory would be just as undesirable of an outcome for those who value liberty. Where gun owner concerns are reckoned, there is no difference between Arnold and his Democrat rivals. As far as the Republican machine is concerned, and their scare tactics prove it, the late chairman Atwater’s dismissal is still in full effect, and gun owners are once more being played for fools.
“Gun controls should be stiffer.”—Arnold Schwarzenegger
All hat and no cattle, and not much under the hat. Ronald Reagan gave political speeches for ten years before he ran for Governor.
First McClintock makes references to the country club backrooms of the Republican Party and then this article uses the same terms. Country clubs are filled with hard working self made individuals, lots of Republicans. What's with this guilt trip for being successful? It's a Democrat tactic to attack the wealthy or at least the perceived wealthy. When did Tom change sides?
Be specific, please.
Bump!
Absolutely true!
GOOOOOOOO, TOM!
If Bustamante is elected, nothing will change for the better; he is worse than Davis (if that's possible) and a REAL racist to boot. Although states are not authorized to conduct foreign policy, this clown will throw open the doors to Mexico. The invasion from the south will dramatically transform the California economic landscape; it will mirror the poverty and the incipient violence that comes with it. Parts of San Francisco and Los Angeles already look like exact duplicates of third world ratholes in Mexico, central, and south America. Remember, the motto of La Raza is "For the Race, Everything, for the others, nothing."
If Arnold wins, there will be much fanfare but very little accomplishment as he realizes what a scummy bunch of RAT-bastards he has to deal with in the California legislature. Those vermin are well practiced and will eat him alive. BY the time they are through, he will have compromised away every idea he ever had.
If by some miracle (and I think that's what it would take) McClintock wins, the legislature will still have to be dealt with. That will be a formidable task; look what the RAT-obstructionists in the US Senate have done to Bush - and consider - they are in the MINORITY in the US Senate. California has nearly a RAT supermajority in BOTH houses; on top of that ALL elected state offices are held by RATs. These vermin will not compromise or relinguish even 1% of their perceived power, even to a veteran streetfighter like Tom McClintock. He will get no help from ANY bureaucracy, ANY state agency. They will do everything they can to stall even the most minor of changes.
The state employees unions (including the spawn of hell, the teachers union)will fight tooth and nail to maintain their stranglehold on the lion's share of state tax revenues. The welfare bureaucracy, the court system, everywhere he turns, there will be another bunch of knawing, mean, rabid, hungry, wild-eyed hysterical liberal/socialist/Marxists demanding "equality", "fairness", the whole lefty, lying litany of BS will pour out like a crap storm.
Still, a true conservative in the governor's office might scare the crap out of the RATs; enough to make them think their political days are numbered - but probably this is just my own fantasy.
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