ON FREEPERS AND CALIFORNIA

3 October 2003 | Egon

[VOA]

On the Rantings

Your comments are good.
Don't let the rantings and ravings bother you (much).
Most of us arrive at the keyboard at the end of a tough day and after a sip or two
of wine to relax...well, in vino, veritas.
And sometimes we're not delicate enough when dispensing the truth (as we see it).

Stick around...you're gonna' love some of the "I'm sorry" or "I was incorrect"
apologies.
Unlike most of the Democratic playgrounds, we've got enough ego-strength
(and from many, sufficient humility) that we can survive the dust-ups.

[Chesterbelloc]

As I come up to speed in this medium, however, it's amazing to me how quickly some of the forums degenerate so quickly into derision, name calling, and rhetoric.

Every so often Freeper Hurricanes will blow through over certain issues with lots of bloodletting and casualties (banned/suspended accounts). Like tropical depressions you can see some of them coming from a long way out.

[Egon]

...visit Democratic Underground.

I spent a few hours there last evening.

It was pretty revealing. Definitely a foreign brand of logic there to my own. I'm thinking of registering and adding my two cents.

Probably not worth it...

[Egon]

...they have to learn to circle the SUV's...

Agreed!

When they do disagree, it doesn't seem to be nearly as loudly as we do. Although, it may be just portrayed that way in the media...

[NormsRevenge]

Good post & Welcome! :-)

[Choose Ye This Day]

Good post. I agree. Fellow Minnesotan.

FYI--You probably should include the word (vanity) in the title of threads like this in the future, just so people know that you wrote it, it's your opinion, you're not posting some outside news article, etc.

[Egon]

You probably should include the word (vanity) in the title...

Ah. Important safety tip! Thanks!

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Well, now I have to admit that I only got as far as the categories, and skipped over your personal bio; please accept my apologies; I agree with your post. Well said (as I wipe egg off my face)

[m1911]

LOL. That was a joke, right?

[m1911]

It worked better as a kind of tongue-in-cheek response.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

Well, that will teach me to read the whole thing before replying. I was in a hurry; gotta get some work done.

[Grampa Dave]

Excellent first post (I think)! You and I are in the same SUV, or we have two of them pointed at Davis and Cruz Busta Our Wallets! Your summary needs to be repeated:

"Arnold: Despite my misgivings about your stand on some core issues, the advisors you're surrounding yourself with, and the way you've conducted yourself in the past, we're counting on you to steer the state of California back toward its former glory.

"Tom: I admire your principles and your moral will. I hope we can figure out a way to allow you to represent our values, if not in 2006, or in this venue, then certainly again in the future.

"To the rest of the conservatives (myself included), I guess I'd say this: We all believe in something, we all make decisions, we all get frustrated at other people who hold different views from ours; but we all want basically the same thing in the end. Intelligent, civilized people can disagree without over-the-top rhetoric, and without burning too many bridges."

Excellent:

Just the thoughts of Arnold and Tom must be driving the rats of California into a deeper drug induced depression. Let send them into terminal depression this Tuesday!

Lets kick Davis out this Tuesday and make our guys #1 and #2!

Welcome to Free Republic, Egon.

[Grampa Dave]

This coming Tuesday we need to make the Rats really big losers!

#1. We need to vote/drop kick Davis out of office with a resounding margin!

#2. We need to vote for our guys to make them #1 or #2 in this race with Cruza Busta Our Wallets a brunt out flash in the rat pan.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/994615/posts

CA: Democratic Party will be the biggest loser
The Long Beach Press Telegram ^ | Thursday, October 02, 2003 - 10:08:34 AM PST | Jill Stewart


Posted on 10/03/2003 11:03 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach


The only things that can be predicted at this point in the frantic final days of the race to recall Gov. Gray Davis are that panic reigns inside the camps that are losing, fur will now fly with gobs of flesh attached, and the losers won't just be the three men who voters reject as governor.

The new Los Angeles Times Poll, which echoes the recent Gallup-conducted poll for CNN-USA Today, shows something truly intriguing besides big support for recalling Davis next Tuesday.

The poll indicates that the "progressive" agenda Davis and the AFL-CIO union honchos believed Californians would back -- whose essential message was higher taxes to support burgeoning state welfare programs, softer treatment for illegal immigrants and minimal cuts in the bureaucracy -- failed miserably. Two key findings stand out, beyond 56 percent support for recall, and Schwarzenegger's solid 40 percent to 32 percent lead over Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.

First, groups that might have warmed to the images Davis projected -- Davis arm-in-arm with the crowd from the failed bilingual education movement as he signed a bill giving licenses to illegal immigrants, Davis promoting his vastly skyrocketing expenditures for health insurance for the children of working parents -- had second thoughts.

The Times poll says two out of 10 liberals now want to oust Davis, as do 54 percent of women, union members, and the elderly, and 53 percent of voter-rich Los Angeles County. Democrats are defecting to Schwarzenegger so fast we may need a new term -- not the Reagan Democrats but the Recall Democrats.

Second, California voters don't want social conservative state Sen. Tom McClintock as governor, but they nevertheless accept much of his conservative message.

How else to explain the 62 percent approval rating for McClintock? And a stratospheric 75 percent of them said he had the integrity and character to do the job. About 62 percent said that about Schwarzenegger, but only 48 percent said it of Bustamante -- a comment on his entanglements with Indian gaming money.

One clear message from this poll is that Californians don't much like the leftist slant gripping Sacramento Democrats, which just resulted in a raft of new job killer anti-business bills. The approval rating for McClintock and the 63 percent disapproval of the driver's license law bill should strike fear into legislators who fought budget cuts and pushed for bloated state spending.

The media have focused on the horse race, but a larger struggle is afoot here. California has not seen a battle for power like this since 1966, when Republican neophyte Ronald Reagan wrested the governorship from longtime Democratic Gov. Pat Brown.

For nearly a decade, the far right has trapped the Republican Party in a murder-suicide soap opera, putting forth right-wing candidates for statewide office who can't win elections. The far right, which is better-organized and willing to fight dirtier than Republican moderates, has crippled its party. The Democratic Party of California has benefited enormously. The party has risen to its greatest power in more than 20 years. The last thing partisan Democrats want now is a moderate Republican governor who could tame the ultra-conservative tail that wags the dog in the California Republican Party.

Schwarzenegger, as governor, would pursue moderate policies even as he pursued fiscal conservatism. That means moderate Republicans, who fled their party, would come back to the fold. The Democratic Party could be taken on.

So, no, this ain't just about Arnold and Gray. These clashing tectonic political plates are the reason why former President Bill Clinton urged Davis nearly two years ago to declaw moderate Republican Richard Riordan, former mayor of Los Angeles.

Clinton, although a purported friend of Riordan's, advised Davis to trash Riordan in an unprecedented Democratic expenditure during a California Republican primary. It worked, and Riordan lost miserably to conservative Bill Simon. So Davis is panicking. My, how that changes a man. Davis refused to face the other candidates in the debates to which he was invited. Now Davis is demanding Schwarzenegger debate him, and the Davis and Bustamante camps have begun to trade insults with one another.

The only thing Davis or Bustamante can hope for is something with which to taint Schwarzenegger. But they'd have to top the Oui magazine article, shrugged off by many voters.

The fear among Democratic leaders is palpable. They watch helplessly as the Republican Party in California undergoes a transformative moment, in which its members put aside ideology and social concerns to go all pragmatic.

After what Davis did to Riordan, the Democratic Party believed it would enjoy years of control in Sacramento. Davis and the Democratic majority moved further and further left to appease unions and others -- but the populace didn't. Now the Democrats have to find a way, with just a few days left, to hang onto to their brass ring.

Jill Stewart is a California TV, radio and print political commentator, who can be reached at www.jillstewart.net.

[gracie1]

Welcome to Freerepublic ! The currant daily Tom/Arnold foodfights are nothing compaired to things I've seen in the past.
Let's see, there was the Pat Buchannan brigade,
the Bush/McCain fued,
the whole damn Elian Gonzalez mess,
don't even get me started on the WOD threads,
and nothing beats a good religion flame war for Christian brotherly love!
Then a whole bunch of banned posters get together and start their own website to collectively vent their spleen about how evil we are. Poster children all for obsessive compulsive disorder (medication, please!).

All in all, if you remember that another person is at the end of you computor reading your rant, and take what you read with a grain (or two or three) of salt, it's a damn fun place to be!

Just remember, insulting people anonomously is what the internet is all about (Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back).

[Madame de Winter]

As a native Californian, I'd like to see it go back to the good old days. But that would be about before 15 million people moved into the state. You know back when it was affordable to live here.

But Minnesota, I'll take the weather and the earthquakes before I'd have to put chains on the tries;)

My problem with Arnold goes back to a personal revelation a friend me told back while I went to a private Catholic College. When she was underage she a fling with Arnold. He was almost twice her age. She was into bodbuilding and obviously body-builders.

This was over 25 years ago and he wasn't married at the time. Yet I think those kind of thing shape you. So no mister muscles but a smart guy, a sincere guy, just like my husband, will get my vote. And that would be McClintock.

BTW welcome. Some here are smart and funny and others close-minded idiots. Just like the real world.

[Choose Ye This Day]

And don't cross the streams. It would be bad.

[Egon]

...please accept my apologies

No problem! It's Friday! ...besides, next time I'll probably deserve it anyway! ;-)

[Joe Hadenuf]

First, let me clarify something. I live in Minnesota.

My condolences. Hope the coming winter isn't to brutal for you.........

That being said, This is historical, as Californian's march Davis towards the political gallows, and as the trap door opens, it will end the career of this little communist.

As Gray Davis flys home in total disgrace a few days, back to NY where he came from, be sure to wave as he passes overhead.

I'll vote McClintock. However, even if Schwarzenegger gets it, he'll still be many, many times better than Gray Davis.

[My2Cents]

Excellent comments.

My biggest frustration with the recall posts over the past two months is that the "principled" conservatives think they have a corner on the definition of "conservative." I suppose it's because conservatism has become as broad and as widespread as it is that there are many different "flavors" or hues of conservatism. The "principled" ones ought to be glad for this, but they want to run the rest of us out of the movement, even though this would relegate conservatism back to the 20% or so of the electorate that it was during the Eisenhower Administration. So, what concerns me is someone who is a conservative, has been voting conservative for years, is all of a sudden deemed NOT to be a conservative by the "principled" ones. I've posted on FR that there are sound conservative reasons to vote for Arnold...in fact I've posted such comments so often that my fingers are bleeding from the typing. But the "principled" ones still insist that "Arnold is a Leftist...Arnold is a Kennedy." Frankly, I'm sick of it. And I'm really weary of the "blowhard" wing of the conservative movement.

But thank you for your breath of sanity in the midst of a very divided FreeRepublic.