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California’s Republicans: Fading into irrelevance
The Economist ^ | 29 June 2012 | Economist

Posted on 07/02/2012 9:44:24 PM PDT by Cronos

AFTER weeks of squabbling, California’s politicians managed to get a budget approved this week. Their dispute had followed a familiar pattern. One side, spooked by yawning budget deficits, wanted to make deeper cuts to welfare payments. The other, fearful of the effects on California’s army of unemployed, sought to find savings elsewhere. It sounds like a classic Republican-Democrat ding-dong. In fact, the row pitted one Democratic force (the governor, Jerry Brown) against another (the state legislature). Shut out of the talks, the state’s opposition Republican legislators were reduced to boycotting budget hearings and issuing sulky statements.

..California gave America two of its five most recent Republican presidents. But the state party has fallen on hard times since the days of Nixon and Reagan. After having fallen for decades, the number of registered Republican voters in California now stands at just 30%

...The picture is no prettier when it comes to elections for national offices. Republicans have not won a Senate election in California since 1988. The party now accounts for just 19 of the state’s 53 congressmen. The last Republican presidential candidate to take California was George Bush senior. As the most populous state, California holds over one in ten electoral-college votes. But neither Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, nor Barack Obama will bother to campaign here—although both regularly drop by to raise funds.

..What seems clearer is that the array of fiscal problems California faces is forcing at least some Democratic officials to tilt in a Republican direction. Voters in San Jose, recently approved cuts to pension benefits for city workers by 70% to 30% . Last year liberal eyebrows were raised when Gavin Newsom, the Democratic lieutenant-governor, journeyed to deeply Republican Texas, along with several Republicans, to uncover the secret of the Lone Star state’s job-creation record.

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


TOPICS: Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: cagop; petewilsonslegacy
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To: Forty-Niner; Travis McGee
SEAL huh???? LOLOLOL I remember training SEALs in the late 60’s....

Tell us all about it.

41 posted on 07/04/2012 5:41:54 PM PDT by Eaker (When somebody hands you your arse, don't give it back saying "This needs a little more tenderizing.")
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To: wardaddy

Texas is next, I wonder how long they/we have.


42 posted on 07/04/2012 6:09:09 PM PDT by stevio (God, guns, guts.)
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To: Eaker

Tell us all about it.”

Sorry, highly classified. I can tell you it involved electronics. That in itself is not secret.


43 posted on 07/04/2012 7:38:23 PM PDT by Forty-Niner (The barely bare, berry bear formerly known as..........Ursus Arctos Horribilis.)
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To: Forty-Niner

No, really tell us all about the SEAL training you claim to have.


44 posted on 07/04/2012 7:43:48 PM PDT by Eaker (When somebody hands you your arse, don't give it back saying "This needs a little more tenderizing.")
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To: Terry Mross

I guess you nevcr heard of Scott Walker or Nikki Haley.


45 posted on 07/04/2012 7:52:42 PM PDT by DLfromthedesert
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To: Eaker

“No, really tell us all about the SEAL training you claim to have.”

I never said I had SEAL training. I said I trained Seals.......electronics...highly classified. That’s all ya get. Sorry!


46 posted on 07/04/2012 7:58:22 PM PDT by Forty-Niner (The barely bare, berry bear formerly known as..........Ursus Arctos Horribilis.)
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To: wardaddy

You’ve really found a prize one there. Those who suffer from invincible ignorance aren’t able to consider evidence that runs counter to what they want to believe.


47 posted on 07/04/2012 8:30:45 PM PDT by Pelham (John Roberts: the cherry on top of judicial tyranny.)
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To: wardaddy; Kenny Bunk

Caucasian flashmob terrorizes village:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBaHPND2QJg&feature=player_embedded#!


48 posted on 07/04/2012 9:09:21 PM PDT by Pelham (John Roberts: the cherry on top of judicial tyranny.)
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To: nathanbedford
Of course the Western European Demographic has gone the way of the dodo.

Perhaps more important, The Western European Psychographic is shot all to hell. The newer generations just don't think the way we do. It's a paradigm shift and the Republicans are shift-less.

49 posted on 07/04/2012 9:15:26 PM PDT by Kenny Bunk (So, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and FU Roberts can't figure out if Obama is a Natural Born Citizen?)
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To: Travis McGee; Pelham; Osage Orange; nathanbedford; Eaker

this thread needs a regular nut alert and no i did not courtesy ping doofuss

what sorta Marine calls themselves an Ex-Marine?

the ones I know are pretty sticky about never being an “Ex Marine”

anyhow...nice show from all ya’ll

Happy Fourth

third week of incredible heat here in Middle TN

we actually went over 100 regular temp indicator last week...not heat index

a mere 95 now feels brisk


50 posted on 07/04/2012 11:49:18 PM PDT by wardaddy (John Roberts collection of Sally Quinn's panties just got a hefty contribution this week..)
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To: Forty-Niner

California had a very small hispanic population prior to the 1970s. In the single digits, so I don’t know where you are going with that. And yes, Travis is the real deal. A Seal. As for you, lol.


51 posted on 07/04/2012 11:59:16 PM PDT by LongWayHome
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To: Forty-Niner

Must be nice living in a fantasy land, wearing those rose-colored glasses.

Doesn’t help the rising generation much.

But you’ll be dead when they curse your timidity and foolishness, after we have lost the Southwest.


52 posted on 07/05/2012 4:37:12 AM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: Forty-Niner

Still “highly classified,” from the 1960s? LOL. Even super secret cross-border ops into countries around VN during that time are now declassified.


53 posted on 07/05/2012 4:40:20 AM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: LongWayHome

“As for you, lol.”

I am a former Marine. Electronics MOS. Laugh all you want fool.


54 posted on 07/05/2012 6:51:23 AM PDT by Forty-Niner (The barely bare, berry bear formerly known as..........Ursus Arctos Horribilis.)
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To: Travis McGee

“Must be nice living in a fantasy land, wearing those rose-colored glasses.”

What rose colored glasses???? There is a major problem with illegal immigration in the US. Running around throwing racist bombs isn’t gonna solve it. I guess you can always use “I’m saving the country, so it’s OK” as an excuse. Yeah sure.

Timid.....Lolololol.... Sorry, chest beating and false bravado are your specialities. Excuse me if I pass.


55 posted on 07/05/2012 7:00:00 AM PDT by Forty-Niner (The barely bare, berry bear formerly known as..........Ursus Arctos Horribilis.)
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To: Travis McGee

Travis, thanks for posting that picture of Karl Rove’s “Republicans of the Future.”


56 posted on 07/05/2012 7:04:44 AM PDT by Kenny Bunk (So, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and FU Roberts can't figure out if Obama is a Natural Born Citizen?)
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To: Travis McGee

“Still “highly classified,” from the 1960s? LOL. Even super secret cross-border ops into countries around VN during that time are now declassified.’”

Sorry pal, Ops are one thing, but hardware of the nature I’m talking about still is clasiffied no matter from what era. You should know pretty much what I’m talking about easily from the little I’ve said. If you don’t, it’s because...well I won’t speculate on your lack of knowledge. I’ve said all I intend to say. I have no burning desire to impress YOU.


57 posted on 07/05/2012 7:28:17 AM PDT by Forty-Niner (The barely bare, berry bear formerly known as..........Ursus Arctos Horribilis.)
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To: Forty-Niner; Travis McGee
Growing up in Southern California, I had many Hispanic friends whose family ties in California predated my own pre-1849 American pioneer/scout ties.

The "Hispanic" population of California, that is Spaniards and Mexicans of largely European descent was miniscule in the 19th C. In fact, the major cities of modern California were dusty villages with a few HUNDRED residents in 1850. The Leftists would like you to forget that part, as apparently you have.

And yes, those "Mayflower Mexicans" became Republicans when the US took over California! Sorry, but this is a racial matter. The "new" California Mexicans are not of European descent, they are overwhemligly of mixed race with Indian and other strains predominating, and one spur to illegal immigration is that in Mexico they are often treated as racial inferiors. OTOH, in the US they are the beneficiaries of lavish Affirmative Action, much to the dismay of our home-grown African-American "minority," whom they have displaced (among others) in political and especially economic terms. (CC CBC)

Yes, talking about "race" plays into Leftist hands. But we needn't be squeamish about it, as were the millions of people who voted for a Marxist of dubious provenance merely because he was a Mulatto. In fact, because he is a Mulatto of dubious antecedents, we are even forbidden to criticize his disastrous policies.

You know, we'll just have to bite the bullet and risk the racist label in order to set things aright ... if indeed that is still possible.

58 posted on 07/05/2012 7:33:19 AM PDT by Kenny Bunk (So, Scalia, Alito, Thomas, and FU Roberts can't figure out if Obama is a Natural Born Citizen?)
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To: nascarnation
Anchor babies born before 1994 are now able to vote Democrat.

So are all deceased Democrats.....

So are all deceased Republicans.

59 posted on 07/05/2012 8:43:13 AM PDT by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: Forty-Niner
Naw....you said right here' I remember training SEALs in the late 60’s....

Now...you are saying here, I said I trained Seals.......electronics...highly classified.

Are you telling us...you trained barking seals..and not SEALS now??????

60 posted on 07/05/2012 9:39:34 AM PDT by Osage Orange (8675309)
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