Yet the McClintockites don't. 
Posted on 06/04/2006 9:45:10 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Even as the nation’s best-known governor refuses to say whether he will oppose a new oil tax contained in a November ballot initiative, several leading conservatives steadfastly stand by him.
“The Democrats of Sacramento represent a tax-and-spend agenda that is not likely to change,” wrote the GOP’s “great right hope” of ‘02, Bill Simon Jr., in the latest American Spectator. “The governor could go a long way if he represented a stark contrast to that agenda. People like candidates with a vision, and Schwarzenegger has a reform-minded one.”
On the balance, Arnold’s been a great governor,” Scott Baugh, former GOP state legislator and now chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, told me. “His first act was cutting $4 billion from the budget. His second act, the repeal of the car tax, resulted in $12 billion back to the taxpayers. Worker’s compensation claims have dropped 40%. That sends a huge signal to business that California is serious about welcoming new jobs.”
Like other conservatives, Baugh hopes that a Schwarzenegger re-election this fall will give the state GOP what he calls “a bench,a conservative bench—Tom McClintock as lieutenant governor and Chuck Poochigian as attorney general.” Both candidates are strong conservatives across-the-board and rated better than even chances to emerge triumphant over far-left Democratic foes this November.
“Arnold’s done a lot of good things,” nationally syndicated radio talk show Michael Reagan told me. “You can say he’s not conservative, but what do you really have to choose from between him and, say, Sheila Kuehl (one of the most far-left of state legislators, onet-ime “Dobie Gillis” co-star Kuehl represents what conservatives call “The People’s Republic of Santa Monica.”
“It would be great if Arnold were a conservative,” said Scott Baugh, “Let’s say he’s a moderate who has done some conservative things.”
(Excerpt) Read more at humaneventsonline.com ...
What choice do they have? It would be more truthfull to say they support him over crazy left wing lunatics.
Well, actually he is, but in California he's probably as good as it gets. I'd prefer McClintock, but I'll vote for Arnold if he's the nominee, which of course he will be.
Arnold even had the courage to go around the legislature, putting conservative propositions on the ballot, and calling for a special election, unfortunately the unions pulled out all the stops and they were defeated.
In Baugh’s words, “There are only so many bullets you can fire.” He was referring to four statewide initiatives the governor backed last year that included teacher tenure (granting public school teachers tenure after five years instead of two); “Paycheck Protection” that would have required annual consent of public sector union employees for their dues could be used for political purposes; a “live within our means” measure to limit spending and an overhaul of the redistricting process, taking the power to draw lines for state legislators from lawmakers themselves and turning it over to a panel of retired judges. All four measures lost after a campaign by the unions, "
Nobody could have done any better than Arnold against the Dems, in fact by giving in to them in lesser issues, he was able to push through some important issues, such as the workers' comp and refusing to raise taxes. The most important thing for CA, when Arnold was elected was to improve the business climate, which was so bad, businesses were leaving in droves - the Dems want to strangle businesses, not understanding that businesses are the geese that lay the golden eggs. Arnold understands that well and vetoed many bills that the Dem Legislature passed, which would have hurt businesses, one of which was the mandatory health insurance,which would have bankrupted mid-size businesses.
"Baugh hopes that a Schwarzenegger re-election this fall will give the state GOP what he calls “a bench,a conservative bench—Tom McClintock as lieutenant governor and Chuck Poochigian as attorney general.” Both candidates are strong conservatives across-the-board"
If Arnold gets defeated, it's not likely that McClintock or Poochigian would win, or even if they do, they would be hamstrung by the Dem governor and wouldn't be able to do anything, while if Arnold gets reelected, they will have a seat at the table.
Thats a win in my book.
man let's not go down that road.
Schwarzenegger is a gun grabber with a penchant for appointing democrats to state office. As far as I'm concerned, that disqualifies him as a certified conservative. The best that can be said is he's the best choice we have.
O.K. hes a donkey with a horn rubber banded to his nose and likes to hang with elephants.
Duuugh..
Amen to your comments. I live in Northern California and I just had to "hold my nose" as I filled out my absentee ballot. The two wackos running in the Democratic primary are flaming Liberals with highly questionable ethics. What choice do we have? None! California is represented by two disgraceful jokes as Senators as well as being run by an Assembly of Liberal idiots. Can it get any worse? Unfortunately, yes!
Schwarzenegger is a social moderate and a fiscal liberal. He thought things were going to be easy, which turned out not to be true. He'll get reelected, but who know if he will have the courage to change things. The funny thing is he campaigned on a pledge to open up the books completely, and do a full audit. After the election, that was never heard about again.
Still have my nose plugs and I will vote for him. The democrat candidates are beyond belief.
The most conservative governor of california since Reagan (Wilson was a commie limpdik )
I am definitly pulling for McClintock who was and is still attacked by the Wilson (CA R)for being too conservative. The corrupt commie RINO Wilson camp (ENRON) is still active today in California which is part of the problem
(Denny Crane: "Every one should carry a gun strapped to their waist. We need more - not less guns.")
Arnold has accomplished and tried to accomplish as much as any conservative would have been able to do, in his place, i.e. he IS advancing the conservative agenda, as much as possible in CA.
The problem is not Arnold, the problem is the Dem Legislature.
Arnold even tried to take them on, including the powerful unions, with the propositions of the special election, which were defeated by the unions
Well, my favorite CA conservative supports Arnold, and Tom McClintock's endorsement means the most to me.
Yes indeed, McClintock, Simon, Michael Reagan, and conservative Orange County support Arnold.
They understand the stakes.
All good conservatives support Arnold.
GR8 post, Redhead.
Yet the McClintockites don't.
The REAL "McClintockites", just as REAL conservatives DO support Arnold.
Only those who were using McClintock as an excuse to try to divide conservatives, but in reality they wanted to get Bustamante, Angelides and the likes elected are the ones who don't support Arnold, because their real objective is not to advance the conservative agenda, but to advance the Dem takeover of CA.
This article describes them to a T:
The new 'Republicans vote on Wednesday' game (FR Mentioned) (article full text)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1613957/posts?page=87#87
"The premise follows a scheme previously found most often on talk radio programs: a liberal activist calls a conservative radio host, such as Rush Limbaugh or Laura Ingraham, and delivers the line: “I’ve been voting Republican for 30 years, but I’ve finally had it and I’m not voting this year.” Or my favorite: “I’m a Reagan Republican, but I’m fed up and voting for John Kerry.” (Because that is what Reagan Republicans would do, vote for John Kerry.) At this point, the host usually asks a couple of questions and it becomes painfully obvious that the supposed Reagan Republican has probably never voted for anyone left of Michael Dukakis.
The intentions are clear: the caller hopes to make it appear as though there is already a large uprising of conservatives who are rebelling against GOP candidates, and thus, wishes to incite other Republicans to pick up the same attitude and pass it along, leading to the Democrat becoming more competitive. The successes of such a strategy on voting habits are unclear, especially given that the conservative radio host often refutes the caller’s talking points.
But the pretend-conservative act is being carried onto a whole new playing field, one that has become wildly influential over the past few years and one that does not stand to be instantly recognized as a fake. That playing field is the blogosphere, which is then used in conjunction with massive e-mailings to “spread the word” (as one e-mailer insisted I do to my readers/e-mail list) to other conservatives.
The concept is the same: the blog or e-mail claims, first, that the said writer has been a conservative for years and that they have “had it with Republicans.” They then point to an issue that conservatives would likely be upset about such as excessive spending, immigration, or the expansion of government. Their supposed rage over the issue has convinced them to either not show up to vote in 2006, or, in order to really show Republicans, vote for the Democrat instead.
The blogs and e-mails are convincing in their wording and could incite the sort of reaction that occurred following the Harriet Miers nomination to the Supreme Court. Of course, any liberal could read Free Republic and find out what’s irritating conservatives this week, grab a handful of phrases, and toss it on their “I’m a conservative but voting for a Democratic because of (insert issue here)” blog. After tossing in a few posts about the evils of Hillary Clinton and abortion, the blog is now being run by a bona-fide “conservative.” A few e-mails and link connections later, the message of conservatives voting against Republicans is spread. "
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