Sunday Morning Talk Show Thread 24 Aug 2003

Since Bustamante is active in MeCha (or whatever that is) and supports Aztlan, his election may be very bad for the rest of the country. As Rush says, conservatism works whenever it is tried.

I fear that a long divided race, in which the McC/Schw camps campaign against each other day after day, week after week, could have a very bad result.
Look at FR; the McC fans tend to greet EVERY conservative syllable Schw or an aide speaks with mocking and derision. They rip his supporters as sell-outs, RINO's, compromisers.
I'm not even full-out, but even for making a case for Schw, I've been called a supposed, fake conservative -- which is hilarious to anyone who knows me at all...
Hey, you supposed, fake conservative sell-out RINO! :o)

As I posted on another thread:

As difficult as this may be to believe, there is actually a world OUTSIDE of Free Republic, in in THAT world, Arnold has not yet even BEGUN to soar - up, up, UP...

Check out the "reaction of the masses" at Arnold's FIRST PUBLIC APPEARANCE since his announcement as a candidate for Governor - in the (relatively) conservative Orange County city of Huntington Beach:

Schwarzenegger Gets Hero's Welcome in Surf City
Reuters ^ | 8/22/03 | Dan Whitcomb
Posted on 08/22/2003 7:01 PM PDT by kattracks

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (Reuters) - Arnold Schwarzenegger received a hero's welcome in this beach town on Friday, thrilling hundreds of swimsuit-clad admirers and winning endorsements for his gubernatorial bid from a Republican congressman and key fund-raisers.
Wading into throngs of cheering supporters in Southern California's Huntington Beach -- known as Surf City, California -- Schwarzenegger made like a veteran politician, shaking hands, kissing babies and posing for photographs.
He ducked into two restaurants and a surf shop, saying he had been talking to the owners about "the burden they go through every day running a business in California."
"Wait until October 7, we're going to turn this mess around," the candidate said, referring to the date of the recall election.
A Los Angeles Times Poll released on Friday showed voters were nearly evenly split on whether to recall California Gov. Gray Davis, who is a Democrat.
Schwarzenegger is the front-running Republican candidate.
U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a conservative Republican who strolled down Main Street with Schwarzenegger, said he endorsed the actor because Schwarzenegger was the strongest candidate, and his beliefs most closely mirrored those of Rohrabacher.
California Republicans, however, have begun to fret that with three other well-known conservatives in the race, the party may be too fragmented to win the governor's seat and could hand the race to leading Democrat, Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante.
The influential Lincoln Club of Orange County, a Republican fund-raising organization, called on Republican challengers Bill Simon, Peter Ueberroth and Tom McClintock to drop out.
"Each is a noble and principled man and would distinguish the Republican Party," said club President Tracy Price. "However, in our view, they can't win. They can only spoil our chances of electing a Republican governor and turning the state around."
PARTY POLITICS AND POLLS
Schwarzenegger refused to be drawn into party politics, saying each politician had to make his or her own decision.
"They are all people I respect. They are all Republicans. They work very hard and at one point or another they have to make a decision. I can't make it for them," he said.
But when pressed, he added: "Obviously, mathematically speaking, it's wiser to only have one candidate."
Recent polls have consistently shown Davis would likely lose his seat and be replaced by either Schwarzenegger or Bustamante.
In Friday's Los Angeles Times poll of 1,351 registered voters, 50 percent of respondents supported the recall, while 45 percent opposed it and 5 percent were undecided. Seventy-two percent said they disapproved of Davis' performance.
Meanwhile, Bustamante picked up endorsements from the state's Democratic congressional delegation and two labor unions. Democratic leaders initially tried to discourage party members from challenging Davis, but switched tactics when it appeared Davis was in trouble.
The governor's wife, Sharon Davis, told CNN on Friday that the change in tactics did not indicate a loss of support for her embattled husband.
"They are all united in one point and that is 'no' on the recall," she said. "It makes a lot of sense what the Democrats are doing, they want a Democratic governor."
At an appearance with Latino business leaders in San Diego, Davis urged voters to reject the recall, calling it "undemocratic." (Additional reporting by Gina Keating)
CLICK HERE for the rest of that thread

Good point. I think Ford bears watching. My prediction for the future is that the democrats lose big in 2004. Whether they'll turn inward to look at what's really wrong with their party, i.e., its Leftist stance, or continue on the same old path to destruction remains to be seen. However, if it does look inward and start to change, I predict Ford will be a big part of it.

How many times can Cici call Iraq confused,confounding..We are stretched thin.Brit is explaining war to Juan.People die and families are separated. Sending in more troops mean more logistical support and more targets!

Ford is looking out for #1, as he always has. He has read the polling info and wants to appeal to the majority.
Did anyone see Britt just take the patient parent approach to Juan on FNS? He lowered his voice and spoke very slowly to him, while making his point, making Juan look like a petulant child(not much of a stretch, really). But it calmed him down and left the audience with Britt's point being the most logical and obvious one.

A Bustamante win would not be the worst thing for Republicans

No sweat offmy nose if Busty wins,I don't live in California.

If I did i would be thinking about where to move.

I wish we could "turn" Ford toward the light!

Cici has hillary hair now.

I saw him..I just posted he was explaining war to Juan!

Given his family history and his own, we don't want him.

That scene alone makes it worth watching tonight's rerun.

I had heard that the GOPat one time was trying to convert the man.

If you think about it, and he is truly looking out for himself, why would he stay with the Dems. Seems like he has much more of a career growth opportunity with the GOP.

I guess I was looking at the surface as I am not really knowledgeable about Ford or his family.

i wonder if his stance coulld be in prep for run in 2004 - VP or P.

You don't have to go any further than his father and his corrupt history. And remember where Jr. stood during impeachment.

I say Arnold should make Tom state budget director.

I think you can make too much out of what goes on here at FR. We aren't a representative sample of even conservative voters. We are activists and so our degree of intensity is substantially higher.

I think that Arnold can run hard right on fiscal conservatism-- he'll release a plan soon, so we'll see if that will be the case-- and pick up the pragmatic McClintock supporters. If Tom drops out and endorses Arnold, even though his name will still be on the ballot, I don't see many Tom supporters voting for a candidate who has asked to not be voted for. Furthermore, I bet that they won't stay home regardless-- they can still vote in favor of the recall.

There are plenty of days left. There will be debates and Arnold has only put out one ad so far. There will be many more-- probably starting next week. Republicans can do okay in races where name ID is low for the Dem candidates-- Bill Jones in 1998, McClintock in 2002. Bustamante's name ID is far higher. Furthermore, the race itself is high profile and the office itself is high profile. Attempting to get Tom elected last year was FAR easier a task than stopping the predisposition of California's voters to support a Dem for a major statewide office, particularly one with high media attention.

I also think that the Dems have an ace in the hole they can still play-- Davis resigns and Bustamante runs in the recall as an incumbent. This would make the recall a referendum on Bustamante and the recall itself may not then pass, making the second ballot question moot. Think a Dem state would think that's too cute by half? Ask Sen. Forrester.

Would y'all please save your "Who should win in CA" debate to threads about that subject? I live in CA & am interested, but I opened this thread to learn what is happening on the Sunday propoganda shows...

Hey Ron!

The Sacramento Bee, as you know, is basically a FAX machine for the DNC. But its even-handed political commentator Daniel Weintraub (Insider -- you know, your man Hewitt's bud) said this of that meeting in his blog:

But it is not, as Paul Harvey would say, the end of the story. The scene was incredible. I have been following candidates for governor in this state since 1986, and there simply has never been anything like this, or even close. The Schwarzenegger campaign kept the details about this event under wraps until early this morning to keep down the size of the crowd. A political campaign trying to keep down a crowd? The Orange County Register this morning carried a listing of where all the major candidates were appearing today – but it didn’t include Arnold coming to their readers’ own backyard. It didn’t matter.
I was there by 9 a.m. for the 12:30 pm event on Main Street, near the Huntington Beach Pier, and the sidewalks were already buzzing. By noon the place was a madhouse. A crowd of a couple hundred people stood outside a restaurant where he was coming to speak to a group of local business owners, while several dozen more onlookers leaned from balconies overhead. The throng spilled out into the cross street, which the police eventually blocked off to auto traffic. And a receiving line two or three deep on the sidewalk stretched several hundred feet down Main Street toward a store into which Arnold was headed. The crowd waited for over an hour under a hot midday sun to get a glimpse of him. As Arnold made that walk, the crush of reporters, fans and gawkers was overwhelming. A couple of small children who got in the way were nearly trampled. The closest thing to which I can compare it was the mosh pit at the Van’s Warped Tour punk concert I attended with my son a few weeks ago. People were screaming for Arnold, reaching out to touch him, seeking (and getting) autographs. My favorite was this one "The teachers are for you, Arnold! The teachers are for you!" (What, they didn't get the word from the CTA?)
Is this the best way to choose a governor? Not if you want to see the line items in the budget he might propose next January. But I talked to eight or ten local residents who had wandered onto the event and was struck by how little they cared about his specific policies. And it wasn’t just that they were star-struck. They were attracted to Arnold’s passion, his optimism, his heart, his take-charge attitude. They have a sense that things are going downhill in California, and they don’t want to hear excuses. They don’t want to hear that it was the private energy generators or the economy or the Bush Administration. They want to hear someone tell them that he can make it right again. That’s what they seem to be hearing from Arnold.
This was conservative Republican country, so it wasn’t a surprise that they were overwhelmingly in favor of the recall. But it was something of a surprise that they were so comfortable with Arnold. I didn’t hear anything about Prop. 13 or abortion or gay rights. I didn’t hear much pining for a “real Republican.” If this was any indication, Arnold is going to win over much of the Republican base. And he can keep wooing the center.

I'm increasingly confident that Schw can take it -- or California deserves its own doom. Well, I already know it does; still, on rare occasions, the California electorate has a passing flash of sanity. I'm hoping this will be one of those rare occasions.

Your sellout FRiend,
Dan

Good points, all.

Dan

MTP is doing a segmet on the CA Recall on its Sunday show today. Its on topic in relation to this thread.