Medved Gets it Wrong on CA Poll: Bustamante is not running third among California Latinos

Michael Medved Radio Show - KRLA 870 ^ | September 22nd, 2003 | Sabertooth

[Sabertooth]

Michael Medved made a substantial error in his on-air reporting today of the Public Policy Instute Poll results for California Latinos.

Medved reported Cruz Bustamante running third among Latinos here, 7% behind Arnold Schwarzenegger, with Tom McClintock running second. Medved's comments were in the context of his greater point that Bustamante's crude appeals on drivers' licenses and in-state tuition for "immigrants" (while ignoring that the issue is really Illegal Aliens) aren't working very well in California's Latino community.

The facts of the poll indicate otherwise.

Here's the URL for the pdf file...

http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/S_903MBS.pdf

Scroll down to page 2, in the Statewide Special Election section, to the chart at the bottom of the page. You'll see that the results for Latinos (in the far right-hand column of the chart) are as follows...

Cruz Bustamante 49%
Arnold Schwarzenegger 15%
Tom McClintock 9%

I think Michael has confused the results for Latinos with the results for the Central Valley, in one of the middle columns, which show...

Arnold Schwarzenegger 27%
Tom McClintock 24%
Cruz Bustamante 20%

[Sabertooth]

Schwarzengger's have-it-both-ways "legalize the Illegals, then give them drivers' licenses," approach is fairing better among Latinos here than McClintock's approach, which has been a whole lot of silence.

McClintock has failed to seize any momentum in the last 10 days as a result of the Illegal Alien drivers' license legislation that was passed by the Democrats, signed by Gray Davis, and supported by Cruz Bustamante.

Letting the Democrats frame the issue as one of doing right by immigrants (and immigrants are by definition, always legal) is a sure-fire way to lose Latino votes for any Republican, whether Left, Center, or Right.

[Sabertooth]

FYI

[DoctorZIn]

Join Us…Your One Thread To All The California Recall News Threads!

Want on our daily or major news ping lists? Freepmail DoctorZin

[PRND21]

More than half of Hispanics do NOT support Cruz? Awesome development.
Go Arnold Go!

[pogo101]

I disagree that Arnold's position includes favoring licenses for illegals. He plainly doesn't. There seems to be some confusion over HOW he would get SB60 reversed. I've heard he "opposes" doing so by initiative, but his statements indicate that he would in fact do so by initiative if the Legislature does not (post-Arnold-election) do so itself. I'd prefer that he simply say that he supports the currently-in-motion initiative, of course, but it's going WAY too far to state that he favors licenses for illegals.

[VU4G10]

Medved sucks.

[DiamondDon1]

Hey Sabertooth!

The thing that is most interesting is that the Latinos that know Cruz best like him least...

I think Michael has confused the results for Latinos with the results for the Central Valley, in one of the middle columns, which show...

Arnold Schwarzenegger 27%
Tom McClintock 24%
Cruz Bustamante 20%

Kind of makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside...

DD

[Amerigomag]

I've heard he "opposes" doing so by initiative

To my knowledge Schwarzenegger opposes the referendum process and hasn't addressed the initiative approach.

[pogo101]

To my knowledge Schwarzenegger opposes the referendum process and hasn't addressed the initiative approach.

First, let's define terms. To my knowledge, the state has two means whereby the voters, at an election, can make or unmake laws, and neither one is ordinarily called a "referendum," although other states may use that term for similar things. Both "propositions" and "intiatives" require a majority vote, but they differ in how they get on the ballot. Propositions are put on by majority (or is it super-majority?) votes in both houses of the Legislature. Initiatives are put on, often when the Legislature won't put something on as a proposition, when a sufficient number of registered voters sign petitions within a certain time window.

My best understanding of AS's position is that he wants to beat up on the Legislature to "clean up its own mess," and, if that fails, he would bully-pulpit for an initiative.

Tom's approach is much simpler: Just bloody reverse the thing (SB60) by going IMMEDIATELY to initiative-signature-gathering.

I agree with Tom, but here is the point I was making:

It is not a fair characterization of AS's position to say he favors licenses for illegals.

[Amerigomag]

There are two processes in California that are direct democracy.

The referendum which reviews a specific action of the legislature and the direct initiative which proposes new law not intiated by the legislature. Both may be titled a proposition at the time of ballot.

The initiative is usually favored because it offers greater latitude in it's proposal. As an example both a referendum and an initiative have been instigated with regard to SB60. The referendum repeals the legislation and the initiative will codify the legislative impotence to revisit the legislation in future sessions without the direct consent of the electorate.

Hope this helps:)

[pogo101]

I see: a "referendum" REVISITS (seeks to block / reverse) a law passed by the Legislature ... whereas an "initiative" isn't limited in scope to "undoing" the Legislature's acts.

See, this is why I always qualify with "to my knowledge."

If they all end up being called Props, then which of the various terms is used for an item placed on the ballot BY the Legislature? (Which they do far too often ... punting, to avoid substantive votes on controversial subjects)

[Amerigomag]

Although envisioned as tool for both the electorate and the legislature, the referendum is most frequently used by the legislature to unload a hot potato.

When initiated by the legislature it is titled a legislative referendum at the time of ballot.

[PRND21]

Bump

[PRND21]

Good news?

[PRND21]

Bump

[PRND21]

Bump

[PRND21]

Bump

[PRND21]

Bump