Posted on 09/14/2003 10:05:38 PM PDT by ALOHA RONNIE
NEVER FORGET
.."TOM McSELFISH =
...Gov. BustaMENCHA"
........was THE Sign to behold at this weekend's California Republican Convention held in Playa Del Rey next to the Los Angeles International Airport. So I did.
...No Convention Endorsement came for California Governor, but a posted Convention Straw Poll showed ARNOLD with nearly ..80%.. of the votes verses a little over ..18%.. for TOM McCLINTOCK.
...No one backed down this weekend, though it was hoped one Candidate for California Governor would, with Recall Election Financier Congressman ISSA watching it all unfold right before his very eyes.
Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer / Republican Convention Witness
NEVER FORGET
I dunno---he was hawking a 50-cent gas tax. And those who weren't dyed-in-the-wool liberals may have been moderates rather than conservatives.
I agree. Unfortunately the 5%ers don't. They are the ones who refuse to vote for Arnold, even though voting for him would be more likely to actually advance their agenda than voting for Tom.
Hey ex, if I can't tease you about your impotence in not being able to vote in California, I can tease you about your impotence in changing anyone's mind. You're fishing in a dried up pool.
The California Republicans are as of this moment polarized into two factions, the grassroots true believers, and all others (including state party leaders). The recall effort itself was first a war waged by the grassroots against the leaders, who consistently supported dropping the recall movement in favor of letting Davis remain as a punching bag through the 2004 national election to 2006 (and California citizens take a bullet). The state party leaders flipflopped when the recall gained so much momentum that its passage was inevitable. That flipflop is the latest of a long string of such manuevers by party leadership as perceived by the grassroots party members. McClintock has never flipflopped and all folks at the ground level along with even the leaders agree he's a true blue conservative type. Arnold's strategy is to bypass by benign neglect the entire movement which brought about the recall to begin with. He will sit down with a gossip show host from Chicago or a reporter in NYC or closed door "advisory committees" sprinkled with out-of-state liberals, but he has no time for talk show appearances or debates. So he deliberately avoided the very folks who created the opportunity (recall) which made his campaign possible, and he did it with the active collaboration of the state party leadership-- avoiding every difficult issue and detailed stand along the way (for example, "repealing" SB60 notwithstanding, it is not the perogative of a governor to repeal a bill already signed into law by a previous governor, and so on for a long list of other ducked major issues).
From this perspective, McClintock is not bashing Arnold, since Arnold himself is running fast away from the people who created the opening he is trying to move into, and doing it using techniques abhorred by those people. Arnold is attracting folks based on his star power alone, folks who probably have no concept of what conservative philosophy is. That's good except that all these new folks have no identity with conservative values, so governor Arnold will have no conservative mandate with the new folks and no mandate from the folks he bypassed and avoided in his quest for power.
I'm trying to think of an analogy. This might not be the best, but it might help for folks watching from out of state (your Hawaii flag is set ;-). McClintock and Arnold are two trains, each with loads of passengers and their own momentum. Their ideologies and histories are distinct. Their supporters are distinct. One train, running many years now, emphasizes specifics and the other, which just started a month or so ago, embodies general promises but no hard choices. In a sense, neither has motivation to change direction.
So I think it is hyperbole to describe McClintock as trying to defeat Arnold. Strip away the labels for just a moment, and what remains is a clash of conservative ideas versus popularity and opportunism. In that sense, Arnold himself is "defeating Arnold and appears to ignore the purpose of the recall."
All the arguing, screaming, crying, name-calling & stomping of feet will not change that fact.
It will also not change the fact that Arnold is a Republican and has been one for a long time. Not only that, but he would be way better than Davis, no matter how bad he would be, and that Davis is better than Bustamonte.
The base's unability to see that may just give us Mecha Man.
We aren't naive to California politics, my husband having grown up there and lived there till he was 30. I came of age there and voted in my first election there. Our daughter plans on attending Cal Poly, so we definitely have an interest in how the state is run.
I just hate to see Republicans divide themselves purely over a single issue, however, and that is truly what the division boils down to. Arnold may be opportunistic, but he's the only one that has a prayer of defeating Bustamante/Davis.
The far right prevented our having a Republican governor in Hawaii 5 years ago when the Democrats ran a rumor that Lingle was gay just before the election. Fortunately she hung in there until the next election, and we now have more balance at the state level.
Trust me, it is much better to have a Republican, no matter their views on abortion, than a state run by Democrats at all levels. We're actually seeing progress being made in rooting out the corruption here. Would that California would realize the same thing.
Do you mean like they did TWICE before when they LOST to Davis by putting up people in California who were UN-ELECTIBLE in this state?
Unless they can get McClintock to step aside, we will lose this State THREE TIMES! Un-believable for ANY party in simular conditions/situations as we face against Davis and Bustamante!
Losing under these conditions will EPITOMIZE the definition of "LOSER"!
You're aware of the party "majority" in this state aren't you? Doesn't that give you any CLUE to what we might NEED to win? Do you live in another state where you can afford to imagine a conservative could pull off taking LA or SanFrancisco, or do you live here? This is just too serious to allow people like Bustamante or Davis, who would allow illegals from around the world, access to drivers licenses, and other privledges like guns, and airplanes and food supplies, to have all kinds of access as it stands now.
Considering ALL THOSE RINO'S at the Republican convention (80%) who were in favor of Arnolds candidacy, I'd say McClintock is being given a chance to step down with dignity. I pray he will take the chance.
Though I respect your opinion in many things, I disagree with you on this one FRiend.
FRegards, Vets
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.