Posted on 08/12/2003 9:52:14 AM PDT by DrMartinVonNostrand
I have slowly come to the conclusion that California needs Arnold. Republicans need Arnold, and above all, California Republicans need Arnold.
I had been leaning towards McClintock, and I must admit, I made that decision before Arnold threw his hat into the ring. I welcomed the move when he did, but I still had reservations. I had gotten pretty excited over McClintock's vision, particularly his desire to void the Davis energy contracts and his general desire to stick it to the Democrats. I was also justifiably concerned at first about Arnold's talk of handing the treasury over to "the children".
But one has to be able to discern politics from policy. Everyone who wants to win elective office has to pay lipservice to "the children". It is the national passtime of politicians. I think when Arnold says "the children should have the first call of state Treasury" it is followed by an unspoken qualifier of "before illegal immigrants, welfare recipients, and special interests." He is simply putting forth his priorities, and they lay in stark contrast to Gray Davis and Cruz Bustamante's. He is quite savvy, so he isn't going to come out and say it in those words. He knows highlighting what is his priorities gets much better press than highlighting what isn't. He wants to reassure the soccer moms who have been frightened by Davis' threats of cutting funding to schools that he will be looking elsewhere to cut.
Arnold is very mindful of the hurdles he faces by running as a Republican in such a liberal state, so he will take extra measures to make traditional Democratic voters feel comfortable voting for him. It is what he has to do right now if he wants to win, and it seems to be working brilliantly.
Some conservatives will argue against Schwarzenegger because he opposed the impeachment of Bill Clinton. But Arnold understood the articles of impeachment that were brought were a pretty weak justification. Right or wrong, they were too easily construed as a right-wing lynching. He recognized it as too divisive and knew it could only further poison the political atmosphere and ultimately damage the Republican party.
Perhaps if Ken Starr had the convictions to pursue the serious matters of Whitewater, Chinagate, Filegate, or the murder of Vincent Foster, then Arnold would have seen it differently, just as the rest of America would have. But clearly Starr had no will to do so. It's hard to understand why, but perhaps he didn't want to expose that level of corruption in the highest office out of the long-term best interest of the American political system. Exposing Clinton's ties to the Dixieland mafia and Red China could have brought the entire government to its knees. It would have been a short-term victory for Republicans, but just as Nixon understood when he covered for Kennedy and Johnson over the Pentagon Papers, the long-term damage to the nation as a whole would have been far too great. Anyways, had Clinton actually been removed from office as a lame duck on those flimsy charges, we would have a President Gore in office right now. Arnold knew, just as everyone else did, that this was not going to happen considering it required a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Surely he understood that impeachment was a lose-lose proposition for Republicans so it was a mistake to go down that road. It was important for him to remain above it all for the sake of his own political future.
Some will argue that what we need right now is someone sort of financial wizard to fix the budget, and Arnold just doesn't qualify. But the truth is we really only need someone who can admit that Gray Davis has made some huge mistakes. Anyone but Gray Davis will do.
I hate to admit it, but the whole budget crisis is being about as overplayed for political reasons as the federal deficit in the '90s was (and is again). When it comes down to brass tacks, I think even the Democrats will bite the bullet and fix it. Yes, I know you're cringing, I am too, but it's the truth. The issue here isn't that the Democrats are incapable or even unwilling to fixing the budget. It's merely about how they want to fix it: the usual liberal approach of skyrocketing taxes. Either way, California isn't going to drop into the ocean or become a third world nation.
As far as Arnold not being a "social conservative", neither am I, and neither is California. A social conservative is not going to win a statewide election here for a long time to come. I fit in more along the lines of a fiscal conservative, just as Arnold is, and a "Constitutional conservative" with libertarian tendencies. Piety is not a prerequisite for my support, and too much of it may even lose it. I don't begrudge anyone their religious beliefs, but I do belive strongly in Jefferson's "wall of seperation between church and state". I also believe in strict interpritation of the First Ammendment, and that freedom of religion also entails freedom from religion. I realize those of you in the religious-right do not agree because this doesn't reinforce your personal religious beliefs, but not everything should be about our own personal whims and narrow agendas. Defending our own freedom as individuals must always be a higher objective. Otherwise it may be you they come for next. The Constitution protects everyone, or it protects no one. I think there are a lot of people on both extremes who forget that sometimes.
Even though some will say for these various reasons that Schwarzenegger is not the ideal conservative candidate, it is important for everyone to be pragmatic and pick their battles wisely. Right now we should be looking at long-term goals. An expedient victory in the recall of a conservative candidate by a 20 percent plurality is going to be counterproductive in the long-term. What are you going to do when Bill Simon is elected and the drive to recall him begins October 8th and qualifies three weeks later?
Electing Arnold, who can come to office with a true mandate and bring California together, will pay off big in the perception wars. Conservatives will never get their agenda anywhere in California as long as it is taboo to even vote for Republicans here. The longer Democrats have a complete lock on the state, the further left we will drift. Even if Arnold can't change the course right away, he can at least slow the momentum.
Personally, my goal is the destruction of the Democratic party and the liberal agenda far more than it is advancing any conservative single-issue. I have far more hate for left-wing Democrats than I have love for right-wing Republicans. I would be happy simply with a return to sanity at this point.
You can't walk a mile until you take the first step. For right now we all need to be concentrating on the jouney one step at a time or we will never reach the final destination. You have to at least open the door, which is now closed and locked here. It seems like a lot of right-wingers around here would rather rant and rave and pound on the door in futility than grab it by the handle.
I think I've finally figured that one out. For the death-before-electibility crowd, it's not about advancing their cause on earth, it's about earning a place in heaven.
As for the rest of us, we have to make a decision: do we want a small victory, or a huge defeat?
They are every bit as much responsible for the loss of our Bill of Rights as Teddy Kennedy or Tom Harkin or Tom Daschle.
When the homosexuals have destroyed the institution of marriage, and screwed a whole generation of young people up in the head, mark it up to their accounts.
I'm leaving. Good night.
This is the quintessential Keyster, right here.
Keyes' speeches never stopped at drawing moral equivalence between evil incarnate and liberals. No, he had to eventually start railing at his audience, accusing THEM of being responsible for the destruction of America and all things good and beautiful. Why? Because nobody was quite as good, as pure, as holy as Alan.
And now, EV has done the same thing. Anyone who supports Arnold has the blood of abortion on his hands, is as derelict as Teddy Kennedy in bringing down the Bill of Rights, and is responsible for the homosexualization of the country.
Is it any surprise that Keyes lost, badly?
That is the fact, so don't join the ranks of the slanderers and the historical revisionists of FR who are grinding a personal axe.
Popular Vote Floor Vote Hard Total
Bush, George 12,089,564 62% 2,058. 100% 1,601. 77%
McCain, John 6,070,050 31% 1. 0% 243. 12%
Uncommitted 60,598 0% 205. 10%
Keyes, Alan 995,555 5% 6. 0% 14. 1%
I may not agree with everything you've said on this forum in the days you've been here, but THAT is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing BUT the truth.
True. And if the GOP vote is split too many ways, electing liberals is what will happen.
I guess the questions one would have to ask would be first, could a "true conservative" be elected in California? I'd suspect the answer is no, but I could be wrong...the next question would be, how conservative could one be and still get elected?
At the very last minute.
Yeah -- "Grow" like a giant tumor inside a Big Tent..
Be careful of what you wish for...And watch out for the clown-cart.
Very perceptive.
Pure sophistry.
It's the genocide that is the crime in the first place.
Here's a shocker for you... ...Agreeing with Rush Limbaugh does not make you a conservative. There are underlying principles that create the obverse situation... I never claimed to be a disciple of conservativism. I have my personal views for my personal reasons, and that's that. My whole point was that I'm not even sure what being a "conservative" means. I like President Bush and in my neck of California that not only makes me a "conservative" but a bad person as well.
I live in the Bay Area, as I said before, and I can tell you from first hand experience, liberals are shrill, hateful, cynical people. Hence why defeating them at the polls and destroying their party is my main priority.
Here's another shocker...saying the word "God" are part of a Pledge of Allegiance, or putting it on a public building dosn't establish any religion.
Go and re-read the 1st Amendment. This may come as a shocker to you yourself, but it does not say "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion."
It in fact says "...the establishment of religion." See the difference?
The intent is that Congress shall not respect religion as an establishment. In other words, Congress is to REMAIN SILENT on all things religious.
Have you given any consideration to the exclusion of millions of Americans who worship multiple gods, such as hindus, or those who worship no god at all, such as Taoists, Bhuddists, and atheists? What about the native americans who worship many spirits?
This is what we call religious persecution. Plain and simple. The idea that atheists represent only 10% of the population so its ok to discriminate against them is truely unamerican. Jews are a mere 2% of the population, and blacks are only 12.7%. Such logic would surely legitimize discrimination against these 2 minorities as well.
Well PKM, some cursory reading of the second amendment and it's history will help.:-}
The second amendment was not written for skeet shooting or hunting. It was written so as to be the final defense against some not so fine American thinking he was the seocnd coming of King George.
Bringing a turkey gun to an assault weapon fire fight is bad for your health, no?
And you've proved hers.
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