Schwarzenegger on the Verge of California Budget Victory

tampa bay online ^ | Jun 24, 2004 | Tom Chorneau Associated Press Writer

[South40]

The 13% Solution

100% irrelevent considering the fact Tom McClintock was unelectable.

Schwarzenegger -- 3,743,431 votes
Bustamante -- 2,432,463 votes
McClintock -- 1,026,492 votes

Tom brought in less than 1/2 that of Bustamante. Arnold brought in more than Tom and Bustamante combined. That outcome would not have changed even had every California Freeper voted for McC. But don't that little reality bother you; you keep on living in your fantasy world.

[South40]

They're not only here they're here bemoaning the FACT that McC wold have made a better governor.

[My2Cents]

Bingo.

McC is an intelligent guy, but he's an isolated egghead (and I mean that in a good way). He has all the answers, but none of the political skills to implement them. So, any discussion about what McC would have done, is pointless. Arnold has the Dems on the run at the present time, and that's OK by me; the possibility is that he could change the political environment in Calif. such that both Bush and Jones have a shot in the state is a bonus.

[My2Cents]

Well, I'm sure that in some parallel universe, McC is governor. They can console themselves with that thought.

[South40]

Not sure I see your point..?

My point is there are some who still are living in a "had Tom McClintock only won" fantasy world. It means nothing. Arnold was elected and he's 100% better than the racist Mexican cruz bustamante.

[Dems_R_Losers]

Don't you all understand how big a cut 13% is? Do you really think any politician in America could get away with proposing a 13% across-the-board cut in spending? The Democrats still have a veto-proof majority in the California legislature in case you haven't noticed. And yet Arnold got a budget agreement out of them with NO NEW TAXES. That is a truly monumental achievement. And the worker's comp reform will stop the hemorrhaging of jobs out of California. As the economy continues to grow, California will grow its way out of the deficit.

Not only that, Arnold will be bulletproof on the campaign trail with President Bush. Bush will not be put on the defensive by the media hollering about Arnold's "massive budget cuts." What is wrong with that?

[BunnySlippers]

They're not only here they're here bemoaning the FACT that McC wold have made a better governor.

Let them eat their hearts out. They are wrong. In the unlikely event that Bush were ever to take California it would be solely due to Arnold.

[South40]

Actually, they seem to be consoling themselves with the thought that Arnold can do no right.

It reminds me of the way dims are hoping the economy tanks, the war in Iraq goes badly, and other for misgivings, all so they can say I told you so.

[You Dirty Rats]

That means there is also a parallel universe where Gore is President!

Just because there are a lot of 'Rats who are completely divorced from reality is no reason for any of us to join them.

[Dr. Frank fan]

My point is there are some who still are living in a "had Tom McClintock only won" fantasy world.

Ah... ok. Basically we're in agreement then, sorry for my misunderstanding :)

The truth is that I too, like the fantasizers, voted for Tom McClintock (out of principle), but I also like Schwarzy, don't have a real problem with him, think he's doing a fine job, think he will have been a very good governor, etc. I allowed myself to vote McC only because it seemed pretty clear that Schwarzy was going to win anyway without my vote; had the polls been closer making it seem like a real risk that Cruz would win, obviously I'd have voted for Schwarzy.

None of that - i.e. just because I didn't vote for him - means I feel the need to denigrate what are obviously real accomplishments by Schwarzy. Or to deny political realities such as that a full-on McC-like 13% solution would be a political non-starter.

Frankly I don't see what the point of any of this in-fighting could possibly be. Bad-mouthing the most popular CA governor since, presumably, Reagan (or more!) just seems like such a political boneheaded move to me. But what do I know.

[South40]

We are indeed in agreement.

And there is no point in badmouthing a Republican governor. It's just a classic case of sour grapes.

[randog]

Cradle to grave entitlements to the end, no matter what it means to house as a whole.

Hey, when your whole career depends solely on promises made to raid the treasury, you'd better do just that.

[QQQQQ]

Republican Rocker was just responding to a post by
OldFriend, it just wasn't clear which were the parts he quoted from OF< and which were the RR's refutations.

RR seems to understand well what Arnold achieved.

[South40]

I know; I somehow inadvertantly directed that post to RR. It was intended for kellyann.

My apologies.

[mcg1969]

Which is why he would have failed miserably.

[bikerman]

surprise! surprise! surprise!As Gomer would say. Go Arnie.

[Southack]

"Timing is everything. He's been lucky that the economy and his celebrity..."

There's an old saying that goes "The harder I work, the luckier I get."

[hattend]

How much is the deficit in this $103 billion budget?

[JayNorth]

A 13.4 percent reduction...

Almost everyone I know has at some point in their life had to tighten their belt because of a job loss, illness, two mortgages because the old house didn't sell, or you name it. Most of them had a heck of a lot more than a 13.4% reduction in disposable income. But they did it.

When it is a government entity, not only can they not hack a 13.4% reduction, they can't even manage a 0% reduction. For them, a 7.5% growth in spending is a "draconian cut".

We've got to stop electing and re-electing spend-crazy dingalings from both parties.

[JayNorth]

turned dem to please his kennedy relations

Not if he saw that sickening Kennedy family interview where one of them said "he's not one of us". Yeah, Arnold wasn't a rum-running, tax evading, stock manipulating, baby-sitter abusing, next-door neighbor killing, drive-off-the-bridge-and-leave-her-for-dead, judge-tampering, vote-buying, election-fixing Kennedy. What a family legacy! You must all be so proud.

And one more thing, the Lawfords and the Sargents were heavily involved in a lot of that stuff, too.