Posted on 12/21/2004 4:27:36 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
BERLIN, GERMANY (Talon News) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) told a German newspaper in an interview published on Saturday that he believes the GOP should move "a little further left" in order to attract new voters and to continue to build the Republican Party base.
Since being resoundingly elected during the highly-publicized recall election where former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was ousted in 2003, Schwarzenegger has remained conservative on fiscal issues, but has openly shown his support for liberal social issues such as gay marriage and abortion, among others.
In Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper on Saturday, Schwarzenegger said he sees a clear line of demarcation between the Republican and Democratic Party.
"The Republican Party currently covers only the spectrum from the right wing to the middle, and the Democratic Party covers the spectrum from the left to the middle," Schwarzenegger explained in the newspaper interview. "I would like the Republican Party to cross this line, move a little further left and place more weight on the center."
The Hollywood action star explained that "this would immediately give the [Republican] party 5 percent more votes without its losing anything elsewhere."
In that same interview, Schwarzenegger said the time is long "overdue" for the U.S. Constitution to be amended to allow foreign-born Americans to be elected president.
Schwarzenegger, who immigrated to the United States from Austria and became a citizen of the United States in 1983, said he would take advantage of the opportunity to run if such an amendment were to pass.
Noting that he "raised standards" in everything he has ever been involved with, Schwarzenegger said he can and will do the same as governor of California.
"I brought bodybuilding from nothing, I made the action film a genre, and the same goes for politics -- I want to do things that no one believed possible," Schwarzenegger expressed. "I would like to bring people together as governor."
But not everyone is pleased with Schwarzenegger's push for the GOP to move to the left.
Karen England, who heads a Sacramento, CA-based pro-family public policy group called Capitol Resource Institute, said Schwarzenegger is showing his "extreme arrogance and total ignorance" about the core constituents of the Republican Party.
"Schwarzenegger has spent too much time in Hollywood," England remarked in a statement. "He needs to start mingling more with mainstream Californians."
She continued, "We are outraged that Schwarzenegger has the audacity to misspeak for the millions of Republicans in this country who believe that abortion is murder and that the life of a child should come before the mere convenience of a woman. We are outraged that Schwarzenegger would turn his back on two-thirds of Californians, many Democrats included, who voted just four short years ago to protect traditional marriage in this state."
England concluded that Schwarzenegger's position on gay marriage and abortion makes him "far to the left" of most Republicans.
"If Schwarzenegger thinks that the majority of the GOP base will stick with the Republican Party on fiscal issues alone, then he has a lot to learn about the makeup of his own party," England exclaimed.
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in an e-mail to supporters on Monday that he is surprised when elected officials seem to forget what voters want, even when it has only been just a few weeks since an election.
"Every time voters are given a chance to speak out, they vote to uphold marriage and traditional moral values," Perkins said in the e-mail. "Unfortunately, too many political leaders appear to be morally deaf."
Interestingly, a post-election poll conducted by Wirthlin showed that 55 percent of Americans consider themselves "pro-life" and candidates who supported the right to life received a twelve point advantage over their opponents.
In fact, Senior Gallup Poll Editor Lydia Saad said "national exit polling in every presidential election since 1984 has shown a net advantage to the pro-life side over the pro-choice side, based on the percentage of single-issue abortion voters in the electorate."
Copyright © 2004 Talon News -- All rights reserved.
Well he just lost MY vote.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) told a German newspaper in an interview published on Saturday that he believes the GOP should move "a little further left" in order to attract new voters and to continue to build the Republican Party base.
======
If this is for real, he will be a one-term Republican governor...or a two term Democrat governor...which is it Arnold -- you cannot save California and have it both ways. No matter how hard you try ---
Move to the left???? LOL the next shuffle to the left is rat country.
That's debatable.
Arnold must of spent Thanksgiving with the Kennedys.....he may have won the recall election here, but nothing says he will get relected with those thoughts...
well, he was bound to say something completely stupid sooner or later....
Arnold is nothing but an opportunist. Keep that in mind as you watch him try to maneuver this country into amending the constitution.
;^)
Do any of YOU think the GOP should move further left, or do you think it should move in the RIGHT direction?
And he,"brought bodybuilding from nothing". I must have dreamed about that guy named Steve Reeves who made the Hercules movie.
Arnie you move left,I'm not.Good luck.
Just remember who the swantz goes to bed with.
Yes I think everyone should get a guarenteed $103,000 lifetime pension at age 55. I think the minimum wage should be the same as the hourly rate of a US Senator, based on actual in session work weeks. I think the government should get out of my bedroom, because frankly it's too crowded and ... well, to be nice as I can about it a lot of the government has a bad diet or something they must eat a lot of knockwurst and beans and kraut -- in any case there's a real "odor" problem with them all in there. We just don't have aenough windows to open, it seems. My wife and I would really like some privacy. Don't those people have anything better to do. Yes -- get the government out of my bedroom. So yes, in that sense I agree with the most deconstructionist liberal.
They would ask Lenin to move a little to the left.
Arnold should stick a pencil in his ear - point first - fish around a bit in his head and see if he can spear his brain.
Sincerely,
A former CA citizen that remembers CA before the soviet Marxist scum took over.
:-)
I say we move further right, and we should start by kicking RINOs like Ahnold out of our party.
Ummm...we won. Why should we move? Do libs think we are stupid, or what?
Arnold is a native German-speaker. Maybe he should grab Goethe's "FAUST" and read it over again, then he will find out what happens when you sell your sould to the Devil.
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.