Posted on 02/12/2005 3:54:58 PM PST by FairOpinion
SACRAMENTO, Calif., Feb 12 (Reuters) - California's Republican loyalists said on Saturday they are ready to rally behind Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ambitious political agenda that includes ballot measures Democrats vow to defeat.
Republicans meeting at the party's state convention in Sacramento said they will eagerly fight by Schwarzenegger's side if he asks voters to support this year's agenda through ballot measures, a sharp contrast to a September convention when party officials feared key conservative members would not embrace the socially moderate Hollywood icon.
But Schwarzenegger has in recent public appearances rarely missed an opportunity to stress he stands with conservatives on fiscal matters and that he has ruled out tax increases to balance the state's budget. California faces a $9.1 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year starting in July.
"When he first came onto the scene, I was skeptical ... but I think he's proven himself," said R.Q. Williams of Napa County's Republican Central Committee. "He hit the nail on the head, pointing out that what we need to do is rein in spending, not worry about how to figure out taxes and new fees."
At a dinner on Friday night, Schwarzenegger launched into a blistering attack on California's Democrat-led legislature to get rank-and-file Republicans to support potential ballot measures to overhaul the state government.
Democrats, he said, are "spending addicts" who are standing in the way of his agenda, which includes a plan to partially privatize the state's public pension funds. The largest and third-largest U.S. pensions funds are in the state.
PUT IT TO VOTERS
His plan mirrors White House aims for the Social Security system.
Democrats, public employee unions and pension fund officials oppose the plan, which Schwarzenegger says is needed so the state can rid itself of costly financial obligations to the funds. Schwarzenegger has threatened to put the plan to voters if lawmakers do not seriously consider it.
The plan would strike at the heart of one of the state Democratic Party's most significant sources of support.
"The train has left the station and there's three things they can do," Schwarzenegger said. "One is they can join and jump on the train. Number two, they can go and stay behind and just wave and be left behind, or number three, they get in front of the train and you know what happens then."
Republicans gave Schwarzenegger raucous cheers, reflecting a new confidence after years of being shut out in California's political wilderness.
"There's a euphoria that we're relevant again," said U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa. "The Republican party was doing very well in Washington, and was irrelevant in California for a number of years. It was also divided and leaderless. Now they are united with a tremendous leader."
Norm....we talked bout this earlier.....I'm confronting the couple of people that are just arguing to argue....like we said to the Dems..."you lost, get over it"......I want Arnold to succeed and some here don't seem to.....why are there some that just want to be negative all the time like you buddy from Michigan.....Arnold won, he has infuriated the Dems.......what else can we do.......we can't hold a re-election
You haven't been here long, huh?
There is a hsistory to this madness that some display here.
You saw it earlier .
The proof will be in the pudding.
and also who sticks their thumbs in it and tries to grab the sugar plums for themsleves.
Again, you do know what a Trojan Horse is?
Seems to me that under Arnold we are still under Democrat dominance, for which Republicans will take the hit when fiscal collapse finally hits.
ok, I'm juvenile........do you feel better now....if you think anyone could solve these problems in 14 months then good luck.....Bush can't erase the deficit for 5 years minimum......guess he is a failure too.....Arnold stopped illegals from getting licenses and didn't raise our taxed...there are the two examples that are important to me......he is cutting spending across the board....another fiscally conservative move......let me ask , what would you have him do/???????
But yaknow if Wall Street gets its hands on all the CalPers and CalSTRS funds, everything will be all bettter.
There is more than one way to reform and ripoff a system.
I don't. I come here to discuss issues and develop opinions. I tried to arbitrate nothing. I only asked you to support your outlandish positions.
You are actually in the minority and your attempts to disrupt with your continued posts only shows your insecurity on the issue.......
Minority? I think not. Insecure? Hardly. Quit with the attempted insults, okay?
if you feel like you are so right, then marvel in that fact and move on
One more time: care to support your positions? If not, perhaps moving on would be something you should consider yourself.
Obsessive, aren't we?
"some of our ferocious McC supporters admitted to having voted for Clinton and Boxer, and expressed that they would prefer Bustamante.
You need to back that up with proof or retract it."
===
I am not going to dig up the posts. I didn't attribute it to particular people, because I don't recall the specific people who said it. But those things were definitely posted right here.
I won't raise the SNC fiasco and land grab de jeur he wholeheartedly supported, being the good GReeno he is.
fine she posts her facts.....but I expressed my opinion farmfriend......do you think that justifeis her following me aroung the threads after we told her to let it go....I told her I support Arnold and if that is what I want to do, I don't need to be justifying anything to her.......
That is not what is going on here at all. It's not that we don't want Arnold to succeed it's that we see what he is really doing and we try to tell people who don't want to listen. Calcowgirl tried posting facts about what Arnold is doing yet she is being accused of wanting to relive the election. Answer me this, why is it that anyone who complains about the lasting socialism being instituted by Arnold is met with this McClintock supporter tag like it is something to be ashamed of?
I didn't label you personally -- I spoke in generalities. What makes you think it applies to you personally?
I said before -- once upon a time, during the governor's race I dug out everything carefully, and even afterwards for a while, but there are no amount of facts some people aren't able to ignore, so I don't feel like wasting my time to keep doing the same rather thankless task over and over and over again, to no avail.
Heck, some people didn't even have a good word to say about Arnold, even when he raised funds for McC.
"Don't worry about it -- some of our ferocious McC supporters admitted to having voted for Clinton and Boxer, and expressed that they would prefer Bustamante. "
It's the truth.
In retrospect, I do wish that I had kept the text and links to those specific posts.
I surmise you are speaking about a "trojan horse" ala the greeks and romans.......warriors that would attack disguised as gifts........I have been around here over a year but couldn't post unitl November because of a disability that took me 3 years or hard work to overcome after being screwed up by doctors.......I know the history to the madness.......but we all bitch about the Dems don't we.....and we just don't say there is madness there. No, we still rally against it.........don't we?
That's the third time you've been caught with that bald assertion using the demonization tactics more typical of leftist ideologues.
It suits you.
Arnie is just trying not to offend anyone and is ending up offending a lot of people who voted for him. His poll numbers are high but I sure haven't gotten a call to state my opinion.
Sorry you missed them.
I just did support what I wanted to........and those are not insults, they are clinical in nature according to my degree........I only responded to your posts.....you are the one that won't let it go......
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