Posted on 10/07/2005 3:42:12 PM PDT by Coleus
Seeking to turn aside Democratic portrayals of him as a right-wing acolyte of President Bush, Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester has begun running a television commercial featuring former Gov. Thomas H. Kean, a moderate embraced by a wide spectrum of New Jersey voters.
Forrester is described as "a moderate who supports a woman's right to choose," in the 30-second testimonial by Kean, a two-term Republican governor who recently served as chairman the Sept. 11 Commission.
The statement is a response to a recent radio ad by Forrester's Democratic opponent, Jon S. Corzine, in which an announcer says Forrester and President Bush "supported Supreme Court justices who would take away a woman's right to choose."
That ad, and several Corzine television ads, conclude by asking, "Doug Forrester. He's George Bush's choice for governor. Is he yours?"
Bush twice failed to carry New Jersey, a state in which Democrats outnumber Republicans and where half the voters consider themselves moderate. By responding with Kean this week, Forrester attempts to define himself in terms more attractive to those voters.
Rider University political analyst David Rebovich noted that Forrester called himself a "Tom Kean Republican" during a recent debate, "And here we have Kean himself reiterating that point."
"Kean was acceptable not only to Republicans, but to Democrats," Rebovich said. "This ad is aimed at muting Corzine's criticism of Forrester."
"They hope a viewer says, `Who am I going to believe, friends of (former governor) Jim McGreevey or friends of Tom Kean?' If viewers see the ad that way, it should help him," Rebovich said.
Kean also touches on two of the main themes of the Forrester campaign by saying, "Doug will clean up the corruption in Trenton, and he has a real plan to cut property taxes by 30 percent in three years."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
I know this will make conservatives sick, but it's a really good strategy in New Jersey. Forrester is running a hell of a good campaign. Corzine's ads are stupid and embarrassing.
One worthless POS RINO extolling the "virtues" of another POS RINO.
New Jersey is doomed.
I know this will make conservatives sick, but it's a really good strategy in New Jersey. Forrester is running a hell of a good campaign. >>
It's a good tactic that just may work in this liberal, RINO state. He's a lot better than corzine.
The "I'm almost as liberal as my opponent" strategy. Brilliant.
Forrester will lose by 30 points. He deserves to lose by 60.
I can't believe I give money to the RNC to help spineless, soulless RINO's like this jerkweed.
Being someone from a blue state with a Republican governor, let me just make the point that hard core conservatives don't win in states like New Jersey, or California where I'm from. We have to be a little pragmatic and realize politics and Republicanism are not one size fits all in a nation as divided as this.
Yes, if in Alabama or Utah the Republican party was running moderate Republicans for governor I'd question it all day long and think it's wrong. But the kind of social conservatives you get running for office in the South or in other red states just won't make it in the Northeast or West Coast.
The fact is, on economics these governors/candidates are quite conservative, holding the line on taxes or even cutting them, reducing spending and standing up against illegal immigration. On social issues yes they have to take more liberal positions. But on many of these they're things they'll have no power on anyway, like abortion. So why cut off our noses to spite our face? I would rather have a moderate Republican as governor than a liberal Democrat. They may not do everything I want but they'll do a lot less of what I don't want.
I can't speak for other states, but as far as New Jersey is concerned this is absolute baloney. Sure, the GOP leadership in this state under Governor Whitman did cut state taxes across the board, but they didn't cut a single dime in government spending and basically used state bond issues (which generated enormous fees for their Wall Street backers) to finance massive budget deficits (despite a state law requiring a balanced budget every year).
Here in the New York metro area we may actually witnessing the start of a pretty remarkable trend (Nassau County, NY is a good example of this) -- Democratic governments taking over governments long dominated by the GOP and fixing the fiscal disasters left behind by their predecessors.
Pragmatism is what got the McCain Amendment passed by 81 votes on Wednesday. I call it compromise, and it seems the republicans are the only ones who do it.
I don't know that you can equate all pragmatism with a badly decided act of pragmatism. I think pragmatism like anything else has to be practiced in a thinking way, not in a knee jerk way. Obviously there are times pragmatism is not called for and the McCain amendment is certainly one of them. However I don't think that can be equated to simply recognizing the political realities of the states you're running in and adapting accordingly, especially in areas where as governor there's no constitutional ability nor mandate to act, such as in the area of abortion laws. On the other hand if the people of the state are demanding fiscal conservatism and as a Republican you run on the idea of spending more, than that's just stupid.
Equating bad decisions in terms of pragmatism with those that may be wise would be like using rape to say all sexual acts are horrorific and violent.
"I can't speak for other states, but as far as New Jersey is concerned this is absolute baloney. Sure, the GOP leadership in this state under Governor Whitman did cut state taxes across the board, but they didn't cut a single dime in government spending and basically used state bond issues (which generated enormous fees for their Wall Street backers) to finance massive budget deficits (despite a state law requiring a balanced budget every year)."
Does that mean Forrester will be the same way? No. Forrester actually has staked out a very conservative position on spending and taxation. Forrester was a businessman. He knows how these things work. Whitman was just a hack.
No, you're misunderstanding me.
The amendment was not an act of pragmatism. It was a borderline act of treason.
The pragmatism happened at the time all of the RINO's who supported the amendment were elected. At least, that's what it was called at the time by those who know better.
The bottom line is, the more we let the left infiltrate our party, the more say they'll have in the direction it takes. To me, that's not pragmatic. It's suicidal.
I'd like to see Forrester answer that ad "Who's the only person running for governor who's ever raised property taxes?" with one that asks "Who's the only person running for governor who's ever raised income taxes on the Social Security income of the elderly and on the gasoline used by everyone who drives?"......
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