Posted on 11/10/2005 11:11:17 PM PST by NormsRevenge
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A chastened Arnold Schwarzenegger took the blame for his election day drubbing and said on Thursday he would heed the voters' message and work closely with Democrats to solve California's problems.
The California governor, looking tired, held one of his infrequent news conferences after voters rejected all eight initiatives offered on Tuesday in a special election he called to advance what he called "the year of reform."
"If I would do another 'Terminator' movie I would have Terminator travel back in time and tell Arnold not to have a special election," the former action film star joked. "I should have also listened to my wife who said don't do it."
Schwarzenegger's wife is Democrat Maria Shriver, niece of former Democratic President John F. Kennedy. She did not campaign with her husband as she did when he was elected in a special recall election two years ago.
The celebrity governor's tone was more subdued than in the past as the Republican stressed he would work patiently with Democrats in governing the state. He also offered some rare introspection about his personality.
"I operate with a different mentality than most people do, which is that I am very forceful and inpatient. I always have mapped out my entire life a program and a work schedule and also a schedule of when I want to accomplish things," he told reporters. "And I always, you know, was successful with that, and with tremendous amount of determination and with tremendous amount of will."
"So here in this capital and in this job as governor... I think you have to be more patient," he said. "I recognize that now, more so than I did before."
MAKING IT HAPPEN IN SACRAMENTO
As part of his efforts to reach out to legislators he has famously called "girlie men" in the past, Schwarzenegger met Democrat and Republican leaders of both houses of the California legislature on Thursday.
In the special election, he had tried to circumvent the legislature by asking voters to approve measures on the budget, redistricting and other issues.
"The message we got from the special election was very clear, which was that the people want us to take care of the job right here in this building and not go to them if things don't work out," he said.
"Instead of trying three times or four times, try ten times, but make it happen in this building here."
Schwarzenegger's remarks provided hints into his new direction as he tries to regain his footing a year before he hopes to be re-elected in a state where Democrats are the majority party.
Until now, Schwarzenegger often warned legislators that he would turn to voters with initiatives if they did not adopt his program. The gamble badly misfired on Tuesday.
"It was kind of like going to the Supreme Court," he said. "It didn't work in the lower court so I went to the Supreme Court and of course they sent me right back down again where I started."
"That's something you that have to do when you are in the movie business, you have to listen carefully to the people. If one of the movies goes into the toilet, you know that was the wrong story, that's not the kind of movie you want to do, you know, so then you change, you learn from that."
Democratic leaders appeared upbeat and satisfied after meeting Schwarzenegger.
"Obviously the governor had a very positive tone about us getting back to work, rolling up our sleeves and tackling some of the tough issues that confront our state," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.
"I operate with a different mentality than most people do, which is that I am very forceful and inpatient. I always have mapped out my entire life a program and a work schedule and also a schedule of when I want to accomplish things," he told reporters. "And I always, you know, was successful with that, and with tremendous amount of determination and with tremendous amount of will."
"So here in this capital and in this job as governor... I think you have to be more patient," he said. "I recognize that now, more so than I did before."
---
Somehow his statements almost makes it sound like he was neutered November 10th.
Losing this latest skirmish is not the end of the world.
Now is not the time to cave.
The need in continuing down a road that must include reform at all levels of this state's government is now even more important than before.
The fight must continue in reducing bloated bureaucracies and in ensuring the legislature conducts its business with all the state's constituents best interests in mind and not just looking out for a few special interest groups above a majority of the legal residents of California.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Norm Buddy,
You folks in California are screwed. You've got too many people who don't work, pay taxes,own property or have citizenship. But they do vote. And they voted to have you pay for the fact that they don't work, pay taxes,own property or have citizenship.
If the story accurately represents Arnold's comments, this is pathetic. He needs to change this wimpy tune fast.
I'm sure a lot of the problem all along has been Maria.
A problem that obviously we're stuck with.
If I were Arnold, I'd withdraw from the '06 race, let the stupid voters elect whatever schmuck the Rats nominate, let the Rats run California into the ground unimpeded, then try again in 2010 with no responsibility for the horrible mess. As a bonus, if elected in 2010 he'd be
able to force an honest redistricting in 2011. As it is, if re-elected next year, he'll turn his office over to the Rats in 2010 (since both parties, not just the Rats, will be blamed for the state's continuing to decline, the Rats will win by default). And if he does that, the GOP is shut out of the governorship in 2010 and we get another map drawn by the Rats.
If someone has a more realistic scenario for saving the Golden State, I'd sure love to hear it.
Arnold is taking the exact wrong lesson from this. It's time to stop appointing Dems as Judges and playing nice. He will get zero cooperation from conservatives if he keeps this up, and I hope he loses the primary if he does.
There is no GOP primary this coming year.
The folks at the GOP convention after the Recall waived it in 2006 and outright endorsed the Gub if he wants to run which he finally said he would not too long ago.
"It was kind of like going to the Supreme Court," he said. "It didn't work in the lower court so I went to the Supreme Court and of course they sent me right back down again where I started."
"That's something you that have to do when you are in the movie business, you have to listen carefully to the people. If one of the movies goes into the toilet, you know that was the wrong story, that's not the kind of movie you want to do, you know, so then you change, you learn from that."
---
These comments are quite telling as well.
If only we could impeach or Recall First Ladies, Hillary comes to mind as well, eh? lol
Hugh Hewitt had a an interesting analysis in a prior thread. He pointed out that the Governor's problem was that he surrounded himself with liberals and isolated himself from conservatives. In short, he turned off the base. Hewitt quoted Nixon who said you can't win with only conservatives, but you can't win without them.
I don't think many people would remember Arnold's failed ballot measures one year from now...
Who knows what will happen between now and November 2006?
People were not sure that Pete Wilson would get reelected at the start of 1994...He got reelected by a comfortable margin in Nov. 1994.
His "base" was more indies and dems and moderates that got him elected in the Recall and not so much a huge amount of conservatives to begin with.
Unfortunately they ate his lunch last Tuesday and a lot of conservatives just didn't show up, as best I can determine..
I agree , but a better focus and a better team must be in place the next couple of go arounds as well , regardless of how strapped the dems may be.
"I operate with a different mentality than most people do, which is that I am very forceful and inpatient. I always have mapped out my entire life a program and a work schedule and also a schedule of when I want to accomplish things," he told reporters. "And I always, you know, was successful with that, and with tremendous amount of determination and with tremendous amount of will."
And thats the problem, most californians this is totally alien thinking.
The union nut is tough to crack. No question. But he DID accomplish one thing. He made them spend hundreds of millions of dollars just to hold ground. And that nut WILL crack someday.
No doubt Arnold is a little rattled by it all. It was a ballsy move he made. Taking on the unions with several propositions and having them resopnd on a national level against him. We must wait and see what happens next. Arnold will learn from this.
None of us here are happy about what happened. But I will not give up. And neither will Arnold. I just hope the rest of the country doesnt write us off in places like San Diego and Orange County. A lot of military folks here in Southern Calfornia. Still strong conservatives here. Reagan was Governor here. We are STILL here!, fighting the Bay Area and Los Angeles masses is extremely difficult.
We will need help from you Red states out there. I have contributed to republicans in other states at times. Keep us in mind next time. What happens here can effect the rest of the country. Unions are drunk all over the nation on shooting down arnolds propostions. It effects the whole country.
bttt
True to some degree re: voters memories, but now that he needs to put the brakes on the spending, he may not be able to and the thought of having to raise taxes is not going to endear him very well to those who sat this one out and too many who did vote as well.
Arnold will be stabbed in the back by the Democratic/Union cabal repeatedly during this period of reconciliation, so don't worry, he'll be back to his old self in no time.
A pyrrhic victory for all, but hopefully especially the dems and unions, but at what true cost to the dems and their supporters remains to be seen.
I guess the dems always have their big guns to fall back on like Howard Dean, John Kerry and Hillary. lol
Im saving all my mailers I got, the Hillary one for the defeat of Prop 75 may get framed eventually along side the McCain one for Prop 77. ;-)
Just tonight we got a canned telephone message from some group already trying to get a petition together to push higher cigarette taxes in CA "to cover emergency medical care".
What a crock!
we had the same damn one on our machine this afternoon too.
it never ends.
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.