Posted on 12/01/2005 9:38:28 PM PST by nickcarraway
Arnold Schwarzenegger's selection of archliberal Susan Kennedy, a former Cabinet secretary to Gray Davis, as his new chief of staff "is the last straw for a lot of grassroots California Republicans," says California Republican Assembly president Mike Spence to TAS. Spence describes the appointment as the equivalent of "George Bush appointing Howard Dean to be his chief of staff."
Even the jaw of George Skelton (the Los Angeles Times columnist who has spent much of his career telling the California GOP to move left) dropped after the appointment of Kennedy, who is one of the state's leading abortion proponents, a high-profile lesbian activist, and a former aide to many prominent California Democrats. "There simply is no precedent -- at least in any current political lifetime -- for what Schwarzenegger did Wednesday. Appoint a hard-core, dedicated soldier from the enemy camp as his chief of staff. Not just an 'advisor' or 'counselor' -- but his No. 1, his alter ego," Skelton wrote.
The door behind which Schwarzenegger kept his de facto Democratic ideology has long been ajar and visible, but now he has kicked it wide open, and not even craven, win-at-all-costs Republicans can ignore it. Susan Kennedy herself blurted out the basic truth about Schwarzenegger: "I think a moderate Democrat and a moderate Republican -- there is not a lot of light between us."
This point had been made during the Recall, but California GOP officials, relying on the usual "Big Tent" song-and-dance and shallow pragmatic arguments, cast it aside. They were given a choice between a meaningful victory with real Republican Tom McClintock or a hollow victory with a de facto Democrat, and they chose the latter. One immediate problem was solved, but multiple new and longterm ones were created.
A conservative revolt is brewing and will likely upend the "French wing" of the California Republican Party, says Spence. He has been bombarded with calls and phone calls from seething California Republicans. They feel burned and view the Kennedy appointment as a point of no return. There is talk, he says, of drafting Tom McClintock to run against Schwarzenegger, and "Mel Gibson's name is being floated."
That a center-left Republican like Schwarzenegger will do more damage than a liberal Democrat is almost axiomatic at this point, and rank-and-file Republicans have been burned enough times to realize it. Because "moderate" Republicans appear less crazy than liberal Democrats and can neutralize Republican resistance through false promises and fake appeals to party unity, they can get away with all sorts of dubious things. Many of Schwarzenegger's "accomplishments" -- from his billions-for-cloning proposition to his gun and environmental laws to his routine appointment of Democrats to judgeships -- are moves that would have met stiff resistance had Gray Davis proposed them.
Schwarzenegger's selection of a former Gray Davis cabinet secretary as his chief of staff perfectly illustrates the lost opportunity of the Recall: instead of ending the Gray Davis agenda, the Recall extended it, and shrewd Democrats who let Davis twist in the wind knew it, seeing Schwarzenegger as a Trojan horse for liberalism and a far more effective proponent of the Davis agenda than Davis ever was or would be.
The California Republicans had a huge percentage of the Recall vote to work with, and they squandered it on a celebrity who just happened to have an R. after his name. Had Schwarzenegger not parachuted into the race on the Jay Leno show (which was one of many signs that California Republicans were about to be taken on a very silly ride) and so easily convinced GOP leaders to back him despite his obvious indifference to much of their stated platform, Tom McClintock would have won easily, and the direction of the state government would have changed substantially. Real debates, not the me-too debates into which Schwarzenegger has been consistently drawn, would have occurred, and the party would have grown through morale-boosting fights.
Schwarzenegger's chief-of-staff fiasco confirms that when the Republican Party forfeits its principles in order to win, it has no principles left once it does, leaving it in tatters, both philosophically and politically. Even the crassly political argument for blindly supporting Schwarzenegger -- that his glow would cause the ranks of the California Republican Party to swell -- has proven illusory. The state party is now viewed as a pitiful arm of the hybrid Schwarzenegger administration, wholly severed from the conservative movement and useless to propel its officeholders to victory.
Schwarzenegger hasn't enlarged or energized the Republican base, and his blatant giving away of the store is likely to undercut the chances of Republican officeholders across the board in the next election. The Kennedy appointment, plus Schwarzenegger's plan to give the Democrats much of what they want in the next budget, is expected to sap morale when the party's aspirants need it most.
"This is kind of the thing that can hurt all our state wide nominees," says Spence. "This is going to drag down the whole party."
George Neumayr is executive editor of The American Spectator.
Yeesh, poor Arizona.
Hewitt was disgusted with Arnold's stupidity today on his show.
The lights are dimming and the curtains are being drawn on Arnold's role as politician.
If it looks, acts and sounds like George W. Bush, Hugh loves it.
Sounds to me like maybe you're already in love with this concept to disenfranchise righteous conservatives who are usually the ones who have been doing the lions share of grunt work in the past decade for the Republican Party, as well as the Republican Party with this divisive and destructive new/recycled Deform Party.
Were you floating a trial ballon, maybe?
You're right...Arnold was the absolute best we could have done in CA...and if he had gotten any support from Conservatives maybe things would have gone the other way...but no...If nothing else, CA conservatives would just rather tell you how much smarter they are than everyone else while their State goes to hell in a handbasket. WE HAD A CHANCE. Arnold thought that people would go to the polls like they did in the recall election. But he was wrong...why should he fall at the feet of the Conservatives...what have they done for him? He was NEVER a social conservative and never pretended to be one...but that's not what we voted for...we voted for fiscal responsibility. You know what...I don't care anymore...I can carry a gun now and that alone was worth moving for.
On the bright side (if there is one) Arnold's "coming out" party will likely unite the Republicans against the inevitable Democrat tax hike proposals. Whereas the Arnold who was successfully faking his Republican bona fides and flaunting his celebrity may have been able to shmooze the necessary handful of wavering Republicans into voting for a budget with a tax hike, Arnold's sudden loss of currency and credibility with the GOP might have killed that scenario.
This Arnold craziness might actuallly end up making tax hikes LESS likely to get the two-thirds vote.
Of course, Bloomberg saved one of the top sources of finance for Democrats nationwide.
I WAS PART OF THE PROBLEM? Little old me...I'm flattered I had so much power in the State of California...Did you walk the precincts? Lick envelopes till your tongue was bleeding? Make phone calls and go to homes and have people slam doors in your face and call you all sorts of names....I doubt it. I did...But I guess that was part of the problem...actually working to fix things instead of sitting on the computer calling people who actually do things horrible names. And now, my dear...Go to hell.
Hildy's got a gun.
I think it is you who are the child. You are the one who if you don't get everything your own way, you pick up your marbles and go home. That is not mature or grown up.
You're a Murtha Republican. Cut 'n run.
Yea, and getting to be a pretty good shot too, I might add.
And there you have it my FRiends! Just as Carry_Okie and several others here on FR have been articulating for over 2 years here on FR!!!
Take a bow, there, Mr. Carry_Okie and all you others who know who you are. You have been besieged like Christians being fed to the lions in the colleseum for far too long over this terrible trojan horse! Bravo!!! Encore!!!
"I think"
Don't tax yourself, sweetie.
Now that sounds like a threat, ma'am.
Uh..honey...how can you run things when you can't even win elections? I really can't wait to hear the answer to that one.
I wouldn't waste a good bullet.
Maria lets him back in her bed now & Uncle Swimmer is out celebrating! HICCUP!
Hmm, well, like I said, stop kneecapping us and allow us to work miracles. ;-)
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