Posted on 12/14/2005 4:51:39 PM PST by NormsRevenge
During the California recall election, when my then-WND colleague Hugh Hewitt was in the forefront of leading a merry band of Republican optimists to reject Tom McClintock – a genuine conservative – in favor of a man much esteemed by the Kennedy family, I wrote a column titled "Satanic Schwarzeneggerians," in which I encouraged eschewing the sacrifice of principle in favor of the "pragmatic" pursuit of power.
Now, I quite like Arnold as an action hero, and would consider it an honor to lift weights with the legendary body builder. But there are decent and even delightful individuals in every party across the political spectrum and personality is no sign of worthiness to hold political office. I have known and liked a number of individuals who would nevertheless be of more benefit to humanity dead than in power.
The idea behind the Schwarzenegger gubernatorial candidacy was that his popularity and sheer manly presence would cause the Democrat-controlled legislature to genuflect in humble awe before him, thus allowing the state Republicans to return California to some semblance of fiscal and operational sanity. The subsequent prosperity would naturally lead to a revival of Republican fortunes in the state, repeating in miniature what the Reagan revolution wrought on a national scale beginning in 1980.
The backup plan, in the event that the state Democratic leadership proved more recalcitrant than expected, was that the Great Man would simply bypass the Assembly and Senate and go over their heads in an appeal to the people of California. This was a reasonable idea, as California's system allows for a limited form of direct democracy through referendums, and indeed, this backup plan was put into effect earlier this year.
Unfortunately for California's Republicans, Gov. Schwarzenegger went zero for four in the November elections. And even more ominously, the governor is showing that he has no interest in sacrificing his political career at the behest of the conservative movement or the Republican Party, two things toward which the strength of the strong man's loyalty has always been dubious. His recent appointment of Democrat Susan Kennedy, a liberal lesbian enforcer and former executive director of the California Democratic Party, as his new chief of staff, is a strong indication of his intention to tack left for the remainder of his term – look for a major compromise initiative supported by the government unions and state Democrats designed to jump-start his popularity in the run-up to the next election.
Even more disquieting are rumors that Schwarzenegger may opt to wash the political detritus of the last two years from his record with a shrewdly tactical announcement of a newfound political independence. Doing so would allow him to free himself of any blame for his recent failures, tossing it aside along with the Republican Party.
This would be a masterstroke, as the Los Angeles Times and other Democrat-leaning media would spare no effort in selling Schwarzenegger's version of events to saddle California Republicans with the political liabilities successfully sloughed off by the governor, while they are still reeling in disarray from the loss of their so-called leader.
In Schwarzenegger's action movies, he often left his opponents bloodied and burned. It is not difficult to imagine that California Republicans will soon be wondering if Arnold is planning to leave them the same way.
As I am neither Californian nor Republican, this scenario troubles me not. And since Republicans have been chasing the myth of the electable moderate for most of my adult life, it wouldn't surprise me either, although I do marvel at those who managed to forget the Machiavellian history of elected Austrian imports. Beware of Greeks bearing gifts and Austrians running for office. In conclusion, I offer the following words, written in September 2003 – I see no need to revise them now:
"Schwarzenegger, far from representing the salvation of California's Republican Party, stands for its complete immolation ... Pragmatism in politics is self-defeating in the long run. It is a euphemism for the slow sacrifice of one's principles. The constant substitution of "electable" moderates for principled conservatives is what repeatedly kills the Republican Party and prevents it from ever realizing even a small part of its platform when it is in power."
Worth repeating.
When the program fails, someone who said it's a bad idea will be in a good position to explain so. By contrast, someone who worked to "water down" the program will not be in a position to do anything but shoulder blame.
What the hell was the CAGOP thinking when they sidled up to a foreign national with clearly defined liberal tendencies?
Bump and Ping!
Another good article.
Unfortunately, in California we have a confused bunch in the GOP. In 2003, Gray Davis proposed borrowing $8 billion to address a cash shortfall for operating expenses. Republicans strongly opposed it and took him to court to stop him.
Fast forward... Davis recalled.... Schwarzenegger elected. Schwarzenegger replaces Davis' borrowing scheme with one of his own--borrowing $15 billion for operating expenses. He initiated it, promoted it, and got the CA GOP to endorse it.
It seems that even liberal ideas are embraced by this party, as long as they have an (R) next to them.
I will.
The criticism of Governor Schwarzenegger is limited to the California Topic. Were I a resident of Texas, Representative Delay would probably receive, on the Texas Topic, equal criticism for acts of political larder or liberalism.
Well, George W. got elected!
Governor S got many votes including from conservatives such as myself simply because the Dem candidate was so much worse, we didn't want to vote the better man in an election where many, many candidates were on the ballot include S and McC at the same time.
Why S? Because McC had little money for his campaign and was trailing badly in polls by election day.
Might have been different if the election had had a primary and then a final election where one dem vs one repub was on the ballot.
Normally, we like to vote the better Repub for the primary election and then whatever Repub was running vs the Dem/Socialist (same thing here in Calif) candidate.
But no primaries were done. Primaries would have helped McC a lot.
BZZZZZZT!!! Wrongo! That was the pitch, not the idea. The folks who prepped, financed, and ran Arnold were looking to make sure the grubbamint gravy train they'd enjoyed under Bray Davis didn't get derailed by the recall.
When are these "experts" going to get it?
Not really. Arnold and Tom were very close in the polls until the final week. If everyone who said I like him better but he can't win, had voted for him. He would have won.
That was everybody's backup plan, including McClintock's. Unfortunately, this clown thinks fiscal sanity was Arnold's goal when in reality it was delivering the goods.
So, Arnold borrowed a bucketful, and his Wall Street backers got the bond auction they'd paid for, wasting a TOTALLY unnecessary cool-half billion in extra fees, lost in-state taxable revenue, and taxes on in-State economic activity resulting from an in-State auction.
What a guy.
How come nobody ever publishes that internal polling data? Its lack leaves us having to post parallel election results and leaving readers to infer the point.
It's been a pain.
Does anyone still rely on Hugh Hewitt? After all, he predicted that Oklahoma would win last year's college football national championship, and that both Notre Dame and UCLA would beat USC this year.
Mike Pence 08!
On another topic your (CA's) newly elected John Campbell (R-CA) looks to be another solid big (C) in the House of Reps. Just look him up on townhall.com (I did) He's NOT a RINO at ALL!
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