Posted on 01/26/2006 9:36:57 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Time and again over the past decade, the political instincts of California's Republican Party leaders have been far off the mark. Their embrace of marginally attractive candidates to run against Barbara Boxer in the 1998 Senate race and Gray Davis in the 1998 and 2002 governor's races resulted in huge lost opportunities. The only reason we have a GOP governor now is because of the quirks of the recall system; in a normal election, Arnold Schwarzenegger probably would have been weeded out in the Republican primary by an establishment conservative following the script that lackluster Bill Simon used to wallop former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan in 2002.
Now we are seeing fresh evidence of the party's tone-deaf grasp of California politics. At the state GOP's biannual convention, to be held Feb. 24-26 in San Jose, a group of influential activists has vowed to pass a resolution to oppose Schwarzenegger's re-election unless he fires Susan Kennedy, the former Davis aide he recently named as chief of staff.
Both substantively and politically, this is crazy.
On the substance, we absolutely understand Republicans' frustration with the governor. The 2006-07 budget he unveiled this month amounts to a stunning retreat from the careful fiscal stewardship of his first two years. He is also flirting with imposing $5 billion in new taxes (for water projects) by proclaiming them – in slippery, Davis-like fashion – to be fees. The guttiness he showed during his first two years in taking on the most powerful political force in California – the public employee unions – has been abandoned for group hugs and mushy tropes about the glories of cooperation.
But this isn't Susan Kennedy's fault. This is Schwarzenegger's. He has made an open, obvious strategic decision to break with his old approach. Kennedy's selection is an example of this new approach, not the cause of it.
If Republicans think the governor is so spineless that he follows the dictates of those around him, they shouldn't just call for him to fire an aide. They should follow their belief to its logical but absurd conclusion and demand Schwarzenegger file for divorce. By all accounts, his wife is the most liberal adviser he has.
On the politics front, an anti-Kennedy resolution would give Democrats a new opportunity to depict Republicans as intolerant haters, one of their most potent vote-getting tools. This is because, in case you haven't heard, Susan Kennedy is an open lesbian, one of the highest-ranking open gays in state government history. Any organized GOP campaign to fire Kennedy and scapegoat her for Schwarzenegger's apostasy could easily be framed as a witch hunt by homophobic Republicans – and might deserve to be.
This is why our advice to frustrated Republicans is to focus their fire on the man responsible for their ire, not on Susan Kennedy. Asking Republicans to pass a resolution rapping the governor's budget about-face makes sense – but not a resolution that singles out one of his aides for demonization.
I'll define moderate for you. A moderate is someone that the guys on the right and the guys on the left simultaneously call a name whenever they disagree with something the moderate says. Since arnold is catching it from both sides left and right, I'd call him a moderate but since he is catching more hell from the left than the right, I'd say he is more on our side. Further a moderate thinks the left and the right are both crazy.
By the way, as soon as you leave freeper land or DU land, you will find a whole bunch of moderates.
No one likes to be lectured. This is why the hollywood left fails so miserably in politics. I will add that no one likes to be lectured by you whose tone implies that you and only you are the true keeper of conservatism. Let me assure you that you are not.
"The conservative knew it was coming but when Simon sought financial support from the CAGOP to prepare a defense in advance, the CAGOP said nada, not a dime for conservatives."
Actually, the CAGOP told him to settle the suit quickly. He insisted on fighting to the bitter end.
You're a POS liberal!
Nice rebuttal. *snicker*
bttt
Bite your tongue!
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