Posted on 03/07/2006 5:13:35 PM PST by calcowgirl
In his State of the State address in January, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger promised he'd do a better job of listening to constituents.
I hope he was listening Sunday.
That's the day delegates at the California Republican Assembly endorsement convention in Bakersfield sent Schwarzenegger the following message.
Want our vote next election? Then throw us a bone. Not even a heartfelt request from state Sen. Tom McClintock, candidate for lieutenant governor and favorite son of the CRA, could persuade delegates to endorse a Schwarzenegger/McClintock ticket.
Not yet, anyway.
An endorsement from the CRA -- the state's largest, oldest and likely most conservative Republican volunteer group -- is a seal of approval coveted by Republican candidates eager to demonstrate their allegiance to conservative Republican principles.
Former state Sen. Dick Mountjoy, now running for U.S. Senate, passed muster. So did Bruce McPhearson for secretary of state, and Fresno's state Sen. Chuck Poochigian for attorney general.
But not Arnold.
Buoyed by the spirit of the convention and clearly swayed by McClintock's appeal, delegates on Saturday appeared to consider a Schwarzenegger endorsement but, in the end, couldn't get around the governor's fiscal about-face in the aftermath of the failed special election.
"Last month at the California Republican Party convention, a resolution saying we do not support a hike in minimum wage or further debt bonds on our children was voted down in the name of unity," says local political consultant Tracy Leach. "CRA isn't here to be a cheerleader; we're here to defend conservatives who see their role differently than the party proper."
The delegates -- unified in the belief that a bad day with Arnold beats any day with a Democrat in the governor's chair -- left open the possibility of a future endorsement but expect to hold Schwarzenegger's feet to the fire until the June 6 primary.
"I'd love to go along with what Tom asked, and we will hold the door open for an endorsement," says Bakersfield Republican Assembly President Karen Norton. "We're waiting for him to stand up for Republican principles, but he hasn't shown us he's willing to do that."
One who is willing is Tom Tancredo, the controversial congressman from Colorado, who brought convention delegates to their feet with his call to close American borders against the flowing stream of illegal immigration.
"I want to secure all of our borders against people who come here without permission," Tancredo told delegates. "I don't care where they're coming from, but we need to know who's coming, when they're coming and when they're going to leave."
No argument there.
The CRA, a group devoted to the sanctity of human life, heterosexual marriage and private property rights, a group that knows how to behave when the colors are presented, can say the pledge of allegiance without mumbling and sing the national anthem without stumbling, says it's not about to sacrifice conservative principles on the altar of unity or political correctness.
Governor, are you listening?
Here, here!
Something the party-above-principle GOP/CAGOP/Dufus Sundheim/New Majority (R)inos will never understand.
It's not even really the party for Sundheim and his ilk. It's about ego, cronyism, self-aggrandizement and spoils.
Will the gang attempt to placate the right with a bone or simply ignore them?
Right now the gang has it own set of problems. Republican Assemblymen are getting even with the gang for the gang's abuse of the legislative process and the gang's financiers are demanding a cash cow by June so that they can, in turn, recruit more members to their financial investment group. A real chicken and egg dilemma.
If it were up to Wilson he'd throw a bone. Anything to keep his group in power. He'd throw the Austrian overboard if he could find a suitable replacement by Friday. Wilson has got the money, he's got control of the CRP and he's got a tacit alliance with the RNC. What Wilson lacks is a dependable spokesman.
The Austrian, raised in period that still clung to the appeals of fascism, exposed to the theory of the wisdom of a paternal governance by his wife's relatives and imbued with the idea that a dominant personality can prevail against the masses as a result of his prior experiences, is simply giving Wilson headaches.
Now somebody try to tell me just what's wrong with ANY of THAT??? That kinda stuff has been the spirit of Conservative Republicanism that I admire and cherish and I want it back in the lime light in CA, not the lame light of the mediocre moderate New Repub Majority, or the CA Repub Congress, or any other such maudlin meddlin lukewarm bunch!!!
And I'm especially sick of the celluloid celebrity hero worship of a blowhard who NEVER really follows through on his big talk without flinchin like a literal chicken just before you bend down to grab it!!! Sheeeeesh!!!
He acts like he never learned a danged thing from the bad actor that Davis was, except how to out-Davis DAVIS!!!
None of us ever bargained for that, but that's sure what we are lookin at!!! Who can endorse THAT in good conscience??? THAT literally sucks canal water and everybody knows it!!! (Now he wants to borrow money to rebuild the canal levees!)
Thank God!!! Somebody has to.
An apt description of The Great Equivocator.
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