Why Arnold is Losing the Republicans

FlashReport ^ | 03-23-06 | Bruce Biolosky

[Amerigomag]

The recent semi-annual California Republican Convention was an attempt by Governor Schwarzenegger and others to solidify his support with the base of the party. Despite his efforts and those of State Senator Tom McClintock, Arnold has failed as of now. Schwarzenegger positions have left the base feeling that supporting him for reelection may not only be the wrong thing to do, but may also be counterproductive.

Arnold and his gaggle of handlers believe his fight is with wild-eyed, right-wing conservatives. That is not true. Mainstream Republicans who have stayed away from the moderate/conservative slugfest in the California Republican Party are also skeptical. It is not because Arnold is a RINO (Republican In Name Only). It is because they believe there is not much Republican there at all.

Arnold did start off by doing the right things. He vetoed driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and repealed the tripling of the car tax. But those were no-brainers. That was what the recall was all about and anybody who won would have had to do the same. His State of the State address in 2005 sounded great, but unfortunately because he was poorly advised he wasted his governorship on a special election that was doomed before it started.

The feeling is that he has put the final nails in the coffin of his Republican policies and is now orbiting into the Democratic ozone with the misguided idea that this will keep him in office. But in the end, to what end? The only policy that he can point to that will attract Republicans is that he has not raised taxes. He has not needed to because the tax policies of President Bush have caused a $9 billion (11 percent) increase in state revenues that has alleviated any need to adjust tax rates. Yet, Arnold snubs the President and then blames him for all that is ill with the Arnold administration, including his latest gambit of blaming the California’s levee repair needs on the federal government.

It is not only because of the appointment of Susan Kennedy that Republicans have a disdain for this administration. It is the consistent appointment of Democrats throughout his administration. By his own staff’s account, 42 percent of his appointments are Democrats while still more are registered independents. If a Republican governor does not understand having Republicans throughout his administration has an effect on policy then he is just sadly confused. But it gets worse.

The most important appointments Arnold makes are judgeships. Out of 121 judgeships, he has appointed 61 Republicans. In his wildest dreams does he really believe that a Democrat would be that evenhanded? A large part of the national election in 2004 was over who would get to appoint the judges, and apparently our Governor did not get the message that Republicans wanted Republicans appointed to the bench. They actually like judges akin to John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

After Arnold appointed Kennedy, I had a conversation with a well-placed California Republican. He assured me that things were “going to be alright”. He told me that Arnold was a Republican who was liberal on social issues and conservative on fiscal issues. Directly after that conversation, Arnold did the following: 1) He endorsed raising the minimum wage, 2) He declared there was a $5 billion budget surplus and announced he was going to spend every last dime of it with no debt reduction or savings for when the revenue stream slows down, 3) He called for new bonded indebtness of $222 billion without telling how this was going to be paid for except for some new fees (TAXES), and 4) He submitted a budget with a more than $6 billion deficit in the face of spiraling increases in revenues. Arnold purports to be an adherent of the great economist Milton Friedman, and yet he appears to many to have confused him with his cousin Irving of the Peace and Freedom Party.

Arnold has only lame answers for his actions. He stated on national television that he was elected to serve not just the Republicans. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, Bob Ehrlich of Maryland and George Pataki of New York face the same challenges and they don’t make the same sophomoric excuses. They appoint Republicans and run their states as Republicans and believe that is the best way to appeal to their state’s interests. Arnold told Tim Russert on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was going to run as an Arnold Republican. That appears to many to be a very tiny group.

We Republicans stand for certain things. There is a bottom line even mainstream and moderate Republicans are unwilling to tolerate. If Arnold is going to act more democratic than a Democrat, the perception is: let them screw up the state even more and then we can elect a Republican who wants to be a Republican. That has happened with the Governors mentioned above who were elected in states as liberal as California.

The talk is that Republicans will be working to elect Republicans all over the country to keep our majority in Congress and in the state houses. They will be writing checks for many also. Unless Arnold gives them more reason than “I am not Phil Angelides,” that may not change and the Governor can go back to being just ‘Arnold’ a lot sooner than he thought possible.

[Amerigomag]

Bruce L. Bialosky; Former Chair, Golden Circle of the California Republican Party. Bruce has been involved with helping to raise funds up in LA for Republican candidates and causes for years.

Another steamed, highly partisan, Republican workhorse.

[bill1952]

Although not a Californian, I am coming to the view that he should be outcast.

I hope he does something to change my mind, but if this is what the GOP will settle for as the face of Ca republican, then they might as well be NY.

A lost cause.

[jim_trent]

I thought California Republicans just liked to lose. They are soooooo good at it.

[pgkdan]

Why is anyone surprised at this? When anyone dared to say that this is exactly what could be expected out of the Hollywood/Kennedy branch of the GOP they were hooted at and shouted down and told that we didn't know what we were talking about and that any Republican with half a brain was behind Ahnold. Tom Mcclintock was called a stooge, an extremist and a spoiler and his supporters were called worse.

Now they're starting to make the same kind os arguements for a Guilliani candidacy in 2008. Yeah...right!

[Amerigomag]

The Republican base has been pleading with Wilson to change course. They have asked Wilson to remember core Republican values. They sent Wilson a sharp message last November when he refused to relent. But still, Wilson won't listen.

Wilson is not going to change. Pleading and threatening are not going to cause him to change course. Wilson hasn't liked conservatives and conservative values since he entered politics.

Schwarzenegger may well be reelected, but probably by independents and Democrats. The Wilsonegger gang has burned their bridges with most Republicans and they deserve what they worked so selfishly to earn.

[Pukin Dog]

I supported Arnold from day one.

Now, I want him out.

Let the Democrats ruin California. I will be voting against Arnold. The Judges were the last straw.

[dk/coro]

When we take a close look at The Terminator in both "word and deed", it seems to me that there is a remarkable similarity to the transparent professional ineptness of the late governor of Minnesota -- one Jesse Ventura!

All hype and blather, but no real "there, there" when it comes to exercise of sound management and effective "realpolitik".

[DManA]

Call them names. That's a great way to gain their support.

wild-eyed, right-wing conservatives

[Lurker]

Because he's not one and keeps saying he is?

L

[ssaftler]

Yup, we California Republicans got nothing on the Democrats in the national scene. We just keep whining about what the other side is doing, then when someone on our side proposes an alternative, he/she gets shouted down... by BOTH sides of the aisle.

Go figure...

[Malesherbes]

I was born there, but I don't live there anymore. It saddens me what has happened to what was once "the Golden State." California faces a fiscal debacle and it might as well happen under a Dim governor as under a RINO.

[Zack Nguyen]

The most important appointments Arnold makes are judgeships. Out of 121 judgeships, he has appointed 61 Republicans. In his wildest dreams does he really believe that a Democrat would be that evenhanded?

The author is right. The reason is that Democrats understand that politics is an ideological battle. Republicans do not understand this. They believe that ideology doesn't matter, because some of them (like Arnold) have no strong beliefs on much of anything.

[calcowgirl]

The Judges were the last straw.

At first I thought maybe they were just moderate dems. But no--he even added a public defender who serves as defense counsel to the Hague, representing defendants accused of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. From Flash Report:

I'm curious how Judge Snodgrass would have defended Milosevic. Last Year, she claimed that her client, charged with raping and strangling a 9-year old girl, had instead merely found the girl's dead body and then had sex with it -- the old "my client isn't a murderer, just a pedophile necrophiliac" defense. It didn't work.

Meet Teresa Snodgrass.

[LexBaird]

Back in Sept. of '03, I posted this:

"I've yet to see a conservative who has written that he or she feels that Arnold is genuinely the better candidate, just that he is the surest bet to win.

I've waited with an open mind, listened to Arnold's pitches, viewed the debate, and let the whole thing perk around in my mind. I wanted to like him and his agenda, I really did.

But, I come to the inevitable conclusion today that I cannot vote for Arnold. His policies don't add up. He cannot support and fund the things he wants and cut the budget at the same time, not with a Dem controlled legislature. He'll have to compromise too much, and I'll get stuck with the bill. And Arnie's "socially liberal" policies besides.

DFU says he agrees with McClintock at 95%, and Arnie at 70%. Running the tally, my Arnie meter hits 40%, tops. With that, my chad gets punched for Tom. There I stand, I can do no other."

Today, I don't reget my words or vote in the least. It appears that I was prophetic in my estimation of Arnold's policies. Can those who rushed to assure me that Arnie was the Great Leader of the California Republican Renaissance say the same?

[GOP_1900AD]

Answer: Because he's actually a Lefty Kennedy!

[Amerigomag]

DFU says he agrees with McClintock at 95%, and Arnie at 70%.

Reagan's threshold was 75%.

The three blind mice, who are constantly spamming this forum with pro Arnold infomercials, apparently have no threshold. Whatever Schwarzenegger does is ALWAYS better than what the Democrat flavor of the month might do if their Terminator is terminated.

[LexBaird]

courtesy ping. Old post being discussed.

[jrp]

I'm not happy with the gov, but want to point out that except for one law (the .50 caliber ban), he has prevented any more gun control from being enacted. A Dem. governor would have likely signed any and all gun control bills crossing his desk. BTW, both Serbu & Barret firearms have introduced long-range rifles specifically designed to work around the .50 ban, so that particular law is almost moot.

[Amerigomag]

he has prevented any more gun control from being enacted.

Please remind me of the legislation he has vetoed.

I've only found these two on a quick check:

AB 754
Author: Dave Jones (D)
Title: Firearms: Rewords and reorganizes Penal Code
Status: Vetoed by Governor

AB 996
Author: Mark Ridley-Thomas (D)
Title: Sales Storage of Ammunition
Status: Vetoed by Governor

But he did sign this one:

SB 48
Author: Jack Scott (D)
Title: Selling ammunition to underage person
Status: Signed by Governor

Which limits ammunition sales to those over 18.

What did I miss?

[Czar]

"I thought California Republicans just liked to lose. They are soooooo good at it."

And just what is it that makes you an expert on California Republicans?