Posted on 03/23/2006 1:10:31 PM PST by 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 He vetoed driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants and repealed the tripling of the car tax.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.
And so we have the party-above-principle GOP/RNC/New Majority Big Tenters who never met a principle they couldn't rise above...just give them an (R) after that name on the ballot and you are guaranteed a vote.
Why is this news?
> And just what is it that makes you an expert on California Republicans?
Because we had the same problem here 20-30 years ago. Both Senators, one of the Representatives, the Governor, and the Mayors of the larger cities were all Demoncrat -- and this is a supposedly "Conservative Republican" state. The reason was because the Republicans refused to come back together after the primaries and support ONE candidate. Consequently, Demoncrat after Demoncrat picked up the pieces with less than half the vote. From what I have seen from the sidelines, the Californians do the same right now.
About 20 years ago the people who refused to come together after the primary were purged from the party. They never got a penny more from the party and most of the large contributors were convinced to NOT fund them. They were gone in one or two election cycles. We are not "perfect" by a long shot today, but we are way, way ahead of where we were then.
Conservatives OR Republicans who fight each other harder than they do the Demoncrats deserve to live in a Blue state.
bttt
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
There are currently two challengers.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Schwarzenegger, Arnold REP GOV Qualified Burns, Jeffrey R. REP GOV Qualified Chambers, William S. REP GOV Qualified Newman II, Robert C. REP GOV Qualified Westly, Steve DEM GOV Qualified Angelides, Phil DEM GOV Qualified Brouillette, Joe DEM GOV Qualified Greene, Vibert DEM GOV Qualified Gerst, Jerald Robert DEM GOV Qualified Becnel, Barbara DEM GOV Qualified Strimling, Michael DEM GOV Qualified Macaluso, Jr., Frank A. DEM GOV Qualified Camejo, Peter GRN GOV Qualified Olivier, Art LIB GOV Qualified Jordan, Janice PF GOV Qualified Noonan, Edward C. AI GOV Qualified
Arnoild will likely lose the next election, and conservatives should shake their heads in resignation and move on. Those conservatives interested in long-term change of the political system shouldn't settle for Arnold.
The Terminator, the Carpenter, the Railroad Switchman and the Hog Farmer.
Quite a Republican lineup.
If the base is as stupid as the author makes them to be, they would indeed deserve the Democrats they would elect by not backing AS this election.
Any so-called Republicans left in California were fools to back Arnold to begin with.
Of course, I mentioned this at the time and received, as did others, lengthy diatribes of how stupid we were.
Will you just keep backing him when he endorses Prop. 82? Is there anything too liberal for him to do? So far, in many respects, Arnold is to the left of Gray Davis.
Meet mouse #3
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 was terminated.
Great post. Bruce Biolosky writes very well and makes his points crystal clear. The "Jay-walking" voters of California who judge politicians by their celebrityhood will be the only "base" Arnold has left, and that ain't enough. Even in a place like California.
The socialists/communists have really taken over politics in California. To prove the point, look at this crap among other ridiculous crap that has consumed the state. What in the hell has happened to Ronald Reagan's beloved California? I fear it is too far gone to save...
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