Posted on 09/04/2006 10:19:40 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
I don't recall even being in a situation where the closer Election Day gets, the less likely I am to vote for the GOP nominee.
Yet, that is where I find myself vis-a-vis Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I'm one of many conservatives who voted for Arnold in the recall, despite my preference for Tom McClintock. I found the prospect of Cruz Bustamante in the governor's office horrifying and wasn't convinced McClintock could win. The stakes so too high I though it prudent to back the Republican with the best chance of winning, and so I cast my vote for Arnold. Like other conservatives, I comforted myself with the rumor we'd heard for years that Arnold was really a libertarian. So, although he was squishy on the social issues, at least he'd be hard core on taxes, spending and freedom issues. After all, he was a Milton Friedman fan!
But ever since the Governor's nauseating policy of apologizing for the special election of 2005, it's been steadily more difficult to assembly a conservative Republican rationale for supporting his re-election.
He's signed a non-aggression pact with the government employee unions, promising he will never, ever again try to rein in their power. He talks a big game about building infrastructure, but is unable to just come out and support an infrastructure plan -- the 241 toll road completion in Orange County -- that has been EIRed and is ready to go.
This alleged acolyte of Milton Friedman signs an "anti-greenhouse gases" bill that will have no impact on the climate but will have negative impacts on California's economic competitiveness. And this is the same guy who tells every Republican crowd the same story about how he left Austria to escape its stultifying socialism -- even as he signs neo-Euro socialist bills like the emissions cap. I thought we elected a Republican as Governor during the rcall - not Al Gore.
Since being beaten by the government employee unions and adopting the Stoclkholm Syndrone as his political survival strategy, the Governor easgerly signs any minimum wage bill the Democrats send his way -- even though he knows they are job destroyers. He knows this, and yet signs them with a smile, anyway.
Old arguments employed to keep conservatives in line like "he's good on judges" hold no water when it comes to the Schwarzenegger Administration. Yes, he's appointed more Republicans than Gray Davis, but Republicans expect something more than appointing more Republican judges than your Democratci predecessor did. For example, how about no appointing public defedners who are proud of their qualifications to defend Serbian war crimninals at The Hague?
The Governor signed the latest in Sheila Kuehl's endless succession of "gay rights" bills -- SB 1441. Did the Governor actually read this bill?:
The bill would also expand the definition of discrimination under these provisions to include a perception that a person has any of these enumerated characteristics or that the person is associated with a person who has, or is perceived to have, any of these characteristics.
I would really love to hear the Governor affirm that he actually read that dangerous claptrap -- nothing is objectively real because reality is nothing more than perception -- and thought it was legislation that must be signed.
Everyday, I get e-mails from the Governor's re-election campaign. And I am trying to think of a single one that has, for even a moment, made me feeel proud Arnold Schwarzenegger is my party's nominee for Governor. And I can't think of a one. What I do remember are press releases bragging how Gov. Schwarzenegger is spending more money on education than anybody ever has in state history. Yessir -- that's why I became a Republican! To throw record sums of taxpayer dollars on failed government programs.
Perhaps the reader can detect the depth of my ever-deepening disenchantment with the Schwarzenegger Administration. Not that it really matters, because the Governor will be re-elected. He's blessed with a Democratic opponent who is a living caricature of the liberal excesses of his party and who gifted the Schwarzenegger campaign with his calls for billions in new taxes.
The Governor triangulates, buys off key Democratic special interests, adopts Democratic policies, and keeps enough conservatives in line by stoking their Fear of an Angelides Planet. He will win, and the Republican Party will find itself victorious in gubernatorial race but lacking a soul.
I think it was George Washington who said that a political party without principles is nothing more than a conspiracy to hold power. I'm afraid that is what is happening to the California Republican Party under the administration of Arnold Schwarzenegger, and that is why I have gone from being a unapologetic supporter of his election in the recall to being undecided about whether I'll vote to re-elect him.
Try this one.
Given that all of the polls show Arnold winning in a landslide, I'd like to see the CA GOP concentrate their energies in this direction, as well.
I'll be voting and working to urge others to vote as well. There are important downticket races and the Bonds are going to push the state into massive debt with little return in so-called "infrastructure." There is a lot to be motivated about in this election, notwithstanding the top of the ticket.
Conservatives were told Arnold would cut spending. He accelerated the growth in spending faster than did Davis.
Conservatives were told Arnold would cut regulations. They're worse than ever.
Conservatives were told Arnold would "cut up the credit cards." Arnold continues to borrow ever larger sums to pay for Democrat pork with ever thinner justification.
Conservatives were told Arnold would not raise taxes. So he raised fines and fees while pushing tax increases on local government.
Conservatives were told Arnold was against driver licenses for illegals. He continues to negotiate that with Cedillo and has promised a to sign a bill with sufficient security provisions.
Conservatives were told Arnold would take on the leftist unions. He caved to them instead.
Shall I go on?
That is, after all, your goal. Defeat, humiliation and loss of power. To prove you're incapable of compromise? Karaoke is your song though. a false song for defeat. The ilk herd will glory in the humiliation of Arnie's defeat.
Me quedo tranquilo.
¿Cómo se dice "bad hair day" en español?
Schwartnegger is a better candidate than a McGovern liberal like Angelides.
Of course he is. He's taller, stronger, has more friends, lives in the best room in Sacramento, drives motorcycles, is politically connected by marriage, makes more money and is obviously lacks the facial features of a weasel.
In fact, he'd be everybody's hero, everybody's first choice were it not for two, small, but devastating flaws. Schwarzenegger is a liberal, registered in the Republican Party. The esssence of a Greek tragedy (excuse the pun)
"And what if the "moderate" Republican Governor gives us the liberal wish list?"
I'm going to vote for him over the horrible choice of a socialist Democrat, rather than risk allowing somebody to be elected who would have signed the same sex marriage bill and who would never even attempt to reign in the unions' power, etc., etc. Then I'm going to work to elect a representative from my district who will work with a Republican governor. And yes, Arnold is more acceptable than Phil. When you find the perfect candidate, you be sure and let me know.
The time for whining over the selection of candidates is over. Its a two man race now. Better a RINO than a McGovern democrat.
No, my goal is to stop Arnold from crushing the very existence of an opposition party. By cavorting with Democrats, he has rendered the Republican opposition in the legislature totally ineffective, of which you quite apparently approve.
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
Elections are about comparative choices not absolutes. Schhwartzenegger is less liberal than Angelides and therefore IMO a better candidate of the two.
He is not Calcowgirl! He is Roscoe and posts exactly as Roscoe did. Its best to ignore him.
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
See!
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
I have these two words in response, "Recall Davis." If Angelides behaves as predicted, my bet is that it will take less than a year with referenda to kill the bulk of what he does.
BTW, I'm not voting for Angelides.
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
Dia tras dia, la malas noticas recorrido en el viento.
And they just keep coming, like a customized, Republican nightmare.
(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )
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