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.
To emtoional blowhards logic doesn't matter. In spite of these misguided fools the rest of us need to persuade those who will listen what is at stake. Schwartzenegger is the better choice in this election.
Exactly, and what you do is to actively campaign for an Angelides victory.
I'm voting for Arnie, knowing he will do better than Philthy.
Why couldn't RINOLD just campaign for the initiatives during the recall election?
I'm going to say the say thing for the rest of my life - always elect the lesser of evils and never help democrats get in power - ever.
Quote me where I specifically advocate voting for Angelides.
All I have ever said is that I won't vote for Arnold because I believe it abets the destruction of the Republican Party's ability to oppose socialist policy. Arnold has, by virtue of his negotiations with Democrat legislators without Republican legislators even present, and by his signature on that Democrat legislation, despite UNANIMOUS Republican legislative opposition, Arnold has completely disempowered the Republican legislative caucus. I will not support him for governor.
You can call "not support" equivalent to supporting his opponent, but that is no more true than (x + 0) = (x - 1).
Why didn't Arnold just wave a magic wand and make California's deficit just disappear?
Is that going to be your next question?
This is just the traditional thing libertarians do around a main election.
Throw your vote away in a protest vote.
Vote in a way that gets Democrats elected and so on.
Had it ever occurred to you that we wouldn't be so "emotional" if RINOLD would have simply acted like a Republican? I mean, really....his recall campaign should have been more focused on fiscal conservatism. Yes, he could have made a few concessions to the Dims such as signing a hate-crimes bill or spending an extra $10 million on AIDS or something, considering it's California. I'm sure that most California conservatives wouldn't be too upset over that, knowing that taxes and regulations would be cut and businesses would remain.
We're not purists at all; however, Republicans simply need to realize that conservatism IS moderate, it is the middle of the road, it is centrist. That's all RINOLD had to do, create a broad, center-right message.
Sorry, I don't vote for liberals, regardless of the party.
Wait a minute...according to you guys Libertarians get .000001% of the popular vote anyway.
So why are you worried if voters vote for them?
Why didn't he use the shotgun from his T2 movie to blow away the deficit?
Seriously, RINOLD threw away a huge opportunity here. Your state is simply screwed.
The post could have reached 4 points if combined with the Limited Choice and Tacit Ballot ploys. but the LC and TB ploys have to be stated, not implied.
Here's a challenge. Can the 68grunt account combine the BM, CCW, LC, Mc ,and S gambits/ploys for a 7 point post?
Well, Karaoke, you continue with the lipsync'ing. Your every post reeks of anti-Arnie, which helps Philthy. Whoever you vote for is your business, but you campaign against Arnie, which is for Philth.
1. The alternative is to have a Republican governor start acting like a Republican.
2. I didn't call anyone an "Arnoldbot" or anything else, and I didn't "piss and moan" and my posts hardly qualify as a "firebreather." I did correct your inaccurate posts and ask you about the lack of use of the Veto power, posts you avoided answering.
3. The Governor's actions are a real time consideration. There are hundreds of bills on Arnold's desk, all of which he has the power to veto. If he wanted Conservatives support, he could try by earning it--and zealously applying the use of the Veto. This is not "repeating admitted failures ad nauseum", it is more of a plea to the GOP and Arnold to acknowledge the GOP platform and start supporting it.
4. As to election day, I don't know what I will do other than strongly support the down-ticket candidates and strongly oppose the tax and bond measures (and support Proposition 90). As to the top of the ticket--I remain undecided as there is no good choice.
5. If you don't care, so be it. I happen to care deeply about this state that has been my family's home for a century.
Not an inappropriate comment for the FreeRepublican Forum but I wonder just why it was published here.
Many forum members don't emphasize party registration, simply governing philosophy. Most conservatives stop listening when partisan loyalty is emphasized and toleration of liberalism is suggested.
That's a bunch of horse feces. I'm a conservative Libertarian but I damn well support the Republicans in my races and have never advocated voting 3rd party unless the Republican is a total liberal. I'm sure that other Libertarians do as well.
No, it doesn't do anything FOR Angelides.
(x + 0) ≠ (x - 1)
More guilt by association tactics.
The poster already told you a million times that he doesn't support Angelides.
I know that list is not all of them, but probably includes the most egregious. I watched some of the Senate floor sessions last week. Sen. Dennis Mountjoy commented that there were over 140 homosexual agenda bills introduced. Their plan is to win through incrementalism--every little step to their objectives is a victory. As they continue to gain, our so-called "pragmatic" Republicans accept these new laws as "mere crumbs" or "not important." Collectively, they mean a lot!
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