Posted on 11/17/2006 10:59:40 AM PST by calcowgirl
No one watched the election returns Nov. 7 with more mixed emotions than Jim Hartman of Berkeley. That's because he was watching the race within the race: the one for control over the future of the Republican Party.
Hartman is the former chairman of the Alameda County Republican Central Committee, as well as former vice chairman of the state party. For the past few years he's been locked in a power struggle with the party's right wing.
It all started in the aftermath of Pat Robertson's unsuccessful run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988. His followers took over the key offices in the California party, and gave Hartman and his friends the heave-ho.
In 2000 Hartman and his fellow moderates took it back. And it's been a seesaw tussle ever since.
Now, "moderate" is a relative term. Hartman is conservative through and through. He thinks of himself as a loyal disciple of Ronald Reagan.
"But that's different from being a reactionary," he said. "Reagan showed it was possible to be a conservative and a realist at the same time.
"Remember, it was he who signed the California Therapeutic Abortion Act in 1967, six years before Roe v. Wade. It was he who defeated the Briggs Initiative, which would have discriminated against homosexual teachers. And it was he who added 145,000 acres of land to the state park system."
Naturally, Hartman was pleased by the re-election of Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom he sees as the logical heir to the Reagan legacy.
But he was almost as pleased by the defeat of Republicans Tom McClintock, who was running for lieutenant governor, and Richard Pombo of Tracy, who was running for re-election to Congress.
"McClintock is an appealing guy, but he's a rigid ideologue who has lost four straight statewide elections," he said. "And Pombo made himself a marked man. We just can't afford to be on the wrong side of the environmental issue."
Hartman has a simple explanation for the defeat of moderate Republican Secretary of State Bruce McPherson by Democrat Debra Bowen.
"I was appalled that our statewide slate of candidates were eight white men. We're actually going backwards. Back in the '80s, we had Carol Hallett as our minority leader in the state Assembly. You can't be a conservative white male party and succeed in California."
But is anyone listening?
"Despite Arnold's example, the party apparatus still remains in the hands of very conservative people," Hartman said. "Given the changing demographics of the state, it's foolhardy in the long run to bash immigrants and gays, no matter what the payoff is in the short term."
But as concerned as he is about the future of his party, he's even more worried about the future of his country.
"Back in the '60s and '70s, the two political parties would nominate their candidates and then there'd be a rush to see who could occupy the center," he said. "People like George Wallace were saying, 'There's not a dime's worth of difference between them.' But now the new paradigm is to motivate your base. You look for wedge issues. It may win elections, but it has a devastating effect after the election is over."
He thinks the polarization extends to the culture at large.
"When we were growing up, everyone watched Walter Cronkite. We had a unifying sense of collective understanding. But now we have Fox News and Rush Limbaugh on one hand, and Keith Olbermann and Air America on the other. People are only listening to programs that agree with them."
Being a lonely voice in the wilderness is nothing new for Hartman.
Republicans are an endangered species in Berkeley, which gave only 6 percent of its votes to George Bush in 2004.
"In Berkeley, people look suspiciously at me because I'm a Republican," he said. "Then I go to state events, and people look suspiciously at me because I'm from Berkeley. I'm used to being in the minority."
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What an idiot. These Arnie Carlson (despicable, piece of trash, former “moderate” gov of MN) types are the lowest of the low. Yea, Walter Cronkite was real strait shooter. Not a leftist bone in his body. If you had to answer the question: who is a bigger loon than Olberman? Cronkite would be a great candidate.
BTTT
Ronald Reagan was a lot of things. A 'moderate' was not one of them.
"Despite Arnold's example, the party apparatus still remains in the hands of very conservative people," Hartman said. "Given the changing demographics of the state, it's foolhardy in the long run to bash immigrants and gays, no matter what the payoff is in the short term."
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He actually worked for Pat Robertson at one time.. wow..
He must have been way over paid.
This party is not controlled by very conservative people, what a reach in today's scheme of things , and a bad joke at best, a vicious lie at worst, imo.
makes ya wonder who he's really working for.
I had a tough time buying the "Hartman is conservative through and through" line, as well.
"I know your works; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." - - Revelations 3:14, The New American Bible, Saint Joseph Edition
Scumbags like this guy Hartman need to stay in San Fransicko, or wherever they come from. Please.
I though Tom did rather well. He certainly received much more name recognition. No doubt it will pay off in the future.
John Garamendi (Dem) 3,741,341 49.2 %
Tom McClintock (Rep) 3,433,661 45.2 %
And there are still hundreds of thousands of votes to be counted, including 120,000 from Riverside County.
Just think what a little $support$ from the Party would have done.
But I'm sure Mr. Hartman preferred the more "moderate" Garamendi.
And the worthless sonofabitch lied through his teeth every single night.
BARF ALERT!!!
A berkley republican is an oxyMORON, in more ways than one!
Moderation is not the same as Compromise.
I am well aware of Reagan's record, and compromising is much different than being a moderate. A moderate is already compromised before the compromising even begins.
In the words of Timon in the Lion King..."Boy have you got your lions crossed."
This fifth-column puke never worked for Robertson. In fact he talks about his disdain for the Robertson movement which gave us a very firm grip on the CRP.
I misread the lines. Thanks!
And brought us Riordan and Schwarzenegger. What a chump! (although EGD's descriptor is better)
oops
_________________
signed,
Speechless in Eureka...
As to the slate of "eight white men," where was Mr. Hartman, or the rest of the state party, when Diane Lenning was running for Superintendent of Public Instruction back in June 2006? I worked on her website, so I did more for her than the CAGOP and Mr. Hartman combined. They certainly could have helped her get more than a paltry 14.2% of the vote.
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