This Conservative Is Voting For Arnold (Hugh Hewitt Alert!)

Worldnetdaily ^ | 8/13/03 | Hugh Hewitt

[Wolfstar]

Touche

[Gophack]

With all due respect to Hugh Hewitt, I will NOT be voting for Arnold.

I haven't decided between McClintock and Simon, but it will definitely be one of them!

[kellynla]

(2) Well if you weren't behind the recall then you are part of the problem. CA cannot afford 3 more years of incompetence, out-of-control spending and liberal progarms.

(3) Free country. The more candidates the merrier. Serious voters will learn the positions of the candidates and let me them make up their own minds. This is not Communist China or Nazi Germany. I couldn not and would not "force" someone from running. This is America not Iraq!

(4) I find it very hard to believe that someone would go to the polls and vote "yes" to recall Davis just to vote for Bustamente who was his lieutenant and accomplice in the whole disaster. Or vote "no" on the recall but then vote for the person who is running against your candidate in your party. I fail to see the logic.

No I will not sacrifice substance for celebrity, thank you.
VOTE 4 MCCLINTOCK or pay the consequences! http://www.tommcclintock.com

[Tom Jefferson]

"The more people learn of what Aunold is and what he is not the more people are going to realize that there is only one candidate who has the intelligence, experience and credibility to turn this state around and that candidate is, TOM MCLINTOCK! http://www.tommcclintock.com"

I agree totally and couldn't have said it better.

[Tom Jefferson]

"I will vote for whoever has the best chance of ensuring that Bustamante's political career ends with this recall."

I agree with you Wolfstar, but that hasn't been determined yet. A lot can happen in the next eight weeks - I haven't given up as far as McClintock is concerned, I still think he has a chance.

[Wolfstar]

No I will not sacrifice substance for celebrity, thank you.

No one is asking you to.

Well if you weren't behind the recall then you are part of the problem.

The main difficulty with dogmatists such as yourself is that everyone is "part of the problem" unless they agree 100% with your point of view.

It's a moot point, now, since the recall is going forward. But there were a number of very valid reasons for not wanting to support it, including the fact that I met Darrell Issa in 1998 when he was running for senate, and I was deeply suspicious of his motives for undertaking this recall effort. As you keep saying, yourself, not everyone is worthy of support just because they have an 'R' after their name.

Another reason is that I was - and remain - deeply concerned that we could wind up jumping from the frying pan into the fire, depending on the outcome of the election.

Yet another is the fact that the recall takes the heat and focus off the state legislature, which is heavily infested with extreme Leftists - Marxists, really.

Yet another is the fact that I cherish this nation's electoral process and see the recall as another in a worrisome trend of assaults against it. Until now, it's been the Dems who've been going outside the normal electoral process to try to achieve their ends in Florida, Missouri, and New Jersey. Now we have Republicans in California starting a recall immediately after last November's election.

Sure, you can argue against each of my points. But as you are to yours, so am I entitled to my point of view. Nor does it make me "part of the problem" any more than your point of view makes you some kind of hero, as you imply. You may not want to sacrific "substance for celebrity," but I do not want to sacrific our nation's electoral process (built over the course of 227 years and at the price of blood, sweat, and tears) to the ambitions of people whose motives I do not trust.

[Wolfstar]

Fair enough, although he would have a better chance if Simon withdrew and threw his support to McClintock. I will not vote for Simon ever again. On the other hand, I am not comfortable with the notion of Warren Buffet advising the Schwarzenegger campaign. Yet again on the other hand, my "line in the sand" is not wanting the outcome of this recall to be a huge boost to the political career of Cruz Bustamante. To me, that would be the worst of all possible outcomes.

[Victoria Delsoul]

This state of collapse in the Golden State's economy burdens the national economy as well, thus harming the president's re-election effort. The state needs real help from a real businessman. Take a look at Schwarzenegger's tax returns. Remember, he started with nothing except some natural talent. Sort of like the state right now. He can get the job done.

Big Bump!

Since Arnold announced he was running, the level of interest in the California election has gone up from 24% last week to 71% this week according to the latest CNN poll.

[Wolfstar]

Victoria, I work for one of the major auto manufacturers, several of whom have their national HQ in the Torrance area. I've been doing a sort of informal survey of what people think of the recall - just asking that and letting them tell me their viewpoints. Politics most definitely is not a common topic of discussion here. Yet the buzz about the recall is everywhere. I am truly amazed at the people who say they are going to vote - most for Arnold. Even most of the registered Dems around here are talking about voting for Arnold.

I was even stunned today when a very Liberal black woman co-worker of mine said she is for the recall. However, she will not vote for Arnold and is having trouble deciding who to vote for. She might wind up voting for the Green candidate, but the point is, she's voting yes on the recall!

To paraphrase the 2000 Clinton slogan: It's the car tax, stupid. That's what really lit a fire under the recall. Then interest zoomed into the stratosphere when Arnold became a candidate. It's more than a bandwagon; it's a tsunami. Will it last? Who knows. But it sure is a political phenomenon right now.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Then interest zoomed into the stratosphere when Arnold became a candidate. It's more than a bandwagon; it's a tsunami. Will it last? Who knows. But it sure is a political phenomenon right now.

I totally agree with you. Arnold brings excitement and hope. And he is going to win, you can bet on it.

[RonDog]

See also, from www.hughhewitt.com:

August 17, 2003

Posted at 12:10 PM, Pacific

The center of California conservatism is Orange County, and the center of Orange County's Republican treasure chest of votes is represented by four men.  The D.C. and Sacramento delegations are made up of Congressmen Chris Cox and Dana Rohrabacher, State Senator Ross Johnson and State Assemblyman John Campbell.  All four have enthusiastically endorsed AS. 

I made this point about an hour ago on the Fox News Channel in a conversation with Tony Snow.  I was on with Bernie Ward, a radio talk show host out of San Francisco, but we followed a segment with California Democratic State Party Chair Art Torres, who spent his time trying to build Tom McClintock into the "real conservative" in the race and promoting the theory that conservatives will not vote for AS.   How inconvenient that these four Orange County legislators have endorsed AS, as I have, the conservative pundit with affiliates and conservative listeners in San Diego, Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Fresno, San Francisco and Sacramento.  This audience, like California Republican legislators, is overwhelmingly pro-AS because the prospect of Cruz --Davis-light or Davis without the talent and charisma-- is simply awful and everyone outside of Tom McC's and Bill Simon's teams  and contributors knows this. 

AS doesn't need any advice, but an early media event with the conservative legislators from Orange County might make it clear to the out-of-towners that the prospect of major conservative defections from AS to Tom McC is an Art Torres' fantasy and not a serious prospect.  Around ten percent is Tom's ceiling, and he's already there.  Nowhere to go but down as the election draws nears and even the activists at the Party's right edge focus on those car tax bills and the prospect of Cruz in charge...

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thanks for the post, Ron.

[B Knotts]

How the heck does Hugh Hewitt know how often he agrees with Schwarzenegger when Schwarzenegger has announced no positions?

I have a lot less respect for this guy now.

[B Knotts]

Ahnold is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a libertarian. At least judging by his comments at the announcement of his candidacy, he's not.

He's just a plain old liberal.

[B Knotts]

One might expect that the members of this forum (even nationwide) are considerably more conservative (and hence considerably MORE LIKELY to vote for McClintock) than the "average voter" in California

Not anymore.

[Wolfstar]

Thanks very much for the info in your Post #91. I will make a point of watching FoxNews tonight. I met Chris Cox at a private reception a few years ago (which Charleton Heston also attended). Mike Antonivich, long-time L.A. County Supervisor, had once personally told me Chris Cox was the guy to back for senate if he chose to run. (Unfortunately, Cox has never taken a serious run at the senate.) In any case, when I met him, I found Cox to be a no-nonsense, somewhat cold, brusk, very serious sort. Not the typical warm, personable, fuzzy political glad-hander.

I never met Drier, Rohrabacker or the others, but respect them.

My guess is the entire California Republican political establishment (what there is of it) will quickly line up for Schwarzenegger, mostly for obvious political reasons. Yet I think that Cox would be the one among them who would not endorse Schwarzenegger strictly for political reasons. (That might also be true of Bill Thomas, by the way.) I think Cox would need to believe a Schwarzenegger win really would be positive for the state. Just passing along my first-hand observations for what they are worth.