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Should Conservatives Terminate Arnold?
The Cornell Review ^ | 8/18/03 | Joseph J. Sabia

Posted on 08/17/2003 8:54:19 PM PDT by Fred Mertz

Surprise, surprise. California’s GOP leaders are telling conservatives to shut up while the Establishment paves the way for a liberal Republican’s ascension to power. Arnold Schwarzenegger, you see, is running for governor and all “good” Republicans need to get in line behind The Terminator. That way we can win. “Win what?” you ask. Who cares? Those are just details on the road to victory.

At the present time, the Republican vote is split between four candidates—Schwarzenegger, Bill Simon, Tom McClintock, and Peter Ueberroth—causing recent polls to show Schwarzenegger neck-and-neck with Democrat Cruz Bustamante. Hence, there is great pressure for conservatives Simon and McClintock (polling at a combined 16%) to drop out of the race so that Schwarzenegger will have the clear edge.

But should conservatives abandon their principles to elect a governor who may be a Republican in Name Only? On this issue, conservatives are split in surprising ways.

National Review, increasingly a voice of compromise and concession (see their position on gay civil unions), argued that Schwarzenegger “does not merit conservative support” because he is “pro-abortion, pro-gay rights, and pro-gun control.”

Rush Limbaugh was even harsher. While stopping short of refusing to endorse Schwarzenegger, he cautioned his audience:

”All these conservative orgasms over Arnold Schwarzenegger are—like the ‘Gorbasms’ liberals experienced over Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev—fake. I know that (R) next to Schwarzenegger's name excites the White House, but his own words prove he's not a conservative. I call this ‘The Hollywood Syndrome,’ and it happens every time some actor-type says anything even remotely conservative. I'm not trying to cold shower anybody here, but don't look to anyone in Hollywood to validate your political ideas.”

On the other side, conservative pundit and best-selling author Ann Coulter has expressed support for Schwarzenegger, telling CNN’s Larry King:

”We don't know too much about what kind of Republican he is, but I'm impressed enough that he's in Hollywood, he's married to a Kennedy and he still calls him himself a Republican. That's good enough for me…There may be a lot of things I disagree with him about, but who cares? I mean, for example, a moderate Republican means a person is a pro-abortion Republican. So what is the governor of California going to do? They need to get their budget under control. The most a governor can do to support abortion is to put in a kind word for Justice Souter.”

Though Ms. Coulter makes an important point—the California budget is clearly the most important issue of the campaign—a governor can play an important role in crafting state abortion law. California currently has a parental consent law on the books, but it is not enforced due to a California Supreme Court decision that declared that the law in violation of the state constitution. The California governor could sign a constitutional amendment requiring parental consent before an abortion is performed on a minor or enact judicial reform in hopes of overturning the decision. Moreover, California law is quite liberal on Medicaid funding for abortion. The governor could sign legislation that would further restrict such funding.

Still, Coulter’s pragmatic point is valid—California’s next governor will be working on the budget, not social issues. David Horowitz, president of the Center for the Study of Popular Culture, concurs, arguing that Schwarzenegger has the “cool” factor necessary to win:

“Even Ronald Reagan left issues like abortion on the back burner when he led California Republicans to victory. This is a state, it should never be forgotten, that has a million more registered Democrats than it does Republicans.”

Horowitz, however, does not suggest that the right-wing base should be ignored. Rather, he believes that Schwarzenegger can gain conservative support by centering his campaign around the issue of illegal immigration, as Pete Wilson did in 1994. By emphasizing that the Democrats have eviscerated Proposition 187 and have supported giving drivers’ licenses to illegals, Schwarzenegger can persuasively argue that the influx of illegal aliens has (i) increased the terror threat in CA and (ii) strained the state budget due to increased welfare payments.

To this point, little is known about Schwarzenegger’s public policy stances. From his own statements, he is probably a liberal on all the major social issues. He claims to be a fiscal conservative, but little in his past reflects this. In fact, Schwarzenegger's sole foray into the political world prior to his gubernatorial run was his 2002 cheerleading for Proposition 49, which earmarked a half-billion dollars annually for California after-school programs. Moreover, Matt Drudge reported last night that according to Schwarzenegger campaign advisors, the Terminator has not ruled out raising taxes! This is, of course, unacceptable.

If Schwarzenegger wants to win this election, he will have to win over conservatives. Thus, his campaign team needs to meet a “right-wing threshold." Pete Wilson did this in CA with his opposition to illegal immigration and racial quotas; George W. Bush has done this nationally with his support for tax cuts and defense spending. If a candidate meets the threshold, then the base won’t balk too loudly when he sells them out on other, less important issues. Schwarzenegger needs to do three things to gain right-wing support:

(1) Pledge to slash the budget deficit by cutting spending and not raising taxes.

(2) Pledge to enforce immigration laws so as to reduce the risk of terrorism.

(3) Commit to campaign for conservative candidates for the state legislature in the next election cycle so as to rebuild the state party.

Without conservative support, Schwarzenegger will lose the recall campaign. He must co-opt sufficient planks of the Simon-McClintock platform so as to force them out of the race or render their campaigns totally impotent.

At the present time, conservatives are either ambivalent or worried about Schwarzenegger—ambivalent because they don’t believe his fiscal policies will be very different from those of Gray Davis or worried because they fear that a Schwarzenegger victory will give liberal Republicans a seat at the national public policy table. Could a Schwarzenegger win lead to greater acceptance of pro-abortion, pro-gay marriage, pro-gun control national GOP candidates? Conservatives need to be reassured that this will not be the case. Furthermore, they need to be reassured that the California Republican Party will not be cleansed of conservatives and dominated by the Rockefeller-style crowd.

Unless and until Schwarzenegger articulates conservative fiscal policies, right-wingers have an obligation to continue supporting Bill Simon or Tom McClintock. Each of these candidates is committed to lower taxes, fewer government regulations, and greater immigration restrictions. If conservatives are supposed to take a chance on the liberal Schwarzenegger, they need some reason to do so. "Victory" isn’t sufficient.



View more columns by Joseph Sabia.

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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; governorselection; josephsabia; recall; schwarzenegger
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1 posted on 08/17/2003 8:54:20 PM PDT by Fred Mertz
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To: Fred Mertz
Thank you for posting this! I was feeling so alone...
2 posted on 08/17/2003 8:57:49 PM PDT by Cathryn Crawford (Traficant is a real conservative who will stomp out the socialist rats but good!)
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To: Fred Mertz
Arnold will come out of the closet in due course. Meanwhile he is bleeding.
3 posted on 08/17/2003 8:57:50 PM PDT by Torie
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To: Fred Mertz
Man I don't know. I go back on forth on this more than I do the Kobe case. He wouldn't be my first choice if I were in CA and it was the primaries but there is no primary so what are you going to do.
4 posted on 08/17/2003 9:00:55 PM PDT by beaversmom (Celebrating May 5th and all days with an American Flag)
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To: Fred Mertz
But should conservatives abandon their principles to elect a governor who may be a Republican in Name Only?

Why not? Conservatives abandoned their principles for electing George Bush 43!

5 posted on 08/17/2003 9:01:39 PM PDT by xrp
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To: Fred Mertz
Oh, I see. After first refusing to get their dainty little fingernails dirty by endorsing the recall in its early stages, the "national GOP" wants to dictate for whom we should vote.

I know not how my fellow Californians may vote but as for me, eat my shorts Ahnold.

6 posted on 08/17/2003 9:01:56 PM PDT by Texas Eagle
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To: xrp
Conservatives abandoned their principles for electing George Bush 43!

Don't confuse Republicans with Conservatives. There are many of the former, but few of the latter.

7 posted on 08/17/2003 9:05:07 PM PDT by templar
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To: Fred Mertz
Conservatives in California couldn't even terminate Gray Davis in the last election. They won't be able to terminate Bustamante without serious help. They've got no chance of terminating Arnold. They don't even have a candidate in the double digits yet.

Since when did wishful thinking become a serious course of action around here?

8 posted on 08/17/2003 9:06:24 PM PDT by Steel Wolf (Death before electability! Naderites of the Right, unite!)
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To: xrp
Why not? Conservatives abandoned their principles for electing George Bush 43!

True. This is how "slippery slopes" get started. The tricky question is: how do we stop a slippery slope once it gets started? Tack strips?

9 posted on 08/17/2003 9:08:38 PM PDT by Texas Eagle
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To: Steel Wolf
There's another thread active right now with the title, "Chaos and cannibalism under Congo's bloody skies". The same title could be used for this election.
10 posted on 08/17/2003 9:09:32 PM PDT by CWOJackson (There's no harpie like a shrill old harpie)
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To: templar
Trust me, I don't.
11 posted on 08/17/2003 9:09:45 PM PDT by xrp
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To: Cathryn Crawford
You aren't alone at all. Many feel this way.
12 posted on 08/17/2003 9:10:40 PM PDT by ConservativeMan55 (An explosion at the meat packing plant caused quite a meatier shower.)
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To: templar
Indeed! As my tagline has imputed, there is a distinct difference between one and the other.
13 posted on 08/17/2003 9:11:47 PM PDT by thoughtomator (Are we conservatives, or are we Republicans?)
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To: templar
Hubert Humphrey was a Republican by today's standards.
14 posted on 08/17/2003 9:13:47 PM PDT by umgud (gov't has more money than it needs, but never as much as it wants)
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To: Steel Wolf
Since when did wishful thinking become a serious course of action around here?

I'll tell you what wishful thinking is: It's expecting Arnold Schwarzenegger to be anything but what he has always been--a Leftwinger.

It's y'all with stars in your eyes.

15 posted on 08/17/2003 9:13:58 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: Texas Eagle
Bush obviously isn't a perfect conservative. But on many issues he's better than Arnold.

I was afraid this was going to happen if the recall succeeded. It would have been a lot better to let Davis hang himself and then go through a normal election, with a primary, in which the Republican voters could make their choice. Last time they rejected the RINO decisively.
16 posted on 08/17/2003 9:14:20 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Texas Eagle
If Arnold wasn't in the race, you think his share would go to McClintock? PLEASE be realistic. It's Arnold, or Bustamante. There is no in between.
17 posted on 08/17/2003 9:15:39 PM PDT by Hildy
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To: Steel Wolf
Conservatives in California couldn't even terminate Gray Davis in the last election. They won't be able to terminate Bustamante without serious help.

That's where non- Conservative Republicans come in. I mean, after all, they are the ones who are proponents of one compromising one's beliefs for the good of the party.

Maybe they'll put their money where their mouth is (mouths are?) and compromise their non-Conservative beliefs for a change.

18 posted on 08/17/2003 9:15:55 PM PDT by Texas Eagle
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To: thoughtomator
I completely agree. Republican is just a name, while Conservative has an actual list of values underneath it.
19 posted on 08/17/2003 9:16:00 PM PDT by ConservativeMan55 (An explosion at the meat packing plant caused quite a meatier shower.)
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To: DrMartinVonNostrand
Ping

(which means, here is a thread, you may want to read and contribute to)
20 posted on 08/17/2003 9:17:16 PM PDT by FairOpinion
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