Give it a rest.
McClintock is the conservative in the race. Funny, I thought we were all conservatives as well.
A vote for McClintock is a vote to make sure there won't be a conservative idea implemented into law in Sacramento for the foreseeable future.
We are. But what I've found in these debates is that some conservatives have gotten so used to losing elections, that they get satisfaction simply by voting their convictions, no matter how hopeless the cause is. Then there are conservatives (not "RINOS" -- that's a despicable term used mainly by people who are not even Republican In Name) who are willing to accept less than 100% in order to get someone elected who can at least represent some of their convictions. Therein is the split, and the divergence of opinion among conservatives on FR -- some are ivory tower conservatives who will not vote for someone who deviates more than a few degrees from the pure blue-flame conservative line, and then there are others who see the political battles as trench warfare who realize that winning the war is a long process and all that's before them is to simply take the next trench.
Arnold is half-a-loaf at best, but his commitment to improving California's business climate and his conviction that Californian's are overtaxed are good enough for me.
In the old days Free Republic was a conservative forum. Now it's an institution. It's lost its edge. The site is devolving into a vehicle for establishment Republicans to feed Kool-Aid daily to the mind-numbed masses. We get daily doses of photos of the President's day, for God's sake.
Today's Freepers, who I suspect are largely younger members of the hip-hop generation, are intoxicated with winning. Ideology is seen as something that might get in the way. It's all about segmentation and positioning, getting a workable majority. It's easier to "win" by pandering to a plurality of voter segments as opposed to leading them with the moral superiority of your ideas. Leadership is for us old school types.
Well, maybe the world has passed true conservatives by. Europe is lost to socialism, America is lost to socialism. Now politics is all about who will be better manager of our socialist, therapeutic state. So I say if California is to be socialist, let it be run by a true socialist. Let the big busted one have it, and vote your principles.
If conservatives will not hold the Republican Party accountable, who will? If Free Republic will not be a force for that mission, it is no more than a Republican propoganda machine.
I would back McClintock in a primary, or if he were ahead by the same ratio as Schwarzenegger, but neither of those conditions are met and the election is going to Bustamante (or perhaps Davis).