Posted on 08/29/2003 6:53:26 AM PDT by Theodore R.
McClintock for governor
Posted: August 29, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
SACRAMENTO, Calif. I rarely endorse politicians for office.
As editor of WorldNetDaily, I have never endorsed a presidential candidate.
I don't routinely get involved in these races mainly because I think they are overrated in terms of actually changing the nation's direction.
But when a choice arises that is so stark in contrast, it's difficult to be silent. In fact, I think it's wrong to be silent.
That is the case with the California recall of Gov. Gray Davis. Surely Davis has to go. Practically everyone agrees with that decision. He has made a bloody mess of what once was a beautiful state in so many ways. I left the state shortly after Davis was elected the first time. I am a California refugee in large part because of Davis. He represents just about everything wrong even evil about modern politics.
But who should replace him?
The favorite right now is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Would he be an improvement over Davis? Almost anyone would be. But Schwarzenegger is not the answer to California's problems. California is on the critical list. California needs intensive care. California is on its cultural and social death bed. It needs the best doctor around to save it.
There is only one man in the recall race who fills the bill. His name is Tom McClintock.
I have known McClintock for more than a decade. He is as honest and committed as any man I have ever known in politics. He cannot be corrupted. He will not compromise with evil. He is a man of real principle.
McClintock is the foremost spokesman in California on free-market fiscal policy and state government waste. Long before anyone else saw the current crisis coming, McClintock was warning about it like the Prophet Jeremiah. No one would listen.
First elected to the California Legislature in 1982 at the age of 26, within two years, he became Assembly Republican whip, a leadership position he held for five years. In 1987 he jointly authored the Mello-Condit-McClintock Tax Rebate Act, which returned $1.1 billion of tax over-collections to the taxpayers of California. In 1992, he also authored California's current death-penalty law.
After leaving the Assembly in 1992, McClintock served as director of the Center for the California Taxpayer, a project of the National Tax Limitation Foundation. He also won the 1992 Republican nomination for California's 24th congressional seat and narrowly lost the general election to Rep. Tony Beilenson.
After another close election in the 1994 controller's race, McClintock was named director of economic and regulatory affairs for the Claremont Institute's Golden State Center for Policy Studies, a position he held until his return to the Assembly in 1996. In that capacity McClintock wrote and lectured extensively on state fiscal policy, privatization, bureaucratic reform and governmental streamlining. His commentaries on California public policy have appeared in every major newspaper in California.
In 1996, McClintock was overwhelmingly returned to the State Assembly from the 38th Assembly District. He served two terms before his election in 2000 to the state Senate. He also was the highest Republican vote-getter statewide in his last bid to become state controller.
The fact that he is a proven vote-getter in the state is key to this endorsement. I would not waste my time writing this column if I didn't think McClintock had a real chance to pull an upset in this race. Now that Bill Simon has withdrawn from the race, McClintock is the only candidate who has a clue about what California needs for the future.
If you live in California and you want to save your state through spending cuts, tax cuts and regulation cuts, vote for Tom McClintock on Oct. 7.
"Vote Arnold! Because California Deserves Ambiguity!"
Y'all just keep coming up with those zingers...
True, but Tom is intent on being the Republican's Nader. Go Arnold Go!
Backwards. Arnie's the one parroting Nader's positions.
Nader never was going to win and didn't. McClintock never was going to win and won't. You can try and spin it every which way but he's a loser. Go Arnold Go!
How did he become a state Senator? And how many elections has Arnie won by parroting Nader?
You don't know that.
However, you and the other Scwarzepubbies are doing everything in your power to strangle the chances of the one decent, capable conservative in this race. You are killing his chances--he isn't.
There isn't a thing you dislike about McClintock's positions on the issues; there is hardly anything you like about Schwarzenegger's. McClintock has extensive experience in the area of taxes and government; Arnold knows only what is spoon fed to him.
Yet you detest McClintock and grovel and crawl on your belly to please Schwarzenegger.
You are utterly beneath contempt.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.