Schism in the California Republican Party [Will Arnold drop out and unite behind Tom McClintock?]

Sfgate.com ^ | 9-12 | K.B. Forbes

[ambrose]

As the California Republican Party convenes in Los Angeles this weekend, the question no Republican dared imagine five weeks ago now arises: Will Arnold Schwarzenegger drop out of the race and unite behind state Sen. Tom McClintock?

In early August, GOP leaders were drooling over every sweet thought of winning the governorship with the "dream candidate," who was garnering more media attention than President Bush. Conservatives and moderates in the party were excited; independents and disgruntled Democrats even had an open ear. The honeymoon was hotter than a Oui interview.

[South40]

The frontrunner drop out?

You're delusional.

[ambrose]

Like Ronald Reagan, McClintock is the conservative who can be unequivocally trusted and will transform government into a lean and citizen-responsive servant. For the good of the party, Arnold Schwarzenegger should drop out of the race.

[thoughtomator]

It's the only way a Republican will win this race, since conservatives would rather not vote than vote for Arnold.

So why don't you support the team and back Tom so we might win this one?

[LenS]

No wonder you want to free Tommy Chong. Clearly both of you have been smoking too much weed if you think that a front-runner who's gone up in recent polls should drop out in favor of someone who's a distant third.

[Russell Scott]

Common sense beginning to return to the Republican party, as the Arnold politcal fantasy doll explodes from too much hot air.

[CA Conservative]

The frontrunner drop out?

You're delusional.

You're right, Bustamante will never drop out...

[South40]

So why don't you support the team and back Tom so we might win this one?

Who I "back" is irrelevent in the overall scheme of things.

Tom hasn't got a chance. I know it, he knows it, and so do you.

[KantianBurke]

"To add insult to political injury, the Schwarzenegger campaign swung open the door and hired the political goons of former state Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quakenbush, who resigned in disgrace and fled to Hawaii."

Woah, WHAT? When did THAT happen??

[South40]

You're right, Bustamante will never drop out...

You're right, he won't.

Which is why Arnold, the only man with a chance to beat him should stay in.

Tom's a loser.

[Fred Mertz]

The Schwarzenegger campaign's biggest failure has been to clearly and specifically define its ideas and vision for the voters, and to debate in public.

I think he wants to be elected without a platform. I like Arnold the man, I'd just like to know what he'd do as governor. Maybe he could be McClintock's lt. gov. assuring a republican victory.

[thoughtomator]

I've heard that so many times, but there's not a shred of evidence to prove it's true. While it may be the sincere wish of the Arnold camp, fact is that the anti-Democrat/anti-corruption vote isn't going to shrink no matter who the candidates are. McClintock has as good a shot as anyone at winning this thing. He is, after all, the ONLY candidate who has consistently risen in the polls since the start of the race.

[truthkeeper]

What, he hired Quakenbush the crook?

[ambrose]

"Tom hasn't got a chance. I know it, he knows it, and so do you."

[South40]

Maybe he could be McClintock's lt. gov. assuring a republican victory.

The lt. governor in the state of California is an elected position.

[Ingtar]

I shudder at the thought of Governor Arnold and Lt. Gov. Bustamante.

[ambrose]

I think he wants to be elected without a platform. I like Arnold the man, I'd just like to know what he'd do as governor. Maybe he could be McClintock's lt. gov. assuring a republican victory.

If Arnold wants to win this, he needs to fire his entire team of handlers and get Jesse Ventura as an advisor. Ventura knew how to run an insurgent campaign. But he won't.

[South40]

Keep dreaming. It's as close as you and Tom are going to get to a win.

[ambrose]

Woah, WHAT? When did THAT happen??

This was reported early on in the race. In truth, these "goons" were just paid advisors for Chuckie. As far as I know, Quackenbush has nothing to do with the Arnold campaign.

[Weimdog]

First the LA Times (The Tammany Times) and now Chronically Wrong.

Davis is calling in his favors fast and furious.

The Tammany Times
The Los Angeles Times takes on Cruz Bustamante's donation scandal. Could they come out against the Democrat? Yeah, right.
by Hugh Hewitt
09/11/2003 12:00:00 AM

Hugh Hewitt, contributing writer

TAMMANY HALL had its house organ, the Leader. Gray Davis and Cruz Bustamante have an even better tool for communicating: the Los Angeles Times. To wit:

In November of 2000, California voters approved Proposition 34--a campaign finance reform initiative. They were urged not to do so by the Los Angeles Times, which found the measure to be insufficiently restrictive on the evil of large contributions. But voters disagreed and enacted the campaign contribution limits.

Less than three years later, Cruz Bustamante has shredded at least the spirit of Prop. 34. The law limits donations from individuals and entities to campaigns for governor to $21,200. The proposition kept restrictions off of statewide races in the 2002 election as one last hurrah under the old regime of unlimited donations--a gift that allowed Gray Davis to raise and spend about $70 million last year. At the conclusion of the race, the new rules snapped into place.

Bustamante ran for reelection as lieutenant governor in the 2002 cycle and was also allowed unlimited donations, which he received (though not at Davis's prolific pace). Bustamante kept that 2002 campaign fund open, and has now accepted into it huge, Prop. 34-busting donations, which are being recycled into the recall race. One casino-operating Indian tribe sent a check for $1.5 million. Another $500,000 was received from a state employees' union.

Initially, Bustamante defended the legality of these donations, but under enormous pressure, he has now declared that the funds will be transferred to the effort to defeat Proposition 54, Ward Connerly's Racial Privacy Initiative. Of course this is a minor concession, since the dough was still raised in violation of the Prop. 34 limits and will still benefit Bustamante indirectly by mobilizing the group that will be his core supporters.


THE BRAZEN NATURE of Bustamante's tactics does not surprise. What is wildly surprising, however, is the Tammany Times's treatment of the proceedings.

The Times attempted an epic effort of contortion in its September 7 editorial, "First, They Grab the Green." The paper knew it could not ignore Bustamante's smash and grab job. But editorializing about it might have been, well, disloyal. So the Times used an old dodge and tossed the lieutenant governor's misdeed in with a list of other offenses, which they pinned on Gray Davis, Tom McClintock, and, of course, Arnold.

You'll have to read the entire editorial [link requires registration] to fully appreciate the paper's Cirque du Soleil routine. They manage to equate Bustamante's recycling with McClintock's position on tribal gaming and Arnold's acceptance of campaign contributions within Prop. 34 limits. They interpret Arnold's disdain of special interest money to mean that he should not accept legal contributions from business interests like land developers. They arrive at a familiar refrain:

"Bustamante's excuses, Schwarzenegger's about-face, Davis' pandering and McClintock's disingenuousness are all part of the same old political game that energized the recall. But the recall itself will do nothing to change it."

The closing paragraph is just icing:

"The hypocrisy that infects the campaigns is a good reason to reject the recall. California should put its money (the recall will cost the state and counties an estimated $66 million) and energy into developing real reform of state government--including campaign fund-raising limits that work."

Get it? Nothing to see here; everyone does it; Vote Davis!

This is real art, in a George Washington Plunkitt sort of way. By dropping a cherished Democratic talking point about the cost of the recall into the editorial's peroration, the editors are signaling to Sacramento that they're sorry they were obliged to scold the party. By invoking hypocrisy Bustamante's wrongs are blended with critiques of the others, and he is excused from any serious rebuke for law-evading. And by sounding again the cry for "fund-raising limits that work," a marker of lefty purity is erected over the grave of the Times's integrity. The paper no doubt regrets the sacrifice of the latter in the service of the former, but these are difficult times. The country's most reliably and insistently liberal government--drivers licenses for illegal aliens, employment rights for the transgendered, medical insurance mandates and tripled car taxes for all--is in trouble and the Los Angeles Times is rushing reinforcements to the front.


Hugh Hewitt is the host of The Hugh Hewitt Show, a nationally syndicated radio talkshow, and a contributing writer to The Daily Standard. His new book, In, But Not Of, has just been published by Thomas Nelson.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/110bdfxy.asp