Gov. Schwarzenegger [IBD Editorial Endorsing Arnold]

Investor's Business Daily ^ | September 15, 2003 edition | staff

[snopercod]

p>The Recall: It isn't every day that someone of Arnold Schwarzenegger's caliber gives up a highly successful career to run for public office. Californians should take advantage of the opportunity.

If they don't, we fear the worst. The state is being driven off a cliff by a one-party government led by second-rate hacks. Next month's recall election may be the only chance to turn things around.

No need to go through the problems — the cavernous deficit, the porous border, the business exodus and so on and so forth. But you have to be here (and IBD is headquartered in Los Angeles) to realize how badly the state is governed.

It isn't just that Davis is incompetent — letting spending run amok, choking in the face of an energy crisis, condoning one anti-business, job-killing scheme after another.

What do you expect from someone who's spent his entire adult life in state government — and in mostly second-rung jobs at that?

It's that Davis is also corrupt. He spends much of his time raising money that he uses to smear anyone who's even thinking about opposing him. And he sells favors to the highest special-interest bidders.

It's no coincidence, for example, that prison guards are getting the biggest pay hike in state government after contributing more — $3.4 million — than any other public employee union to Davis' campaigns. Over five years, they're getting a 37% hike — at a time of severe budget crisis.

The lieutenant governor, Cruz Bustamante, may not be as venal. But he's every bit as dull and perhaps even less competent.

He owes much of his political success to an Average Joe image and a certain vagueness about where he really stands. But as the clock ticks down to Oct. 7, and the need to nail down liberal votes gets serious, the veil is lifting.

He is part of an administration that presided over a tripling of car-license fees and workers' comp rates. Now he's pushing socialistic monstrosities like mandatory, employer-provided health insurance, state regulation of the oil industry and ever-higher income taxes on the state's most productive citizens.

That he doesn't seem to realize — or care about — the devastation such measures will bring on jobs and the economy is reason enough to disqualify him.

No sane person facing such a costly raft of tax hikes, mandates and new rules as Bustamante has proposed would choose to expand or build a new business in the Golden State.

California is the world's fifth largest economy, with nearly $1.4 trillion in output. But it won't hold that position for long if its best and brightest keep leaving in droves — as they have in recent years, thanks in large part to Bustamante's and Davis' stunning incompetence.

Needless to say, Bustamante and now Davis are all for the new law that lets illegal aliens get driver's licenses, thereby further opening our borders to terrorists. (Davis at first opposed the idea. In a classic flip-flop, he reversed field after the recall movement gathered steam and it became clear he'd need Latino votes to survive).

Most residents sadly agree that California isn't what it used to be. What we fear is that after five years of Davis and another three of Bustamante, it may no longer be even recognizable.

Maybe that's the idea: Despite many opportunities to do so, Bustamante has refused to denounce the credo of a Chicano organization in which he was once active: "For the Race, everything. For those outside the Race, nothing."

Contrast all this with the engaging, inclusive and well-rounded Schwarzenegger, an immigrant who came to America with nothing and achieved everything he's put his mind to.

He's been a success in several fields, including bodybuilding, business and acting.

No dummy, he put himself through college and has written four books, including a 736-page encyclopedia of bodybuilding.

No dilettante, he has served presidents and sponsored a successful initiative to fund after-school programs for disadvantaged kids.

No shrinking violet, he married into America's royal family and attracts and holds his own with our best and brightest.

No quitter, he'll keep at the problem until it's solved.

How many Americans, let alone politicians, can set a better example for California's large and growing immigrant population?

They say Schwarzenegger has no experience in Sacramento. We say hallelujah. What's needed there now is new, positive thinking based on real-world experience and common sense.

Schwarzenegger has both.

Our admiration for Schwarzenegger is in no way a reflection on the other candidate who'd also get the job done — State Sen. Tom McClintock. We've watched him for years, marveling at his grasp of the issues, impressed by his principled stands and wincing at the narrow defeats he's suffered in other attempts at statewide office.

But the conventional wisdom seems to be that McClintock, a no-nonsense conservative, will not likely be elected governor in a state in which there are a million more Democrats than Republicans.

We expect him to graciously step aside for the front-running Schwarzenegger when the time is right.

As for the more moderate (but still conservative) Schwarzenegger, it's beyond us why someone with so much going for him would want to step into such a mess.

But then, we're not Arnold Schwarzenegger.

And neither, voters surely must know, is Gray Davis or Cruz Bustamante.

[PhiKapMom]

I read that when I got home and decided what little respect I still had for McC has turned into zero respect after that remark! Whiney is right!

I sat here shaking my head that even the day of the Convention, McC is still attacking Arnold while Arnold has nice things to say about him. Total lack of character and class!

[EllaMinnow]

No, I never have.

I've noted before that Schwarzenegger is running against Davis and Bustamante, while McClintock is running against Schwarzenegger.

[CheneyChick]

``I think if Schwarzenegger's campaign spent a fraction of the time studying the issues that they have been trying to muscle me out of the race, they'd be in much better shape today,'' McClintock told reporters after speaking at the rally.

I find the self-flattery humorous.

[EllaMinnow]

I'll see if I can find the link, but I noticed in a recent article that Bustamante and Davis are now specifically saying "Arnold AND Tom" in their campaign appearances.

They know who the enemy is. I can't believe the naivete of those who think that Gray and Cruz won't go after McClintock if he becomes the front-runner.

[PhiKapMom]

You are so right -- Arnold goes after Davis and Bustamante while McC goes after Arnold.

I thought maybe I had missed something on McC taking on Bustamante and Davis instead of Arnold just once. I just finished pouring over AP articles I had saved, and cannot find one where he attacks anyone but Arnold.

That speaks volumes. McC is not a team player by any stretch of the imagination.

[BibChr]

``I think if Schwarzenegger's campaign spent a fraction of the time studying the issues that they have been trying to muscle me out of the race, they'd be in much better shape today,''

Tom McClintock

Stupid way to squander capital. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Dan

[EllaMinnow]

Dan,
I just have to ask.

Do you know of anyone who has switched their vote from Schwarzenegger to McClintock?
Is the strategy of browbeating and shaming used by McClintock's supporters against Schwarzenegger supporters working?

Can you really catch more flies with vinegar?

[PhiKapMom]

That's the perfect pic to go with his statement! Unbelieveable that McC is still trashing Arnold!

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

[PhiKapMom]

I have friends in CA that wouldn't vote for McC for any office now. They are completely turned off with his going after Arnold and not Cruz and Davis. Several of them were on the fence, but McC and his supporters have turned them into Arnold supporters and volunteers.

Have noticed in the last week that more and more Freepers are coming to the Arnold side. A lot of the screen names for McC I don't recognize as posting very often and some I don't recognize at all.

Cannot speak for everyone, but the in your face approach does not work with a lot of people and the fact that McC attacks Arnold instead of the DemocRATs seems to be turning Republicans off as more and more office holders and well known Republicans are going to Arnold and not McC.

[EllaMinnow]

Thanks, HLL. I saw his arrival on FOX, and it was a smash.

[onyx]

Hateful statements by McNader do not attract voters, but he keeps on running against Arnold. Then again, he's never been a consensus builder, which is why he's never won a statewide office.

[LisaAnne]

I changed my vote from Tom to Arnold.
In my opinion Arnold can win this election even if Tom won't step aside. I figure Tom will be down to single digits in the polls by election day.

[onyx]

I think McNader is refusing to drop because he wants to punish the public for rejecting his "purist stands and 20 years of experience" in favor of Arnold who he deems unworthy.

[EllaMinnow]

I think so too.

[PhiKapMom]

I think you are right! Believe that people all across America are getting fed up with career politicians that have never really been in the business world before entering politics. Glad to see so many business people entering Republican political campaigns. Arnold with his positive campaign can also show other Republicans that all of them should be doing the same!

It is time Republican candidates quit going for other Republicans jugular's that helps the democRATs.

[b9]

Thanks for the *ping* Dan...

I saw Arnold briefly on MSNBC and said BAD WORDS when they took him off :o)...cyn's accounting was really accurate...

But I haven't seen a single broadcast of McClintock...
frankly I thought his speech would be covered in full!
Anyone else heard it on TV or radio?
Would you please ping me if a transcript gets posted?

[b9]

Super picture...thanks :o)

[FairOpinion]

Contract the McClintock whines and accusations against Arnold, with Arnold's statesmanship:

"No matter what anyone tries to do and say, I will never say anything negative about Tom McClintock," he (Schwarzenegger) told reporters after a campaign stop in Los Angeles. "I respect him, I think he's a terrific man, and this is a decision that he has to make for himself."

[b9]

>>>this is a decision that he has to make for himself<<<

The chance to be a Hero or a Zero.