Unlikely duo (Bustamante & Mcclintock) tag teams Schwarzenegger as attention turns to court

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Sept. 19, 2003 | JIM WASSERMAN

[FairOpinion]

As they raced toward a finish line that may only be a mirage, an unlikely duo emerged Thursday: Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the only prominent Democrat in the race, and conservative Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock.

The pair tag-teamed Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger and threatened to boycott the one debate the actor plans to attend -- one in which the questions were already made public. The two said they supported sending a letter to the California Broadcasters Association opposing a scripted format.

The unusual alliance by Schwarzenegger's fellow front-runners undercut any sign of GOP unity less than a week after the party's convention and illustrated claims by McClintock -- gaining on the action-hero in the latest polls -- that he's in the race until the finish.

The two-front attack came as Bustamante and McClintock tried to dodge criticism for taking American Indian casino money -- something Schwarzenegger has vowed to reject so he isn't beholden to special interests.

The Morongo Band of Mission Indians was set to begin airing McClintock TV ads Friday. Schwarzenegger complained that the ads would divide Republicans.

"They want to interfere with the process so Bustamante wins," Schwarzenegger said. "So he has to decide which side he's on, Republicans or Bustamante."

McClintock said the actor's statement was ridiculous and that he hadn't been contacted by the tribe and had only heard rumors they planned to spend money on his behalf.

Bustamante has taken money from the Morongos in the past and his campaign was in court Thursday defending millions of dollars pledged from tribes and labor groups that were slipped through a campaign finance loophole.

[FairOpinion]

Note, that instead of McClintock teaming up with fellow Republican, Arnold, he is teaming up with our arch enemy in this election: Bustamante!

See also an earlier article:

Bustamante, McClintock (team up) threaten to quit debate (joint letter demanding rules be changed)

Aides to Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante and Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock said they agreed to send jointly a letter to the California Broadcasters Association asking for the format change.

Aides to Green Party candidate Peter Camejo and independent Arianna Huffington were also on a conference call to discuss the letter. Camejo said later he was undecided, and Huffington's communications director said the campaign was waiting to see the letter before committing.

===

Tom agreed to sign a JOINT letter with Bustamante!!! Note that even Arianna and the Green Party candidate didn't agree to it, wanted to think about it.

And here the "principled conservative" McClintock is tag teaming with Bustamante against his fellow Republican!

[FairOpinion]

McClintock consorting with the enemy against fellow Republican ping

[FairOpinion]

ping

[FairOpinion]

ping

[AmericaUnited]

Tom McClintock, aka the "Smartest Man in Kalifornia", is really just being a useful idiot and played like a cheap fiddle by the Davis/Busty forces.

As every day goes by, he shows what a self-centered (It's All about Tom, I've been nothing but a life-long politician) little man he is.

Good riddance to this "Second-coming of Reagan" fraud!!!

[MeekOneGOP]

California GOP Insiders: McClintock Will Drop Out

A vote for ...

... instead of for ...

Elvis "America"
(Click here or on the pic)

"Hasta La Vista, Baby !!"
(Click here or on the pics !)

Will bring you the NEXT Governor of California !! ...

Cruz 'for me everything, for you, nada da** thing' Bustamante ...

Separated at birth ?? ...

“Bajez?! We don' need no steenkin' bajez!!”

http://mrgrumman.home.comcast.net/Stinkin.wav ...
(May need to click several times to make it work) ...

[MeekOneGOP]

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my General Interest ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[AmericaUnited]

Tom McClintock - Useful Idiot of the Week for Bill, Hillary, and Davis.

"Boy Hill, some Republicans are so stupid you don't even need a FBI file on them to get them to do your bidding."

[Common Tator]

Your candidate needs and must have the support of McClintock's voters. So you go about getting them with an attack on McClintock.

How stupid is that? I can't imagine anything stupider.

It is like walking up to a guy and asking, "Are you still married to that fat ugly b*tch?" It does not work. They guy may have called his wife "a fat ugly b*tch" an hour ago. But the moment you do it, he will defend her with all the power he can muster.

It is the first rule of used car sales. NEVER EVER KNOCK the car the potential customer is driving. You will lose the sale of a new one. He will defend his current car and drive away in it.

It is amazing. You actually think that by attacking McClintock and his tactics, his supporters will be attracted to Arnie.

Idiocy.

Voters in the center vote on likes and feelings. If you want voters on the right, the only appeal that works is ideology. When a candidate wants voters from either the right or left, the only pitch that works is ideology. For those voters ideology trumps winning.

The Arnold Schwarzenegger Campaign... Clueless in California.

[Common Tator]

Tom McClintock - Useful Idiot of the Week for Bill, Hillary, and Davis.

You really know how to insure that no current McClintock voter would ever vote for Arnie.

Attacking McClintock will not get Arnie one McClintock vote. It will insure that if McClintock Drops out of the race, his followers will drop out and not vote at all.

Idiocy.

There is only one reason for your type attack on McClintock. If the Arnie internals are showing him falling like a rock, then the desperation tactics you evidence on FR are justified as a last ditch effort to save a campaign.

You got me thinking Arnie's campaign is either just grossly stupid or in big trouble. Which is it?

[wlansberry]

I for one am very disappointed in Arnold and his avoiding all but one 'scripted' debate. I definitely need to see more substance before I blindly support him because he is a Republican.

[AmericaUnited]

You got me thinking Arnie's campaign is either just grossly stupid or in big trouble. Which is it?

Neither. Your theories/opinions on this race have been all over that map and (to me) nonsense.

If Davis wins he will be the new Super Hero of the Democratic party. He will likely keynote the 2004 Democratic convention. For ever after he will be the DAVIS that slew the Republican Goliath!!

Yup! No, more likely Kalifornia's problems will grow worse and Davis will be a pariah.

The recall was a terrible idea born of ISSA's ambition. It can only help the future of the Democratic party.

How brain damaged do you have to be to think that 17 percent would vote for Arnie if McClintock dropped out? Use your brain.

"The Field Poll found that without McClintock in the race, Schwarzenegger takes a slight lead among replacement candidates, 33 percent support compared to 31 percent for Bustamante."

You missed that one big time too. You're credibilty is sorely lacking regarding this recall.

[isthisnickcool]

You got me thinking Arnie's campaign is either just grossly stupid or in big trouble. Which is it?

It's obvious to anyone watching all this that McClintock has zero chance to win. Voting for him, like those that voted for Perot, get's the Democrat elected. And in this case it's a Democrat that has views and ideas such that he should be running against Vincente Fox. Since he is more of a Mexican than an American.

At least Arnold is connected to the Republican Party.

The idea is to win, isn't it?

[veronica]

McClintock consorting with the enemy against fellow Republican ping.

What an egomaniac. He's no better than Jumpin' Jim Jeffords.

[BibChr]

My first thought is, This should in itself be the death-knell for his campaign for any decent, principled, STILL-THINKING erstwhile supporter of McTickTock's.

My second thought is, It's going to be interesting to see how the scorched-earthers here find ANY way to rationalize this.

Then my third thought is, No, it won't. It's going to be depressing, disheartening, discouraging; more testimony that —

A man convinced against his will
Is of the same opinion still.

As if we needed it. It can no longer be an issue of lack of access to the facts. Something more fundamental is wrong, among our own ranks, that so many are ready to whip and throw out the child who gets a B+ for a non-existent child who theoretically gets straight A's, ready to cut off OTHERS' noses to spite their CONCEPT of what a face SHOULD be, ready to burn down OTHERS' houses because they aren't perfect, ready to shoot their own for aiming for the same goals by a different road.

But by rights, this should end it.

Dan

[DoughtyOne]

Califonia's Recall Election Vote is Underway

For a number of months the citizens of California toiled to obtain enough votes to force a recall election of Governor Gray Davis.  Along the way Daryl Issa jumped in to help, spending several million dollars of his own money to support the effort.  The drive to obtain enough signatures was successful.

The recall was certified, a date set for the election and candidates signed up.  Leading republican candidate Daryl Issa withdrew from the race.  Peter Ueberroth withdrew from the race.  Tom McClintock didn't.  Today we are two and one half weeks away from turning this state over to new leadership, Tom cannot win and now he's seems determined to make sure Schwarzenegger won't either.

This Recall effort was initiated to wrest control of the state away form the democrats.  Today the odds are that Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante will be the next governor of our state.  His leading challenger has been handicapped by the dogged refusal of his only meaningful party oppenent to withdraw from the race.  Yesterday republican Tom McClintock negotiated with democrat Cruz Bustamante to develop a strategy to hinder the chances of the leading republican party candidate from winning the election, by manipulating the process of a debate scheduled for Wednesday 09/24.  This may or may not work as planned.

Clearly, this type of activity could mean that Six months worth of effort would have been expended to do nothing more than turn the reigns of the state over to someone exponentially worse than Governor Gray Davis.

Today Tom Mc(I'm in it for myself) has been drawing votes through absentee ballot for thirteen days.  He has potentially locked up around 5% of the vote so far.  By election day he could have bound up 7 to 12% of the vote before 70% of the state's populace even goes to the polls.

[montag813]

NO ONE SHOULD BE SURPRISED BY THE TREACHERY OF TOM McCLINTOCK. HE IS NOW DETERMINED TO ELECT BUSTAMANTE, AND THUS HURT BUSH'S RE-RELECTION EFFORTS IN 2004. What does Tom get in return? The job of "Director of Gringo Affairs" in the coming Aztlan Regime?

VIVA AZTLAN

VIVA BUSTAMANTE!

VIVA INDIAN MAFIA!

VOTE TOM McCLINTOCK
ON OCT 7TH!!!

[Sabertooth]

From the Fox News version...

Richie Ross, campaign manager for Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante told Fox News that the four candidates for governor drafted the letter to the California Broadcasters Association, the sponsor of the Sept. 24 debate.

Before sending it to the association, the candidates sent it to Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign, seeking its signature. Top aides to state Sen. Tom McClintock told Fox News the letter was designed to increase pressure on Schwarzenegger to agree to more debates.

The candidates seeking a new format are: Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, GOP state Sen. Tom McClintock, Green Party candidate Peter Camejo, and independent candidate Arianna Huffington.

Until now, the broadcasters association format has long been known and produced scant controversy. The association has already released the questions it will pose to the candidates.

Stan Statham, president of the broadcasters association, said he had not received the letter and wonders if it will actually arrive.

"Until I see it in my hands, I won't believe it," Statham told Fox News. "One or more of the candidates or their consultants are playing games."
Fox News - September 19th, 2003

As I told you on another thread, this is electioneering. Leaks and counter-leaks as candidates jockey down the homestretch are to be expected. We'll see how this plays in the next few days, and how much is actually true.

But suddenly there are howls of outrage from those who defended Schwarzenegger's ducking of early debates. "But he's the frontrunner." Fine, but when you play a frontrunner strategy, there are bound to be counter-strategies, and it's not a little amusing to read Arnold's partisans suddenly crying "foul."

Especially when Schwarzenegger has labeled voters he presumably wants as "right-wing crazies."

Meanwhile, also from your article...

The Morongo Band of Mission Indians was set to begin airing McClintock TV ads Friday. Schwarzenegger complained that the ads would divide Republicans.

"They want to interfere with the process so Bustamante wins," Schwarzenegger said. "So he has to decide which side he's on, Republicans or Bustamante."

McClintock said the actor's statement was ridiculous and that he hadn't been contacted by the tribe and had only heard rumors they planned to spend money on his behalf.

< -snip- >

The campaign finance salvos came as Schwarzenegger launched a plan to clean up government, announcing a series of reforms at the California State Railroad Museum because it's a symbol of the 1911 birth of the recall process.

Standing before a 19th century locomotive, he invoked the name of Gov. Hiram Johnson, who is considered the father of the recall reform designed to break the grip railroad barons had on politicians.

"The special interests in those days ran over people," he said. "Hiram Johnson stopped them. That's why I wanted to come here."
San Francisco Chronicle - September 19th, 2003

So McClintock "has to decide which side he's on, Republicans or Bustamante?"

Now, there's a bit of irony.

Like Cruz Bustamante, Arnold Schwarzenegger both opposes Proposition 54, California's proposed Racial Privacy Initiative, and supports legalizing Illegal Aliens.

Race lobbies are special interests.

Illegal Aliens, and their lobbies, are special interests.

Schwarzenegger's shadow cabinet consists of not a few barons who are don't mind at all running over the people's will on Illegal Aliens.

Does anyone really think his Dream Team of advisors has nothing to do with Karl Rove's visit to the Bohemian Grove this summer?

BEHIND THE COUNT: All eyes will be on the California secretary of state's office today for the big recall count -- but the real plays are going well behind the scenes.

The biggest question, of course, is whether Arnold Schwarzenegger -- who just got back from a European promo tour -- will make this the biggest story of the year by jumping into the fray.

And now that the clock is ticking, the time for playing cute is rapidly coming to an end.

"Everything is set up to go if he says 'yes,' but it's do-it-or-get-off-the- pot time," admitted one source close to the Terminator. "My expectation is that he's talking it over with his wife right now."

< -snip- >

From what we've hear, the Republican hierarchy -- especially those close to former Gov. Pete Wilson -- would favor Schwarzenegger. At least that's the word that came out of the Bohemian Grove this past weekend, where a number of state and national GOPers, including presidential adviser Karl Rove, happened to have gathered at a club getaway.
San Francisco Chronicle - July 23rd, 2003

Karl Rove opposed the Gray Davis recall, so didn't he "interfere with the process" when he surreptitiously helped cobbled together the Schwarzenegger candidacy?

Cruz Bustamante and Arnold Schwarzenegger are tag-teaming the traditional Republican grass roots, with nary a peep pf protest from parroters of the "but Arnold can win" mantra.

[Registered]

Ya can't blame Rove for being a brilliant strategeryiast.

[Registered]