Hugh Hewitt: California recall: One issue, and one issue only

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Wednesday, September 24, 2003 | Hugh Hewitt

[JohnHuang2]

The big debate gets underway at 6:00 p.m. tonight, PST, and the media is working itself into a frenzy. My take is that unless Arnold comes up with the California equivalent of President Ford's declaration of a free Poland in 1976, the debate will be a non-factor in the race.

Oh, it could seal the end of Tom McClintock's career if he tries to land cheap shots on Arnold, and it might scare another few points away from Cruz when he announces his latest lame-brained idea ("We should socialize surfing – all boards the same length, all waves the same height and rides divided up equally, with extra attention paid to people who cannot surf!"). Arianna's desperation is growing more and more repellant, so expect some shrieking from her end of the stage, but generally, a non-event.

But no matter how odd the behavior of the second-tier candidates, or how boring the questions, it just won't matter. There is only one issue that matters to most voters. It absorbs all other issues in this race: The corruption in Sacramento.

The workers' comp mess? It is about the corrupt influence of the trial lawyers. The huge giveaways to prison guards and other public-employee unions? The corrupt influence of big labor. The massive expansion of tribal casinos and the obscene amount of money pouring from the slots into the voting process? The corrupt influence of California's Indian tribes.

Most of this corruption is legal. Most corruption is. But the stench of the decay in Sacramento doesn't diminish because Gray Davis has invented transparency in payoffs. The tribes brazenly gave millions to Cruz who transferred it to an anti-initiative campaign that features, surprise, Cruz. The money-laundering is out in the open, on the front lawn of the State House – but it is no less corrupt.

The tribes pumped huge sums into a pro-McClintock fund. This is legal, but it stinks. It is a manipulation of the electorate – a cynical assist to Cruz via the draining of votes from Arnold. Corrupt? Of course it is. Tom McClintock cannot raise enough money on his own under the $21,200 limit of the law, so he's welcoming the tribes' largesse via an independent expenditure.

Every single interest group lined up to get something from Gray as Gov. Clouseau's career dwindled into its final month. All the hands were stuck out, and Gray walked the line distributing bennies all along the way. Hiram Johnson never imagined corruption on this scale. The Los Angeles Times tut-tuts that the recall is bad for the state. How can anything that smashes the machine up north be bad for the state?

The scale of the collapse of public ethics is so huge that most pundits have given up commenting on it. Tammany is reincarnate. The Davis administration is epic in its fundraising and epic in its deal-making. It is the only thing that will be memorable about Davis – the size of his appetite for cash and the sleaze that was required to feed that appetite.

On Thursday, observers will be dissecting what Arnold said about paid leave or what Cruz said about the car tax. How boring and how beside the point.

This election is about the numbers of people that have a share in Davis, Inc. vs. the rest of us.

I think there are more of us than there are of them and that as a result Arnold wins hands down. Only McClintock can save Cruz at this point. The only interesting question is will he?

[Roscoe]

I posted it a few weeks ago and people seemed enlightened.

I missed it the first time around. Do you know if Hewitt has disclosed his political debts?

[Roscoe]

So?

So none of their threats, blatant or coy, have availed them anything so far.

[calcowgirl]

Thanks for the info.

I didn't see those commercials...
and yeah, Gray will get mileage out of it.

I wrote Issa a letter today... not that it will help,
but silence won't do anything for sure.

[calcowgirl]

Maybe it's time to audit Arnold.

That would be interesting.
I'd like to see his Hummer deals with Ira Rennert.
He's a subject all in himself.

[Roscoe]

Grayout was beaming today, and heaped praise on Issa, per press reports.

Issa couldn't see that coming?

[calcowgirl]

Do you know if Hewitt has disclosed his political debts?

I honestly can't stand listening to the guy. Only when he started writing all the BS did I search the newspaper archive. You find out interesting things.

I checked Michael Medved too. He invested in slumlord apartments that actually listed a labrador (yes, a dog) named Grover Black as the President. I think somebody got jail time in that one.

Needless to say, these people carry very little credibilty with me.

[AmericaUnited]

According to news reports, this week Tom McClintock told Rep. Dan Burton (R-In.) that he is willing to see Cruz Bustamante win this year’s election, as it would boost his own chances for 2006.

The smoking gun of what I have been saying all along: Tom is in it for Tom, damn everyone else. A self-centered little man. Like Reagan my ass!

[lainde]

Bump!

[lainde]

I'm praying...It's gonna take that and sanity in casting our votes!

[JohnHuang2]

G'morning, my friend.

[Roscoe]

Burton's story keeps mutating:

Burton told the paper that in trying to persuade California state Sen. Tom McClintock to get out of the race, he told McClintock he would hate to see Democrats win the race and "(Lt. Gov. Cruz) Bustamante may want to give California back to Mexico."

Burton told the paper his Mexico comment was "tongue in cheek."

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Hi JohnHuang2!

[AmericaUnited]

My only question is what is your story going to be your little man gets soundly trounced?

For the record, Davis will be recalled, Arnold will win and by a bigger margin than what is showing in the polls. Your boy screwed the pooch big time and is is essentially done in Kalifornia politics.

Mark this post. Unlike you, I'm consistant and usually right on the money.

[JohnHuang2]

*Smiles*

[Roscoe]

Burton "said McClintock had seemed to suggest that it would be acceptable for a Democrat to hold the governor's office, because he might create a clamor for a Republican in 2006."

Looks like your smoking gun turned out to be a wet fart.

[ambrose]

For the record, Davis will be recalled, Arnold will win and by a bigger margin than what is showing in the polls. Your boy screwed the pooch big time and is is essentially done in Kalifornia politics.

Then quit the belly aching about Tom not dropping out of the race.

Here's my prediction: Arnold will propose massive tax increases based on the results of his "audit".. Count on it.

[Roscoe]

If Arnold's gonna win, why are they so hysterically demanding that the only conservative in the race drop out?

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The Arnold they remember back home *** In nearby Graz, however, where he continued his bodybuilding career until moving to the United States in his early 20s, Schwarzenegger is a hero. He is known as the man who bench- pressed his way from humble beginnings in an 18th-century country house to a spot on the roster of the world's wealthiest entertainers. His photos adorn restaurants and cafes, particularly ones the actor frequents on his visits here. And Austrians are following their native son's political aspirations in California.

Graz's popular soccer franchise competes in the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium, a modern facility seating more than 15,000 near the cobblestone streets of the centuries-old city center. Toward the back of the stadium, body builders train at the Fitness Paradise gym, which houses a small Arnold Schwarzenegger museum. The latter is adorned with vintage photographs of the young bodybuilding champion and features weightlifting gear he used in the 1950s, including a set of 15-kilogram barbells he made himself at a local metalworking shop.

"Since he decided to run for governor, we've had visitors from all over the world coming to see these things," says gym manager Hans Neumayer. "People here in Graz are very proud of him."***

California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger gestures during a town-hall style meeting in Sacramento September 23, 2003, one day before he appears for a debate with other candidates. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

[ambrose]

If Arnold's gonna win, why are they so hysterically demanding that the only conservative in the race drop out?

That's the great mystery. He's supposed to be the next Ronald Reagan, able to attract massive numbers of crossover votes from Dems and Indepedents. Yet they remain obsessed with Tom.

But you heard Issa. The fix is in. The RINOs are either going to get their boy or are going to pull the plug on the recall and vote 'no'.

Fifth Columnist scum. All of them.

[tkathy]

Hugh Hewitt has a terrific, intellectual, good humored show. To me he makes perfect sense.