Transcript: Arnold Schwarzenegger Town Hall Meeting (on Hannity show) -- 9/25

FoxNews ^ | Sept. 25, 2003 | Hannity & Schwarzenegger

[Kevin Curry]

Principle telling expediency to stand down? That upsets you?

So be it.

[rintense]

I'm just playing what ifs here. Arnie won't drop out. But I don't think McClintock will either. If you put it at a national perspective, if the Republican nomination were between Bush and McCain, and polls showed McCain leading, would you vote for McCain to keep a liberal out of office?

[Sabertooth]

Well, I've been informed my some in the Schwarznegger camp that to even mention the Dem's not so secret dirt-bomb strategy, and the reality the McClintock's presence partially shields Arnold from that, is to do the very work of the Democrats.

Go figure.

[Southack]

Right now you are sweating whether the Republican vote will be split, but on the other side, any potential scandal mongers are going positively ape with nervousness over whether McClintock will exit the race in time for them to scandalize Arnold.

And what's not being talked about is that Camejo did very well in the debate. He's going to pull 6% to 8% of the Dem vote away from Bustamante, and his Green supporters are voting Yes to recall (or will when they get in the booth regardless of their public positions). So the Democratic Party vote is being split just as is the Republican vote.

Further, you've got to think that the internal polls are bad for the Democrats to have tried so hard to stop the whole recall with the courts.

Tom doesn't necessarily even have to get out of the race. All that he has to do is soften his campaigning rhetoric slightly and some percentage of his supporters will migrate over to Arnold on election day...and Arnold doesn't need a very large percentage, if any, of those to beat Bustamante.

[Kevin Curry]

Great question. I sense some squirming.

[CheneyChick]

Not having a Primary is the problem with this election.

[Kevin Curry]

You avoided the question. Why?

[Reagan Man]

>>>The last straw for me was when he said he is the Reagan of this campaign ...

Tom McClintock is the only conservative running in the recall campaign. If you took the time to compare the political record of Ronald Reagan with the politics of McClintock, you'd see that both men are aligned on the vast majority of the isses.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is not a conservative and outside of being an actor, he has very little in common with the politics of Reagan.

Arnold's political positions and his ideas, values and beliefs, are more in tune with those of Bill Clinton then they are with Reagan or McClintock.

If you're a conservative Republican, theres no way you should be voting for a liberal minded candidate like Arnold. And if you really believe in conservatism, you wouldn't be selling out your principles to see a liberal get elected. Check out the GOP platform and you'll see Arnold doesn't support the basic tenets of the Republican Party. Arnold is not a Republican of conviction, but rather a Republican in name only.

[NYC Republican]

Great question. I sense some squirming.

I would respond, but I've precluded myself from Ca recall election threads... It's a self-imposed MUTE button.

[CheneyChick]

No avoidance. It is not a valid question in this circumstance.

[rintense]

I'm not trying to cause fights. But I really want everyone to understand the ramifications of a 'just win' or 'keep a liberal out' position. It does nothing in the long run to help the Republican cause, and will only serve to advance the wrong (national) public perception that Republicans as a whole are like Arnold.

Arnold is more like John McCain. And we all know how McCain is hated within the Republican party as well as here on FR.

[rintense]

Hell, I don't live in Cali either! Of course, the fools here in Michigan elected a Canadian Communist to run the state.

[PhiKapMom]

You are right! I wouldn't hestitate to support McC if Arnold dropped out.

After the debate the other night I was praising McC for not attacking Arnold.

What I heard him say in the Hedgecock interview (you can ask Onyx), turned me against him and what he considers his type of conservatism. It was disgusting to hear him and his my way or no way approach. This is fine in a primary but this is not a primary. The enemy isn't Arnold it is Cruz/Davis! I wish he would have remembered that in the interview.

[Sabertooth]

Not having a Primary is the problem with this election.

Doesn't have to be.

I think the real problem is that too many have assumed that this is just a general election without a primary, rather than a recall and replacement election.

Primaries and state conventions are where coalitions are built.

Lacking those, many have presumed that the party rank and file should blow with the polls, and swallow Scharzenegger's platform whole, gagging or not.

Schwarzenegger and team miscalculated when they avoided the earlier debates, whereby Republicans at large could have engaged each other and coalesced around certain understandings of the issues.

The clock continues to tick, yet I've seen no indication from Team Arnold that they grasp that intra-party resistance to Schwarzenegger results from resistance to his positions on the issues.

[CheneyChick]

I see Tom as the one who is miscalculating... I really do.

[Sabertooth]

I see Tom as the one who is miscalculating... I really do.

Fair enough. The standoff continues, the clock ticks, and Arnold still hasn't dented McClintock's support.

[CheneyChick]

and Arnold still hasn't dented McClintock's support.

Well, that's not entirely true, SaberKitty.... I just looked at the sidebar poll here on FR (a very tough crowd) and see that more have switched their vote to Arnold, than the other way around!

Changed to McClintock - 6%

Changed to Schwarzenegger - 8%

Cheers, CC :)

[Princeliberty]

You simply hate anyone who is loyal first to principle
and second to party.

You want everyone to be a blind follower of the
Republican party like you.

[Reagan Man]

You're making every conservative on FreeRepublic, who backs Tom McClintock, your enemy. This mass hysteria and infatuation to support Arnold is the most irrational effort I've seen in 35 years of political involvment. It makes no sense whatsoever and can't be explained in any coherent and logical fashion.

I would have expected many FReepers to be effected by such a wild circus atmostphere, but I never thought you'd taken in by all this garbage. Too bad. Until further notice, FR remains a conservative website and doesn't support liberals. If the day ever comes that JimRob wants to change that criteria, he'll be the loser.

I've criticized Arnold on the issues and will continue to do so. You've thrown away any rational thought and idea of supporting McClintock, but instead support someone who is a left of center, Hollywood liberal. You're welcome to him.

[b9]

Rush just said something interesting...
the polling results after the Big Debate showed
something like a 59% negative toward Arianna...
Rush said that's the FIRST indication he's had that the voters in California might be competent to make the right decision.

He says Bustamante is a snake, and Californians have to be aware what they're in for, if he gets elected.

Issa just "wholeheartedly" endorsed Arnold.
He said with the current administration of
"Tax, Tax, Tax," our jobs will be "Gone, Gone, Gone."