Posted on 09/29/2003 5:15:01 PM PDT by ElephantMan
[Editorial]
Sean, Sean, Sean...
From the very minute that Arnold Schwarzenegger announced his candidacy for Governor of California, Sean Hannity's behavior has been more like a star struck groupie than a professional commentator or political pundit.
Sean has admitted many times, on both his radio and television shows, that his views are much closer to those of State Senator Tom McClintock, the real conservative in the race. Yet, Hannity supports Arnold.
He insists that he "hasn't endorsed anyone," but it's clear who his horse is in this race. Hey, we like Arnold too--and if McClintock wasn't running, we'd support him over Davis or Bustamonte without hesitation.
Sean praises Arnold at every turn. He repeatedly quoted from Arnold's "editorial" in the Wall Street Journal last week, stating his admiration for Arnold's views and citing the article as proof of Arnold's conservative bona fides--even after he was informed that the piece was ghost-written by the Club For Growth's, President, Stephen Moore. (How a seasoned political pro could even give that article a quick skim without questioning it's authorship is beyond us? Does it sound even remotely like any of Arnold's other campaign statements?)
Hannity defends his impartiality by saying that he has given more airtime to McClintock than Arnold. Even if that isn't simply because McClintock has been more available than Arnold, it makes little difference when the bulk of the interview is spent asking the same question a half a dozen different ways. The question, of course, being, "You can't win, why don't you drop out? Why are you going to split the vote? Aren't you going to give the election to Bustamonte?"
Sean maintains that he couldn't talk up McClintock early on because he didn't know enough about him prior to the debates. I maintain that part of his job is to learn more about the key players. It would have minimal effort to call a couple of his colleagues in California, i.e., Melanie Morgan, Roger Hedgecock and Tom Sullivan to find out if any of the other candidates were serious and/or viable. They would have all mentioned McClintock and Sean could have done some additional research--talked to Tom and found out that he was for real.
Sean's unequivocal and blind support from the beginning for Schwarzenegger is baffling. More importantly, his support comes at the expense of intellectual consistency. Consider the following:
Even though he thought Bill Clinton's actions 25-30 years ago were relevant to an election, as do we by the way, Sean repeatedly says that he "doesn't care about Arnold's actions from 20 years ago," and his views as expressed in the interview with a porn magazine in 1973. Sean says, "Hey, I'm not the same person I was 20 years ago." Actually, Sean, you're not the same person you were just a couple of years ago...
Based on his statements over the past several weeks, Sean thinks that we should vote for Arnold because:
1.) Arnold can win.
2.) Tom can't win.
Doesn't this sort of thinking suggest that we should only back "moderate" Republicans in all races? This would especially hold true for Presidential races--which means we should back someone like Olympia Snow or Colin Powell in '04 rather than Bush. After all, Bush is just "too conservative."
Of course, that makes no sense. And neither does Sean's support of Arnold.
And here's another thought for you Sean. What happens if the Gray Davis Dirt Digging and Demonization Machine finds the magic bullet and takes down the Terminator at the 11th hour? It's a very real scenario--and if it does happen won't we all be glad that McClintock remained in the race?
Worse, what happens if Arnold Schwarzenegger, Republican Governor of California were to either not endorse Bush in '04 or even announce his support of a moderate Democrat?
Can you say M-A-J-O-R D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R???
Again, Sean should have done his homework. My guess is, he would have support Tom from the start. And that being the case, perhaps Tom would be 20-25 points in front of Arnold. Who knows, maybe Arnold wouldn't still be in it? Maybe he wouldn't have ever jumped in...
We love ya Sean. We thank God for you and your (usually) firm, brave voice for conservative issues. We put this site on the web over a year and half ago--we've supported you for a long time. But on this one, Sean, we respectfully think you're wrong.
We understand the arguments for supporting the guy who can win, "it's better than Bustamonte." And we agree that Bustamonte would be a true disaster for an already ailing state.
We also understand that most of the social issues where many conservatives agree more with Tom than Arnold, are out of the sphere of influence these men will enjoy in their role as governor.
But besides standing on principle and conviction, the main reason we support Tom is simple. We believe he can do the job. He's spent 25 years working intimately with CA budget issues and can spout off a systematic plan to reversing the state's fortunes on demand. This guy knows what needs to be done. What can be cut. What needs to be left alone.
And this recall election, the dynamics of which are so unique, may provide the best opportunity to project a true conservative into the position of Governor. Squandering that opportunity just to play it safe seems foolhardy to us. If Californians were given the chance to see a conservative in action, solving the state's problems and debunking the doom and gloom scare tactics the Left has used to keep conservatives out of office, i.e., scaring senior citizens that their social security will be cut or taken away, scaring women regarding the "right to choose" and so forth.
Unfortunately, thanks in no small part to your position on this issue, California is likely to lose that once-in-a-generation opportunity. Yes, he will probably not raise taxes. But we will subject California to governance by a total novice--to deal with problems that cause even the most experienced to tremble. Should his inexperience, regardless of who he surrounds himself with (And some of those on his team gave California its largest tax hike in history!), leave the state worse for his being there, Republicans will be blamed.
Will it be cool to have The Terminator as Governor of our State? Of course. But c'mon, we're not all young teenagers. Shouldn't we make our political choices based less on testosterone and adrenaline? And lastly, do we really want a man who calls Sen. Kennedy, "Uncle Teddy" to be carrying our banner? :::Shudder:::
All the best...
Matthew Reid, Founder
www.Hannity2004.com
As I said before, I knew that Hannity was star-struck something awful on the first full day of the Schwarzenegger candidacy. He would say over and over and over that he loved the way Arnold says "Collyforneeyah."
Excuse me.......I was born in California and have lived here all of my life. I and my family DO NOT deserve it and I think that theory has proven itself to be flawed.
If it were true, Clinton would have never been elected to a second term.
Has it ever occurred to any of you purists that the very people you consider your adversaries are rubbing their hands together in glee when you huff and puff with your "vote of conscience"?
I seem to recall that, early on, Sean was actually questioning Arnold's less-than-conservative views. Didn't he and Bill Bennett talk about it one night on H&C?
It was worse listening to Arnold's town hall on the radio last week. I kept hearing Sean giggling and sighing in absolute rapture, under his breath, with Arnold's every word. I almost tossed my cookies.
I actually don't mind Sean vocally supporting Arnold - it is a free country, after all - but his lack of effort in hiding his schoolboy crush on him is childish and unprofessional. He should at least try to maintain a facade of objectivity. After all, isn't that his job?
Nah... Glenn Beck.
Sean actually IS advocating sticking to your principles. Check out my DETAILED comment about the recall at:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/990452/posts?page=546#546
THREE MAIN POINTS of my comment are that by electing Arnold, a fiscal conservative, we have:
(1) A PLACE AT THE TABLE and a VOICE. If we do NOT even have a PLACE AT THE TABLE, we have ZERO VOICE AT ALL!"
(2) Rome was NOT built in a day!!! It took OVER 100 YEARS to have a Republican Governor in Texas. Now, Texas is a REPUBLICAN STATE! EVERY STATEWIDE OFFICE IS REPUBLICAN!!! It did NOT happen in ONE election cycle! And electing the candidate who is MOST CLOSELY ALIGNED with my views instead of one who is the MOST DISTANT from my views is FAR MORE IMPORTANT to adhering to my principles and reaching my goals.
(3) The POINT is that if we are only going to be satisfied if we get EVERYTHING we want, we will have NOTHING! ZERO! ZIPPO! NADA!
Are we no better than animals?
Try going to Hannity.com. You can e-mail him from there.
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