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Arnold's corruption of Republican Party
World Net Daily ^ | 10/6/2003 | ALAN KEYES

Posted on 10/06/2003 8:23:46 AM PDT by kellynla

I have an urgent message in my heart, and I will speak plainly about it, as I feel I must. It concerns Tuesday's recall election in California. First, two unhappy facts must be faced.

On all the matters that touch upon the critical moral issues, Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the evil side. This is a fact. A mere list of the positions he supports is enough to make this plain: abortion as a "right," cloning of human beings, governmental classification of citizens by race, public benefits for sexual partners outside of marriage, disrespect for property rights against environmental extremism, repudiation of the right to bear arms – no more need be said to show that this candidate is wrong where human decency, human rights and human responsibility bear directly on political issues.

A second fact is this: Unnaturally divorced from these issues, conservatism mutates into mere immoral greed, to match the immoral lust of contemporary liberalism.

Accordingly, there is no choice in the California Recall race for people of good conscience except Sen. Tom McClintock.

But many good people – and especially conservatives in California – are in denial. They do not, or will not, see that they have but one choice.

What makes this so hard for some who profess to be conservatives to understand? Apparently, it is fair-seeming, "pragmatic" arguments that we must grasp a victory for "our party," and that it is shrewd for Californians in the present election to choose the "lesser of two evils." Let us consider the wisdom of these arguments.

First, as to our "victory." Last week, we saw Schwarzenegger does not deny habitual crude offenses against young women. Rather, he theatrically, vaguely and impersonally apologizes for them, before a roaring crowd of adoring fans, admitting neither any connection between action and character, nor any need for genuine penance or reformation. Arnold had, he says, no "intention to offend." And he "apologizes" from the stage while his hired guns blame the whole thing on a vast left-wing conspiracy. Cheers. Adulation. Let's move on.

Does this remind you of anything? The Republicans who vote for Schwarzenegger will owe Bill Clinton an apology for having given the nation the impression that they sincerely believed character to be an issue for those claiming high office.

Our "pragmatic" fellow Republicans, yearning for Arnold to be governor because of what they imagine he will do on this or that particular policy of secondary importance, seem quite willing to forget what Washington, the Father of this Republic, always kept in mind – that the most powerful education our children get is the good or bad example of those in authority.

Such "pragmatism" seeks foolishly to raise to the level of grave responsibility and high leadership in the Republican Party a man whose prominence will establish in the public mind the false notion that Republican attacks on Clinton's lack of character were simply partisan ploys. The problem with "speaking no ill" of fellow Republicans, and expressly shielding such "leaders" as this man, is that we must be ever after silent in the face of the very defects we would loudly and rightly call to account in a Democrat, a Libertarian or anyone else.

Such silence reduces all talk of morality to a cynical, partisan show – which precisely serves the purposes of those who are trying to drive every shred of moral concern from our political discussions. This outcome is an enduring defeat that overshadows any transitory victory of office-holding.

Now, as for the "lesser of two evils." It is true that we must sometimes act so as to accept something bad, intending to avoid something worse. But this truth does not apply to the California Recall for two reasons. There is not merely an acceptable, but an outstanding third option before the state's voters; and a victory for Arnold will be worse than a failure to replace the Democrats, bad as they have been.

"Republicans" like Schwarzenegger enjoying power and prestige are a worse evil than the Democrats. Because they wear the Republican label, they defuse the opposition that would otherwise be roused against the positions they take. They operate in politics as the AIDS virus operates in the body – it fools the cell into thinking it is a defender against infection, all the while silently reprogramming that same cell to work for the death of the man.

A sign of the extent of this infection is the position many who think of themselves as principled conservatives are now taking in California. Not long ago, the question facing conservatives was whether to support candidates whose commitment on the most critical moral issues was in doubt. Now many so-called conservatives are eagerly surrendering to the political triumph of a man who aggressively advertises himself as an enthusiastic liberal on the most important of these issues, the matter of life and death.

Failure to address fundamental moral issues has already brought this republic to the brink of death. The issue of abortion, for instance, does not present us with a challenge of "more or less," in which we can rest content with only marginal progress, much less accept stalemate or conduct a limited retreat. Such a strategy may well be the permanently wisest course in some economic, or diplomatic matters.

But a nation that sanctions abortion as America does now has crossed fundamentally from blessings to curses. If we do not correct our course, we live in the last era of true liberty in America. To be a moral conservative in our time is to understand this fact, and its implications for our politics. This deep truth, not ephemeral poll numbers, is what the truly practical statesman must keep in mind.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is of the party of surrender on the question of life. Indeed, he stands with, and has always stood with, the enemy. He asserts that there is a fundamental "right to choose" death for the innocent unborn. The justification offered by his collaborators for allowing such a surrender by a "leader" of the GOP, our national pro-life party, is that the evils of a Schwarzenegger victory will be less than the evils of a Davis or Bustamante victory. This justification cannot be defended by anyone who truly believes that moral issues are of critical importance.

The essential primacy of the moral issues is precisely what conservatives supporting Schwarzenegger are forgetting, for all their alleged political shrewdness. This forgetfulness suggests a profound lack of wisdom, a loss of vision of the truly big things. In these days of fateful decision for self-government, loss of vision of the end is a worse fault than the lack of shrewdness about the means.

The Schwarzenegger corruption of the Republican Party – and apparently, of a significant portion of the conservative leadership of that party – in the name of victory threatens to undermine the very reason for the party's existence.

The worst enemy Republicans face in the political realm is not the Democrats, but the power of evil that lurks in all hearts. In the context of this true reality, the decision to vote for Schwarzenegger is not a clever tactical calculation. It is a strategic blunder. Troy did not fall until the Trojans brought the horse into their city. The Greeks offered them a false victory, and so destroyed them. The leadership of the California Republican Party does not appear much wiser than the Trojans', nor, I fear, will its fate be any happier.

Why have Arnold's "conservative" supporters been so sure from the beginning that the apparent electoral weakness of McClintock, the choice of merit, was not due to their failure to support him, as they bowed before an idol of false pragmatism?

It seems that many California Republican leaders never even seriously considered the recall as an opportunity to make their real case to the people of California. As I write this, the under-funded and under-reported McClintock defeats Bustamante in head-to-head polls, with Arnold off the ballot. A vast majority in the state understands even now that Tom McClintock is the candidate most able to handle California's fiscal crisis. Californians told pollsters, by a two-to-one margin, that McClintock won the debate, that two-thirds of them also said would be crucial to their choice on Oct. 7.

The recall had providentially presented Californians with the prospect of electing a principled moral conservative statesman to handle a crisis of government fiscal and budget policy that he has spent his entire career preparing to face. McClintock's predictable surge in the polls from an asterisk to nearly 20 percent, as voters began to focus on the question of who would replace Davis, and before his widely watched victory in the debate, positioned him for a final surge to victory.

California Republican leaders could have viewed this moment of opportunity through the lens of the statesman, not of the director of sitcom casting. But instead of uniting behind the obvious man of the hour, they increasingly viewed McClintock's surge as a problem, and have done their best to sabotage it.

All the clever calculations of "conservatives for Arnold" utterly disregard the demoralizing effect of such pragmatism on those who do respect their moral obligations – voters and prospective candidates alike. Such game-playing feeds the cynical reaction that disparages stands of principle as unrealistic and impractical. It tempts those who should rally round the courageous leaders raising the standard of principle to abandon them instead. All the while, our pragmatists mouth hollow words of praise for those, such as McClintock, who have consistently demonstrated their willingness to do what is right.

Tom's supporters are called arrogant for persisting in making moral judgments. Think about that for a moment. Why is it "arrogant" to act on what human beings can know, rather than to act as if we had knowledge that can only belong to God? Is it humble to have more faith in what the pollsters extrapolate in the present, and consultants predict about the future, than in what the Lord and reason have revealed to us all as the unchanging moral truth?

We cannot know the future. We cannot even be sure of how things stand at the moment. But one thing we can know with certainty is that many California Republicans now openly prefer a candidate they acknowledge to represent evil (the "lesser" of evils, as they call it, is evil still) over one who represents what they know to be good. Only God can have full and certain knowledge of the circumstances, of who is winning and a more viable candidate. The future lies in the care of Providence. But decent men can have certain knowledge of the right, of which candidate stands for moral truth and which against it.

Instead, the "pragmatic tough-mindedness" of our strategists of Republican "victory" leaves a good, courageous and decent leader like McClintock to his own devices, and studiously avoids examining the hard consequences of that abandonment. What could still be a moment of principled Republican unity behind a candidate uniquely qualified to address the crisis in California, threatens to become instead a nationally watched step in the moral suicide of a great party.

And here the circle of surrender is completed. Conservative leaders abandoning both principle – and principled men – do so, they say, because a decent political agenda cannot win at the polls. And yet, by this very abandonment, they pursue a persistent and thoughtless course destined to ensure the very scarcity of moral leadership they claim drives them to vote for Arnold. Surely there is no foolishness like the wisdom of the proud.

So much for the strategists, and their specious arguments. Now, one brief word to the citizens.

At the end of the day, it will not be leaders, but citizens, bold to vote their consciences, who will prevail. Or, not daring to do so, who will prove the ultimate cause of defeat and disarray. No religious conservative can deny that it is a serious moral obligation of religious political leaders to stand against abortion. And yet pro-life Christians voting for Arnold would neglect the obvious corollary – that it is the moral obligation of Christian voters to support pro-life leaders, such as Tom McClintock, when they take the right stand, especially against so-called Christian politicians like Schwarzenegger, a professed Roman Catholic, who is violating this obligation of his professed faith.

This nation desperately needs leaders who have the courage and integrity to stand without apology for policies that are morally right. If we have any such leaders left, it is surely thanks to God's grace and providence – and no thanks to the wisdom of self-terminating conservatives.

I pray to God that decent citizens will choose one of the few such men left to us in this hour of judgment for California and America.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: alankeyes; corruption; gop; liberalism; mcclintock; party; republican; schwarzenneger
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To: sinkspur
Primaries are the time for the fight between true believers and others in the party.

Who would you vote for if this were a primary, Arnold or Tom?

321 posted on 10/06/2003 10:23:01 AM PDT by jmc813 (Arnold needs to drop out now for the good of the party.)
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To: EternalVigilance
Yeah, right. You're crying rivers of tears...

No, the tears were probably shed by you and probably quite a few, but.........

I do have some sympathy because the consequences of your situation were not what I enjoy seeing. You can believe that or not; I don't really care.

But it still remains the truth that you went too far and I can see why you cannot turn back now.

322 posted on 10/06/2003 10:23:30 AM PDT by Southflanknorthpawsis
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To: Writesider
I didn't say Keyes was not a good person. I said that he has failed in "electoral politics". He did not draw large numbers in his presidential run.

Ambassador is an Appointed position, not an elected position. When speaking of ignorance, check the mirror.
323 posted on 10/06/2003 10:24:11 AM PDT by sd-joe
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To: Miss Marple
He was still an "ambassador" to the UN. In fact, serving in the Economic and Social Council, where he represented the interests of the United States in the U.N. General Assembly.
324 posted on 10/06/2003 10:25:01 AM PDT by Writesider
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To: finnman69
"And where exactly did Alan Keyes principle get him?" It might get Keyes in Heaven...now tell me what Arnold's lack of principle will get him?
"For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8:36
325 posted on 10/06/2003 10:25:29 AM PDT by kellynla (USMC "C" 1/5 1st Mar Div. Viet Nam '69 & '70 Semper Fi VOTE4MCCLINTOCK http://www.tommcclintock.com)
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To: churchillbuff; doug from upland
Sorry to butt but there is one question that has been bugging me. Arnold made an abortive run for governor during the last election. He dropped out - I believe due to other sexual harassment allegations. Do you have any memory of that? Did he run before, and if so - why did he drop out?
326 posted on 10/06/2003 10:25:47 AM PDT by Rabid Dog
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To: carton253
I think this is a great point. The Republican Party is as much a coaltion of views as the Democrat Party. While not as broad as the democrats, we still have our blue-bloods, moderates and social/religious conservatives. And as much as I respect the social conservative for their principled resolve...and believe in those tennants, there are other fiscal conservatives that are just as scared as these views as they are of the far-left's views. While I like Keyes and others who speak of morality, they can also be very condescending and arrogant. It often sounds as if it is "their way or the highway" and if you don't subscribe to their views, you are not a real Republican.

The Democrats have been successful as a "political" force because when it comes to elections, they put aside their differences and unite for a commom cause. When Republicans do this, they are accused of putting thier principles aside in exchange for power. Unfortunately, this is often the reality of "politics" in our current system. It is also a reality that politics is a compromise of values and ideals to form a middle-ground...we not only have to do it at the national level with the current governing two-party system, we have to do it at the party level. How else can you form a broad enough coalition that is strong enough to compete for governing...especially against another Party that doesn't play be the same rules. I hate to say this, but I would be as leary as living under the ideals of a Keyes' America as I would the other side. Not because Keyes' is an evil man...in fact from from it, but because compromise is something that's missing from the far edges. Ironically, it is these sharp edges that generally keep America relatively centered.

I can guarantee that the far-left could not win on its own merits, just as I do not believe the far-right/Christian Coalition could win on its own. The danger is when one of these groups decides it is their right to insist on which way the party goes. In doing so, the party's broad appeal becomes an exclusive group that alienates others. This is the reality of politics where each special interest group must decide if they want to go it alone (Greens, Libertarian) or compromise, working within the Party, to achieve their ideals. It may not always yield immediate results...but if it doesn't within the Party that most closely shares your views, it most likely will be worse in a country with such divergent views. It's sad, but sometimes compromise is needed to advance your ideals and agenda. And I'm sorry but I don't see any virtue in losing...even if it is only to show people how stupid they may be. The damage will aready have been done.
327 posted on 10/06/2003 10:25:55 AM PDT by cwb
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To: Sir Gawain
Like I said, it was oblique - but I still think it's reasonable to draw that conclusion based on what he did say.

If someone said, "Sir Gawain sat down and tried to figure out how much evil he could get away with," and "The bullet you hear is not the one that kills you," referring to you, would you consider them neutral remarks?
328 posted on 10/06/2003 10:26:28 AM PDT by DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet (I'm not perfect, but parts of me are excellent.)
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To: hocndoc
LOL..
329 posted on 10/06/2003 10:26:52 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: EternalVigilance
I don't know that he has done more than a few people who post here. Obviously as a public person he trumps me, or you, or anyone who isn't in the public eye.

However, to give him equal stature to the Pope in the fight against communism is going over the top, and I am not a Catholic.

330 posted on 10/06/2003 10:27:19 AM PDT by Miss Marple
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To: goodnesswins
So you're ok with molesting - - ie physically groping - - of women? I'd love to hear you tell that to your mother, daughter, sister or wife if it happens to one of them on a bus, in a park or in a crowd. I'd love to hear the reaction when, instead of calling the police, you say, "don't worry dear, it's no big deal because it doesn't involve perjury or rape and the guy wasn't an elected official."


331 posted on 10/06/2003 10:27:38 AM PDT by churchillbuff
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To: Howlin
But he likes President Bush! < /extreme sarcasm >
332 posted on 10/06/2003 10:27:42 AM PDT by DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet (I'm not perfect, but parts of me are excellent.)
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To: sd-joe
You know, I find it interesting that you excoriate McClintock for not being a "team player," but when I suggest Arnold be a "team player" by stepping aside for the more qualified, candidate (who, polls show, is electible), you defend him. I don't hate Arnold. He has every right to pursue his ambition. What I don't like is when a bunch of otherwise good-hearted people are hoodwinked into voting for someone because they are told he represents their only choice. This is, demonstrably, not the case. If everyone who thought McClintock would do the best job as governor voted for him, he would not only win, but win in a landslide. Californians will deserve exactly what they get. Sadly, with Arnold as governor, it will affect everyone else, as well, for his strategy, as he has said it, is to petition the federal government for more money, and to crack down on waste.

What is waste, to Arnold? On that, he is ambiguous, but based on his admitted "socially liberal" philosophy, it is not what you or I might consider "waste."

The Ca Repub party wants to win,

And if they took their heads out of the sand for two seconds, they would see that this "victory" they will likely get will cost them their heart in the long run. "They" (because it is increasingly questionable whether the CARP and McClintock support the same things) could still win, without Arnold, but since they don't believe it, they cannot convince anyone else that they can win.

333 posted on 10/06/2003 10:28:45 AM PDT by outlawcam
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To: Rabid Republican
He has NOT run before.
334 posted on 10/06/2003 10:29:12 AM PDT by sd-joe
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To: sd-joe
He did not draw large numbers in his presidential run.

A million conservative Republicans is not chicken feed. And it would have been much higher than that if not for the McCain threat throughout some critical primaries.

And don't forget that those were the very people who after Philly backed George W. Bush, worked their hearts out in the political trenches, and held the right flank of the Party firm to defeat Al Gore.

335 posted on 10/06/2003 10:30:35 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: Miss Marple
However, to give him equal stature to the Pope in the fight against communism is going over the top, and I am not a Catholic.

Yes, it is.

336 posted on 10/06/2003 10:31:36 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
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To: DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet
Like I said, it was oblique - but I still think it's reasonable to draw that conclusion based on what he did say.

Then the reply should be "I believe Keyes thinks Bush is evil, based on this statement:" instead of "Keyes called Bush evil" (which never happened).

If someone said, "Sir Gawain sat down and tried to figure out how much evil he could get away with," and "The bullet you hear is not the one that kills you," referring to you, would you consider them neutral remarks?

I don't think I would care one way or the other, but I must confess it would be cool having legions of fans willing to fight to the death to defend me on a website.

337 posted on 10/06/2003 10:32:05 AM PDT by Sir Gawain
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To: kellynla
Devastating analysis by Keyes on the intellectual dishonesty and abject hypocrisy of those conservatives "forced" to vote for Arnold.
338 posted on 10/06/2003 10:32:20 AM PDT by F16Fighter
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To: Sir Gawain; Jim Scott
Your request has been granted; From the NFRA speech, 8/25/01.

Dr. Alan Keyes is speaking... ...a person would come to me and say, "Well, you've got to acknowledge that we've got to get rid of Bill Clinton, that's the worse evil possible," and I tried to explain to them, no, the evil that you know, the evil that you recognize, the evil that inspires you to fight against it, that's not the worse evil you can face. The worst evil you can face is the insidious evil that creeps behind your lines, that demoralizes your leadership, that confuses your commitment and your understanding and that, in the end, defeats you, not because your enemy overwhelms you but because in your confusion, your doubt, and your lack of commitment to those things, you overwhelm yourself.

And I'm watching it happen right now. I watched the run-up to the stem cell research decision on the part of President Bush. Now, part of me was impatient with the whole process that we were going through because I watched the media hyping the "judicious" and "agonizing" decision that he was making, and I've got to tell you, there are times when somebody comes to me and says, "Oh, I'm agonizing over this decision," and the very fact that their agonizing tells me they don't understand the decision.

See, my problem is that I sit in front of a decision like that and I say this is a decision where somebody sat down to figure out how much evil they could get away with.

Note that Keyes goes to great lengths to attribute the word evil to George Bush but doesn't have the guts to apply it directly so in a very, very narrow sense, Keyes didn't directly call President Bush 'evil', but his meaning was implicit; George W. Bush is evil..........JIM SCOTT

339 posted on 10/06/2003 10:33:08 AM PDT by Hillary's Lovely Legs (There is no shame in being poor, just dressing poorly)
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To: sd-joe
Well, I'm pretty sure he was seriously considering it - before he got sidelined. I'll try to source it.
340 posted on 10/06/2003 10:34:25 AM PDT by Rabid Dog
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