Posted on 10/08/2003 8:06:50 AM PDT by chance33_98
Schwarzenegger Win Leaves Campus Unsettled
By JANINE PLISKA Contributing Writer Wednesday, October 8, 2003
Disappointment rippled through students and faculty pundits massed at the Institute of Governmental Studies yesterday after results handily gave Arnold Schwarzenegger the governor's seat in California's historic recall election.
About 50 students and faculty members mingled around a single television screen, cycling clips of concession speeches.
Schwarzenegger's overwhelming victory left many viewers without the sparks they had hoped for.
"I don't think it was anger, it was people wanting a show. Davis isn't an exciting person," said Nas Khan, internal vice president for the Cal Berkeley Democrats.
After months of heavy politicking and media coverage, the results drew to a close election circus that Republican UC Berkeley student Antoine Imbert said had stained California's reputation.
"This may not give a good impression of American democracy to the rest of the world," Imbert said.
Most shared a sense of resignation but awaited the final numbers.
Imbert said he was pleased by the shift in leadership, but was reserved about Schwarzenegger's abilities to lead the state.
"I'm glad California will be run by a Republican, but I'm not sure he is the most qualified person. I'm not happy or sad. I'll just wait and see," he said.
Others said they were disgusted by the recall frenzy because it drew entertainers, porn stars and average Californians to put their name on the ballot.
"People are voting for the wrong reason. They came out for no other reason than to vote for Arnold," said William Ma, external affairs president for the Cal Berkeley Democrats. "It was like the American Idol show. Vote for your favorite idol."
Others feared Schwarzenegger's rise to the state's top seat could send a blow to women.
"I think this is the beginning of a downturn for women's issues, gay rights, minority rights and everything I care about," said UC Berkeley student Dorie Perez of the Berkeley NOW Task Force.
But not everyone on campus mourned the results—students danced outside Eshleman Hall after results announced that voters had shot down Proposition 54.
"It's good about 54," Khan said. "At least that's a plus.
What we MUST realize in order to win - Americans are stupid and uninformed
It's back up. A MUST read here
Poor clueless babies...
*Sniff*
*SOB*
*WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Poor Dorie needs something meaningful in her life to care about. If gay rights, women's issues and minority rights are all she cares about, she needs to focus on the "real" world.
He's stating that the democrat party elite has sold out their base in order to attract the moderates. He must have cut and paste the arguments here on FR and just changed what the base is.
Translation: It's someone else's, but certainly not our own, fault that we got creamed.
It's a thing of beauty to see such "new" Democrats ignore their elder statesmen. Lieberman told them what they needed to do, as did Tony Blair, as did Zell Miller, and as has former NYC Mayor Ed Koch. Even former governor Jerry Brown has been ignored by the McAuliffe/Pelosi/Clinton wing of the Democratic Party.
Had the Democrats listened to their above-mentioned elder statesmen, they wouldn't have tried to make every nuance of the Iraq war into a major campaign issue on the national stage, and in California they would have stabbed Gray Davis in the heart with a political stake that would have turned Bustamante into an instant Hispanic hero long before the recall even had enough signatures to qualify.
Thankfully, neo-Marxists such as Scheer at the LA Times, Bing, McCauliffe, and their "new" Democrat camp of amatuers are all insisting that continued mud-slinging combined with Gore, Bill Clinton, and the 9 dwarves in full Davis-campaign mode are enough to somehow win over voters who've been burned...even though no current Democrat in power is harping a single new "big idea" of their own.
So let's encourage them to spend more of their money. Hopefully they'll demand a recount or two in California, attempt to get a recall going against Arnold, attempt to impeach Arnold, and heck, maybe they'll even keep taking out their full page ads against Arnold. Go ahead. Let's watch them spend what little money that they have on a governor's race that they lost long ago rather than save that money to perhaps salvage one or two of their impending Senate losses in 2004.
In the meantime, while they are being bitter and perhaps even resorting to violence of one sort or another, we'll continue to take the high ground, offer more and more successful new ideas and programs and foreign policy actions, and keep our money in reserve for the really important elections next year.
No doubt the "new" Democrats will continue to fight every possible fight rather than to pick and choose their battles strategically. No doubt that they will continue to flail about with amatuers such as Terry M in place as their poster child of bitterness and obstructionism. No doubt they will wail about our Partial Birth Abortion ban in public and in the courts. No doubt they will waste their remaining political capital on our judicial appointments.
And no doubt they will lose again against the SB60 referendum in California as well as in the Senate and for the Presidency in 2004.
The new Democrats have destroyed their Party. We could easily start seeing 5% or even 10% defections from the Democrats to the Green Party. If Nader survives the 2004 primary season, he may actually come in 2nd place in some states ahead of the eventual Democratic Party candidate, should the "new" Democrats continue down their current path (and why wouldn't they, as they don't seem capable of admitting their own mistakes - only of blaming others for their woes).
Wow - Sorry, I mean WOW
That just stuns me. Literally, the only reaction I can give this is to just raise my eyebrows, bow my head in disbelief, and shake my head in utter contempt.
I think my favorite part is this:
"they get their news from the Tonight Show...and Saturday Night Live."
Anybody notice that all those shows have HEAVILY liberal-leaning "jokes?" Quite ironic that they're b*tch*ng and moaning about their most popular PR tools being used for "evil."
For years, I'd maintained that the only reason people were defending Clintoon about his impeachment being "just about sex" was because of SNL sketches.
Just thought I'd point that out...
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