I think you said it all when you used this word, "Rhetoric".
Look, Tom has a certain viewpoint, and if nothing changes he'll be right. I just think it's rather revealing that a state Senator in Sacramento would come out with these comments knowing full well Schwarzenegger's committee was about to go public, thereby throwing all his predictions up in the air.
His comments only made sense if it was accepted that nothing was going to change and it should, and it wouldn't change without his statements. The report from the committee makes it abundantly clear that Tom's premise was flawed.
The committee was goint to release it's data without his comments, and those recommendations were going to call for cuts.
Ronald Reagan used to say, "Some people talk of other's weaknesses, but I like to talk about the positive aspects of others." (Paraphrased) I'm pulling for Schwarzenegger. He would not normally be my first choice, but he's the guy in there and I don't want to wait several years for another new start.
If you guys want to pull for his failure, do it without me.
Fact of the matter is that if you look at this budget and the last Gray Davis budget, you will be hard-pressed to find major differences.
No one here wants California to sink any further into this fiscal abyss, but "facts are stubborn things," and these budget numbers do not bode well for our state. Remember, McClintock was not the only one to oppose the budget. A vast majority of the Senate GOP caucus was with Tom on this one.
Isn't that part of the gamesmanship of American politics? Sure it is. Look at John Kerry's speech from the other night. For a liberal, it was great rhetoric. From a conservative perspective, it was short on substance and woefully inadequate.
What Tom McClintock actually offered was an analysis of the current state of affairs of California's fiscal and economic conditions, based on his years of experience in the state government. Give the guy some credit.
>>>If you guys want to pull for his failure, do it without me.
I've never said anything about having a desire to see Arnold fail and you know it. I'm not being inflammatory. In fact, I'm being very nice. So don't look for trouble.
Here's high Reagan rhetoric from a true believer:
" As I have repeatedly warned – YOU CANNOT PAY FOR SOCIALLY LIBERAL PROGRAMS WITH FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE POLICIES. You cannot be both things. IT DOESN’T BALANCE. Fiscal conservatism means not only restraining taxes but restraining spending."