Arnold Schwarzenegger, you ran for Governor as a strong supporter of term limits and an opponent of career politicians who are too often disconnected from their constituents. Time is running out for you to stand by his words of support for term limits and oppose the deceitful scam known as Proposition 93. The closer to election day you come out against 93, the less impactful your opposition will be…
You made a very clear case – that there needed to be a package deal. That you could support term limits reform of some sort, but only if it was tied to the legislature placing a fair redistricting measure on the ballot along with it. Of course, they did no such thing.
I know that you care a lot about what newspaper editorial boards think about major policy matters – so I am sure that you know that 14 newspapers – including the San Jose Mercury News, the Sacramento Bee, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the Fresno Bee, the Riverside Press Enterprise, the Long Beach Press-Telegram, the Modesto Bee, the Bakersfield Californian, the Orange County Register, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, and the San Bernardino County Sun have already come out strongly against Proposition 93.
**There is more – click the link**
January 14th, 2008 at 12:00 am
That was then, this is now. Get a life.
January 14th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Jon
I’ll admit that I’m not a political insider. But I get the impression that Arnold Schwartznegger doesn’t hold himself accountable to the CRP anymore. Rather than spending time making a case about how Arnold has disapointed the party on not fulfilling his promises. Why don’t you humbly ask the Govenator for his support against Prop 93. It’s human nature to be charitable. Give the govenor a chance to be the big man here.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I have a better idea, Chris… let’s start the Recall.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:00 am
The Governor has spoken and he is for Prop 93. And looking at the issue dispassionately, that might not be a bad decision. If term limits are not modified, the Republicans may lose seats and no longer be able to block an override of a veto of big tax increases. Think about it. If the Republicans take Jon’s advise and support only candidates that Jon supports, and term limits modification loses, all of California taxpayers lose too.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Ken
And who will finance this recall? If I’m not mistaken the CRP is in debt. Arnold and the democrats are well financed. This will not be a repeat of 2003.
Who do we have on the bench that can take on the govenor or the democrat challenger, with their high aproval ratings amongst california democrats, independants as well as republicans?
I appreciate the fact that many of us feel betrayed, angry and frustated by the govenors actions. But realistically a recall of Schwartznegger is doomed to failure, a waste of party resources, will have the effect of making the CRP look stupid nationally and become subsequent fodder for Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert at a time when they desperately need material because of the writers strike.
So rant all you want if it makes you fell better. But please just leave it at that.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Well said Chris. We all must keep in mind that the Republicans have only one minority vote in the state Senate that blocks a veto override; in the Assembly, we have 3 Republican seats that were drawn specifically for a Democrat and if we lose those we may lose veto override capability. So, this term limit modification is good for our very thin Republican bench and the ability of Republicans to block massive Democrat spending and taxing.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Bob
My first posting was an attempt at creating reconciliation between the govenor and the CRP.
My second posting had very little to do with Prop 93. I need to make that clear.
I was merely pointing out that a recall of Schwartnegger by republican interests would not be in the national party’s best interests during a presidential election.
The last thing I want to see is our party becoming the laughing stock for the late night talk shows. Clear heads need to prevail here.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:00 am
I agree with you completely Chris. But any attempt by our party to recall the Governor will adversely affect all the down ticket and we could lose the ability to uphold the Governor’s veto of massive spending and tax increases by the Democrats.
January 15th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Chris and Bob, you need to lighten up a little and not take life so seriously. I was merely trying to interject a little levity.
But, on a serious note, I will say I am a little hard pressed to believe we would have done any worse under Gray Davis. Could Gray Davis outspend Arnold? Would Davis travel around the world pushing the global warming hoax and would Davis have pushed for AB 32? Would Davis have pushed for tax hikes for socialized medicine? Would Davis have signed all the homosexual bills? Would Davis have a different Chief of Staff? Who knows the answers to those questions. The only question we can answer a resounding “YES” for is that CRP would have been in better fiscal condition because Davis would not have been able to walk into CRP and spend all their $.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Ken
Thank you for claifying your position. You have made some very valid points,(with the exception of teling me to lightening up. I don’t get that very often.)
Bringing up the flaws of our current head of “state” is something I’d expect to hear from Hillary, or Obama. (not to accuse you of being on of “dem”) This is a tactic that the Dems will employ to mobilize their base.
However attacking our “head of state” when Our republican govenor who enjoys 70% approval rating and movie star appeal from California republicans will likely result in supressing our base at a time when we have some important propositions upcomming.
I share the frustration this party has with our govenor. However the negative campaigning that has happened over the last few cycles have taken its toll on the public to the point where they are weary of politics as usual and seek change from the old guard.
The success of the newcommer Obama, the maverick John McCain, the outsider preacherman Huckabee, and to a lesser extent the revolutionary Ron Paul and the pilot light interest in an independant Bloomburg candidacy illustrate this.
Absent a better idea, and a means to market it. California republican attacks on the govenor will only help him with democrats, independants, disgruntled republicans and people who still think its cool that we have the terminator/Dutch (Predator) as our govenor.
Ask yourself do these groups constitute more Californians angry with the govenor. Let that dictate the potiential success of a recall drive against him.
January 16th, 2008 at 12:00 am
All this criticism and nay-saying of the Governor is not helping. I’d like to read positive assessments; but no, nothing but throwing bricks. Frankly, it turns people off. We are having a hard time recruiting volunteers to register voters, walk precincts and staff phone banks. Could it be that negative comments by people who are our leaders are turning rank and file Republicans off? Think about it. The Governor has an approval rating over 70 percent but the Republican Party is losing registration. Constant negative comments by the publisher of this blog and many of those who post comments to it is hurting our party. The Governor made his assessment of Prop 93 and decided to support it and that’s fine. If you don’t support Prop 93, give us your assessment. But why accuse the Governor of lying? How does that help the Republican Party?