The GOP in California is a minority party, and based on today’s news in the L.A. Times, they are bound and determined to stay that way.
Republican activists disenchanted with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday that they will try to strip the governor of the party’s endorsement unless he fires his new chief of staff, Democrat Susan P. Kennedy.
Restive Republicans said they would rally conservatives behind a resolution, to be offered at the state GOP convention in San Jose next month, that may give Schwarzenegger an ultimatum: Dump Kennedy by March 15 or the party will withdraw its backing of his reelection bid.
Cobb asks why I don’t become a Republican; it’s simple. They act like morons.
Here’s the deal, Republicans. You’ve managed, in a historic accident, to elect a moderate to the governorship of California, a state where the money and concentration of votes are still in the deep blue Bay Area and core of Los Angeles. The likely candidates that will replace him are both liberals.
Either you share the Kossak’s delusional belief that everyone secretly agrees with you, and that the masses, once led by your revolutionary ardor, will rise up!…or you just like getting your asses kicked.
In the same sense that I want the national Democratic Party to be an effective one because I think we need a real two-party system, I’d like it a lot if we had a California Republican Party that could do more than buy canapes for it’s leadership at beachside soirees and funnel money upward to the national party.
So go ahead an excommunicate Arnold. I’ll probably go on supporting him (depends on who runs against him), and you’ll become increasingly irrelevant.
Enjoy the rumaki.
I think it is a plot to get Arnie re-elected.
Not that they did it on purpose. They just blundered into it.
Slightly OT,
Varifrank fisks Osama and the DNC. It is especially cruel about the Democrat’s war policies.
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“Republican” is not a very popular word in California.
Arnie may attract more votes than he loses by this move.
Any party that loses even to a corrupt clown like Grey Davis is already irrelevant. Cluelessness has long been a plank in the party platform and is one of the major reasons I’m no longer a Republican. They cling tightly to an ethic of ‘death before electibility’ and seem to be incapable of realizing that Arnold is as much of a conservative as they’re ever going to get.
Remember this is the same group that thought putting up a major league Red-State Pro-Lifer like Dan Lundgren followed by a political neophyte Big Business hack like Bill Simon in two consecutive state Governors runs was the smart thing to do.
The CA GOP seems to think and run its campaigns as if they are operating in Texas, yet fail to accept that they are really in big blue California and that the kind of religous right paleocon conservatism they have pushed is just out of the states makeup.
I love Tom McClintock, he has his pulse on all the states problems, and hes well spoken and generally a likable poll, but I don’t know if he can win statewide when it comes time for him to make a bid for the big job. I’m afraid that the CA GOP will have destroyed whatever goodwill it may have had with the state by the time he finally decides to make a run.
Gabriel,
I’m afraid McClintock’s television style shows all the charm of a tight-assed, pencil-necked accountant. I hate it. He’s wonderful in person but his television persona makes Richard Nixon seem warm and cuddly.
McClintock is as right as Cassandra and every bit as popular.
This strikes me as a small story.
These Republicans are acting like morons: Restive Republicans said they would rally conservatives behind a resolution, to be offered at the state GOP convention in San Jose next month, that may give Schwarzenegger an ultimatum: Dump Kennedy by March 15 or the party will withdraw its backing of his reelection bid.
This is stupid, and it’s disturbing that someone like this was ever of importance: “We’ve gotten to the point where we’ve just had it with the guy,” said Michael Schroeder, an attorney from Corona del Mar and a former chairman of the California Republican Party. “It’s become clear that he’s no longer pursuing a Republican agenda.”
It must be a pleasure to run against a party run by people like that, because your campaign theme writes itself: “If they can’t govern themselves, they can’t be trusted to govern the state.”
But this hasn’t gone far yet, and it may never go far. The insurgent party members said they are attempting to mobilize support among gun owners, abortion opponents and other conservatives.
Without some indication that the attempts are succeeding, this is not very impressive.
And this is common sense: One member of Schwarzenegger’s political team said the danger of the party yanking its endorsement is that it could mean fewer campaign dollars for Republicans in other races. The aide said Schwarzenegger’s most generous donors are unlikely to give money to a state Republican Party that has just rescinded its endorsement.
That, in turn, could mean less money available for Republicans running in legislative races.
“If I said [to a donor], ‘Give to the Republican Party,’ they would say, ‘You mean, give to that group that just pulled that endorsement from the governor? Go back and get your act together,’ ” said the aide, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk publicly about the issue.
When we talk about the influence of money power on politics, we should remember that it is sometimes a good influence.
Armed Liberal still has a point though. Some Republican activists in California seem willing to be as stupid as their contributors will let them be. Who wants to hang around people like that? Who wants to be associated with them? Imagine introducing one to your friends: “Hi, here’s Steve, he’s one of my Republican Party buddies. Lately Steve spends his time trying to get gun owners and abortion opponents to turn against the Governator. They keep saying, ‘but we don’t want the Democrats to run the state!’ but Steve keeps telling them: ‘purity, boys and girls, that’s what we need – strict ideological purity.’ My buddy Steve.” You’d perish of shame.
Does anyone else see the irony in a non-presidentially electable Republican governor from California?
Usually, the words “Republican Governor from California”, mean seriously viable candidate for President, the same way “Democratic Governor from Texas” would mean great national ambitions. I think it’s funny that the Republicans finally sqweak out a governor over Grey Davis’ rotting carcass, and he can’t be President anyway!
Speaking of Republican governors from Blue States….Do not count out Pataki from New York in 08, a man who just placed a 1.3 billion tax cut directly into the pockets of Seniors (STAR program refunding property taxes) and Republican donors (Estate tax cuts). Maybe a VP candidate with McCain, what works better than a Senator/Governor combo?
> Cobb asks why I don’t become a Republican; it’s simple. They act like morons.
Yeah. I’m a lifelong (registered in 1971) Democrat who’s seriously considered leaving my own party for the last 10-15 years. On the other hand, every time I consider registering as a Republican, they do just really embarrasing/moronic things, and I cringe. In this case, inertia is easier than an active choice. ..bruce..
One thing that must be remembered about California politics today is that Der Governator got elected in the special recall virtually _despite_ the State’s Republican Party, rather than because of them. The Cal GOP were content, for years, to use Arnold’s celebrity to raise big bucks for them, while all the time rejecting him for “official” candidacy – “too liberal” – only to see him exploit the probably unique circumstances of the ’03 recall to vault into office – and, in the process, screw over the Party Establishment.
Strangely, running as a quasi-independent “maverick” is probably Ahhnold’s only chance to retain office: voters still seem to have qualms about the state’s Democrats (who don’t have ANY charismatic candidates in their stable), and the Republicans…. well, we can see where _they’re_ at: still stuck, as California’s GOP has been for years, somewhere around 1928.