From Salon, 9/15/03
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/09/15/recall/index_np.html
California GOP -- slow-mo implosion
Purists say Schwarzenegger is too liberal.
Moderates say a conservative can't win.
It's meltdown time for the Republican Party.
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By Max Blumenthal
Sept. 15, 2003 | LOS ANGELES, Calif. --
As supporters rushed into the LAX Marriott parking lot outside the GOP
state convention to hear Arnold Schwarzenegger speak on Saturday, they
were greeted at the entrance by Jackie Goldberg, a feisty Democratic
Assembly member from Los Angeles.
With a welcoming smile, Goldberg handed out pink fliers reading:
"Attention Republican Delegates: Arnold Schwarzenegger is the only
candidate not to have weighed in on LESBIAN and GAY issues."
The flyer, which highlighted archconservative state Sen. Tom
McClintock's opposition to "gay bills," was a clever ploy to exploit
the ideological divide between Republican moderates and conservatives
and peel right-wing voters away from Schwarzenegger.
"I do support domestic partnerships," the actor-turned-candidate had
remarked on Sean Hannity's radio show last month.
It was the kind of comment that helped deepen the Republican conflict
inside the convention as McClintock's operatives maneuvered to blast
Schwarzenegger's political career into oblivion and secure
conservative control over the Republican Party in California.
McClintock's challenge loomed large in Schwarzegger's otherwise
vacuous 10-minute speech.
While trying to be Reaganesque, making big promises and evoking sunny
memories of California's golden years, Schwarzenegger managed to sound
more like James Brown singing "Please, Please, Please" than the
breezily confident Reagan.
He virtually begged undecided voters and his legion of young fans to
show up at the polls for him.
"If you're Democrats, independents, or Republicans, I need your help,"
he pleaded.
"If you've never voted before, register. I need your help. Go out and
vote. I need your help!"
As the speech ended, the pumped-up crowd of almost 2,000 swayed to
Twisted Sister's obnoxious butt-rock anthem, "We're Not Gonna Take It
Anymore," which blared through the P.A. system three times in a row.
Just whom they weren't going to take it from anymore was left unstated
as the internal Republican rift over social issues widened.
Beside the stage a huge banner reading "McClintock -- It's Time To
Join Arnold" was unveiled while Schwarzenegger lunged into the crowd,
pressing flesh until he was whisked away to deliver a plea for party
unity at a luncheon later inside the hotel.
The Republican-initiated recall, which started off as a deft stroke of
electoral manipulation, has now opened old wounds within the party,
which is historically divided between cultural conservative purists
and moderate pragmatists who view party unity as the only means of
Republican survival in overwhelmingly Democratic California.
As Schwarzenegger avoids debates and policy discussion, hoping that
personality alone will guide him into the governor's mansion,
McClintock's well-honed message of fiscal and social conservatism has
resonated with the purists.
And recent polls show him closing the gap on Schwarzenegger, who has
been paralyzed behind the Democratic front-runner, Lt. Gov. Cruz
Bustamante, since he announced his candidacy in August.
Monday's decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to delay
the election not only gives Gov. Gray Davis much-needed time to raise
money and rally support against the Republicans, it is also likely to
embolden McClintock while Schwarzenegger will be forced into the open
and exposed to attacks on everything from his private life to his
shallow understanding of public policy.
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Republicans! Do not despair, your Ah-nuld is here!
Harry
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