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  1. #1
    Senior Member Brian503a's Avatar
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    Despite disagreements, conservatives embrace Schwarzenegger

    http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/articl ... /109040011

    Despite disagreements, conservatives embrace Schwarzenegger

    Laura Kurtzman
    September 4, 2006

    GARDEN GROVE (AP) - Gelia Crayton is the picture of conservative California. She worships at the Crystal Cathedral, Orange County's gleaming megachurch, and opposes abortion and gay marriage. She thinks illegal immigration is the scourge of the state.

    Crayton's hardline views are at odds with the moderation Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has gone out of his way to advertise this year, as he seeks re-election.

    Yet on a recent Sunday after church services here, the 58-year-old real estate agent pledged to stay loyal to the governor "until he says, 'Taxes are going to go up and welcome illegals.'"

    Crayton's pragmatism helps explain how Schwarzenegger has consolidated his party's support this year, even as he has flouted many of its core beliefs.

    He has angered social conservatives by hiring a lesbian Democrat as his chief of staff and upset fiscal conservatives by partnering with legislators to put the largest bond package in California history on the November ballot. He also crossed the business lobby by agreeing to raise the minimum wage, force prescription drug companies to offer discounts and cap greenhouse gas emissions.

    Despite all this, as many as 85 percent of California Republicans tell pollsters they will vote for Schwarzenegger in November. Last year, when his popularity was at a nadir because of the special election, just 66 percent of Republicans were willing to say they'd vote for him.

    Schwarzenegger's celebrity helps him bend the rules of politics. Voters often say they feel they have a personal connection to him. Crayton, for example, cut the governor slack on account of his Democratic wife, Maria Shriver, who is a member of the Kennedy clan.

    Crayton thinks Schwarzenegger, who supports abortion rights, is "playing politics" on abortion, and she wishes he were tougher on immigration. But she rationalizes his actions as necessary to cope with the pressure he gets at home.

    "He's got certain concessions he's got to make because he's got a family life, too," she said.

    Her friend Ruth Daugherty, who also was worshipping at the Crystal Cathedral, excused the governor's moderate stance on immigration - and even his reluctance to send the National Guard to the border with Mexico - as a political necessity in a state like California, where Democrats dominate.

    "I think he's doing the best he can," said Daugherty, 73, a retired banker who lives in Irvine, "because he can't be as vocal about it as we are and get elected."

    There is an undercurrent of protest against the governor, particularly on immigration.

    After Schwarzenegger said he was surprised at the "intensity of prejudice" toward illegal immigrants he encountered at a town hall meeting near San Diego, talk radio erupted.

    In Los Angeles, KFI's John Ziegler upbraided Schwarzenegger's campaign manager, Steve Schmidt, who had gone on the air to try to contain the damage, for the governor's election-year shift.

    "He's not a Republican and you know that," Ziegler told Schmidt. "Because you know a real Republican can't win statewide, so you and Maria have orchestrated this move to the left. Congratulations, but don't deny it. Take credit for it."

    How much discontent over the governor's moves this year filters down to the average voter is an open question.

    In interviews throughout conservative Orange and Riverside counties, few voters even knew the governor's position on immigration, much less the details of legislation or the inside workings of his staff.

    And while most voters were angry about illegal immigration, almost none laid the blame at the governor's feet.

    "It's not Arnold's fault," said Ken Mummert, 66, who was eating lunch at Costco in the Riverside County town of Temecula. "Immigration's been a problem that's been going on a long time."

    Still, Mummert, an evangelical Christian who is "somewhat retired" and writing his second book, said he wasn't all that enthusiastic about voting for Schwarzenegger.

    "I have to think about whether I'm going to vote at all," he said. "I'm at the point where I think it's a total waste of time."

    The prospect that conservatives might stay home is worrisome for Schwarzenegger. Analysts are predicting that President Bush's unpopularity could hurt him in November if it discourages Republicans from voting.

    California has 1.3 million more Democrats than Republicans. To win, Schwarzenegger needs to rally his Republican base, convert a few Democrats and win the majority of independents.

    The state Republican party is promising a huge volunteer effort to get out its vote.

    The governor's campaign also is doing everything it can to scare Republicans into supporting the governor by tagging his Democratic opponent, state Treasurer Phil Angelides, a tax-and-spend liberal.

    Those tactics may be working.

    Crayton's fiancé, Ken Sheppard, for example, has been angry at some of the things the governor has done this year, particularly his reluctance to comply with President Bush's request to send National Guard troops to the border with Mexico.

    "I don't think he had any right to do anything against the president or say anything against the president," said Sheppard, who is a real estate investor from Encino.

    The governor balked at Bush's request, saying the plan was ill-conceived. He only agreed to send the troops when the federal government agreed to pay for the deployment.

    But Sheppard said he is supporting Schwarzenegger - and phone-banking for the Republican ticket - out of fear of what the Democratic alternative might bring.

    In the end, he said, his vote for Schwarzenegger, while solid, was more a negative than a positive.

    "I personally believe if the other side were going to win, we would be hit with higher taxes for years and years and years," he said. "It's not like voting for Arnold. It's voting against Angelides."
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    Senior Member dman1200's Avatar
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    That's why America will be ultimately lost. If people continue to justify putting these traitors back in office for whatever reason then we have no chance. Go ahead dumba-- conservatives, keep reelecting garbage like Arnold and one day when you see your country has been handed over to Mexico, your going to be saying to yourselves, gee maybe we should have done something, maybe we shouldn't have kept voting for these clowns.

    I know we call the Republican party the stupid party, but who's more stupid, the party or the idiots that keep voting for the sellouts in the party itself?
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    MW
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    dman1200 wrote:

    Go ahead dumba-- conservatives, keep reelecting garbage like Arnold and one day when you see your country has been handed over to Mexico, your going to be saying to yourselves, gee maybe we should have done something, maybe we shouldn't have kept voting for these clowns.
    Unfortunately Arnold is the only option for our cause. Believe me, you don't want to see his Democrat opponent win. This is one of those situation where, if you are anti-illegal immigration, you are forced to vote for the least of two evils.

    "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" ** Edmund Burke**

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    Quote Originally Posted by MW
    Unfortunately Arnold is the only option for our cause. Believe me, you don't want to see his Democrat opponent win.
    I'm a Democrat, but there's NO WAY that I want Angelides to win. Not when he's a rubber stamp for the Hispanic pro-illegal community:

    http://www.angelides.com/media/releases ... ments.html

    If I were in Cali, I'd hold my nose and vote for the Gropinator, too....

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    Senior Member dman1200's Avatar
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    Unfortunately Arnold is the only option for our cause. Believe me, you don't want to see his Democrat opponent win. This is one of those situation where, if you are anti-illegal immigration, you are forced to vote for the least of two evils.
    I keep hearing this all the time, it's an excuse. The MM endorsed some guy as a third party option, why not vote for him? Oh because he's not a big name movie star?

    If I were in Cali, I'd hold my nose and vote for the Gropinator, too....
    If that is the attitude some of you are going to continue to take then the NWO has already won. Keep holding your noses and the choices will continue to get worse and worse. The NWO keeps winning because they don't care who wins because they know that no matter what, they are getting someone who will placate to their agenda. I'm not holding my nose because the stench is just too much. Continuing to vote for these clowns is just negotiating the terms of your own surrender.
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    Senior Member WavTek's Avatar
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    if you are anti-illegal immigration, you are forced to vote for the least of two evils.
    The problem with that, is the lesser of two evils keeps getting more evil each time. We have to bite the bullet and say, no more compromising our priniciples. We have to stop voting for people who don't /won't, stand on principle or we'll keep getting more of the same.

    I'm convinced that the best thing that could happen to the republican party, is for it to lose control in November. That way, when they realize we aren't going to take it anymore, they'll finally start practicing what they preach. Sure, we'll have to suffer through two years of Democratic control, but how much worse can it be than what we've got now?
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  7. #7
    Senior Member dman1200's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by WavTek
    if you are anti-illegal immigration, you are forced to vote for the least of two evils.
    The problem with that, is the lesser of two evils keeps getting more evil each time. We have to bite the bullet and say, no more compromising our priniciples. We have to stop voting for people who don't /won't, stand on principle or we'll keep getting more of the same.

    I'm convinced that the best thing that could happen to the republican party, is for it to lose control in November. That way, when they realize we aren't going to take it anymore, they'll finally start practicing what they preach. Sure, we'll have to suffer through two years of Democratic control, but how much worse can it be than what we've got now?
    Exactly. The lesser of the two evils is still evil. In fact I think the best thing right now is for things to get worse. Worse is better. Why? Because it will wake more people up. I'm sick of sheeple getting outraged for like a day or two and then go back to sleep again. The sheeple need to be awaken out of their sleep and kept awake until the task is done. Maybe if another Dem takes control it will set up Tom McClintock to take the reigns in 08 in CA and he's the only that I can see that has the stones to turn the tide at the state level. I'm hoping he wins the LT Gov spot.

    If we keep voting for the lesser of the two evils in the Republican party then this party will keep thinking that they can just get away with whatever they want and that they have us voters in their back pockets. This will be a never ending cycle that will keep getting worse. Tell the Republicans that we will not vote for them ever again unless they give us a candidate that is worthy of us and won't lie to us.

    Arnold is nothing, but a two faced lying politican. He tries to be all things to all people and we don't need that kind of cowardice running the show.
    Please support our fight against illegal immigration by joining ALIPAC's email alerts here https://eepurl.com/cktGTn

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