A night the (CA) GOP would like to forget

Thursday, November 10, 2005

A night the GOP would like to forget

By FRANK MICKADEIT
The Orange County Register

I don't know who to heap more scorn on: The people who came up with our governor's lame strategy for this special election, or the voters who two years ago said they wanted real reform and took the unprecedented step of dumping a sitting governor - only to back off when they found out the reform the new governor was talking about might hurt.

I'm not saying the ouster of Davis was right or wrong, nor am I advocating for any of the propositions on Tuesday's ballot: I'm just saying Tuesday's results make Schwarzenegger look inept and many of the people who said they wanted to follow him look like fools or hypocrites.


(snip)


Schwarzenegger needed to start Labor Day with a concerted campaign that told voters to gear up for the second half of the monumental reform they started in 2003. He needed to tell key voters it was time to make some small sacrifices now with these propositions to make 2003 mean anything. He probably wouldn't have convinced hard-core union members and other special interests, but he could have convinced the friends and neighbors of those people. Instead, he allowed the election to be framed early as Arnold vs. Joe Six Pack Union Guy; Arnold vs. your kid's kindergarten teacher, etc. By the time he started talking to voters as a humble public servant it was too late.

(snip)

Before Prop. 75 - the so-called paycheck protection measure - even went down in flames, the union guys were saying how, win or lose, the union movement was revived. Case in point, courtesy of Democratic activist John Hanna: The Service Employees International had split with the AFL-CIO and was accused of trying to raid membership from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which had stayed with the AFL-CIO. It was a bitter rivalry. But then Prop. 75 came along, the unions settled their differences and teamed up to fight the governor.

http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/columns/article_761751.php

Frank is an asshat.

an anti union rag if ever there was one. Which is why it is so sweet to read it there, as well as their gloomy blog.

Charlie Manson up against him and Ah-nold will still lose. Tuesday's beating was absolute, yet Ah-nold STILL hasn't learned a god-damned thing. His arrogance and disconnect from reality are stunning.

I hope he likes his balls served with a healthy dose of irrelevance.

That's what I see happening. Or maybe McKlintock but he is very in bed with the Rove wing of the repukes.

candidates for state office, and will continue to lose.

Any moderate, like former LA mayor Riordan will be shot down as "too moderate." The only reason why Shcwartzy won was because of his celebrity and because he is a moderate.

But the think skulls pugs will never learn. They are actually proud in their "stand for principles."

Which is really too bad. Check and balances should refer also to representation in the legislative body.

Perhaps California, always reinventing things, can be the first to move to proportional representation instead of the "winner take all" - after redistricting, of course.