[www.latimes.com]

It was Richard Nixon who brought me into the Republican fold.

He was running for president, and I had recently arrived in California from Austria, which I'd left because the European socialist mentality wasn't big enough for my dreams. Growing up, I was surrounded by kids whose greatest ambition was to one day collect a pension. I didn't intend to spend my whole life dreaming about floating on a government safety net.

One day, when Nixon was talking on the television, my liberal friend Artie translated bits of what he was saying. As I recall, he spoke about free enterprise, about less government and taxation, about the need for a strong military.

I asked what party Nixon was from. Artie said he was an imbecile Republican. "Then I will be an imbecile Republican," I said.

...

I can't imagine being anything else.

That's why I am so bothered by the party's recent loss of two up-and-coming Republicans: San Diego mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher, currently a state assemblyman, and former assemblyman and current Congressional candidate Anthony Adams, both of whom left the party to become independents. On the one hand, I respect their standing up for principle. On the other, I hate to see them go.

I'm sure they would have preferred to remain Republicans, but in the current climate, the extreme right wing of the party is targeting anyone who doesn't meet its strict criteria. Its new and narrow litmus test for party membership doesn't allow compromise.

I bumped up against that rigidity many times as governor. Not surprisingly, the party wasn't always too happy with me. But I had taken an oath to serve the people, not my party. Some advisors whose opinions I respect urged me to consider leaving the party and instead identify myself as a "decline to state" voter. But I'm too stubborn to leave a party I believe in.

read it - it's interesting...

Arnold could well qualify as worst governor ever of California. The budget sure went to hell during his tenure...

=wr=

I can't blame Arnie for the budget mess. That's the sum total of California politics going back at least 3 decades combined with the worst economy (worldwide) in generations. I am annoyed that arnie sold off hard assets in his attempts to balance the budget and called it fiscal responsibility/

Sans a recall of the incumbent, Arnie never gets anywhere near the Governor's chair. His own party - as part of any sort of regular election cycle - never even nominates him.

Credit (or curse) Eunice with his election and governance.

Schwarzenegger's election was an aberration we'll not likely see again.

Quote
hal
I can't blame Arnie for the budget mess. That's the sum total of California politics going back at least 3 decades combined with the worst economy (worldwide) in generations. I am annoyed that arnie sold off hard assets in his attempts to balance the budget and called it fiscal responsibility/

I remember reading that the energy "crisis" in Cali is what swept him into office. Said energy crisis was caused by the Previous Republican govnah "privatizing" the power plants to Enron (or some Texas energy co.) who decided to increase profits by cutting power generation and thus increasing costs!

---

San Antonio, TX (in the old city)

"All that is required for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing."
-- Edmund Burke
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." Theodore Roosevelt (1918)

Quote
Rolando

Quote
hal
I can't blame Arnie for the budget mess. That's the sum total of California politics going back at least 3 decades combined with the worst economy (worldwide) in generations. I am annoyed that arnie sold off hard assets in his attempts to balance the budget and called it fiscal responsibility/

I remember reading that the energy "crisis" in Cali is what swept him into office. Said energy crisis was caused by the Previous Republican govnah "privatizing" the power plants to Enron (or some Texas energy co.) who decided to increase profits by cutting power generation and thus increasing costs!

Plenty of bipartisan blame to go around

Steve Peace Death March

Quote
freeradical
...Plenty of bipartisan blame to go around

Steve Peace Death March

I thought THIS was

Quote
SDGuy

Quote
freeradical
...Plenty of bipartisan blame to go around

Steve Peace Death March

I thought THIS was

Steve Peace's Death March

Hide spoiler

[quote="\"There was a blind adherence to free-market ideology that couldn't possibly work,\" said Eugene Coyle, a former utility securities analyst, economist and early opponent of deregulation. \"There were poorly thought-out specifics.\"

Read more: [url]http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/12/31/MN167927.DTL&ao=all#ixzz1u9lNZOOm"[/url];]
[/quote]

Sort of wraps up the argument against deregulation across the board, dosen't it?

Quote
wave rider
Arnold could well qualify as worst governor ever of California. The budget sure went to hell during his tenure...

=wr=

I am "far" from an Arnold fan. FAR. But the budget would have gone to hell no matter who would have taken the office. Global recession.

"Then I will be an imbecile Republican"


I see him as Conan the Barbarian when he says this.