Arnold Schwarzenegger Watch: A History of BOLDNESS
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger gives a thumbs-up as he addresses the California Republican Party winter convention in San Jose, Calif., on Friday, Feb. 24, 2006. Schwarzenegger said he will continue to push for government reforms but called on skeptical members of his own party to stop fighting and start leading.
Los Angeles Times: Gov. Tries to Soothe GOP Discontent
Seeking to calm an uprising among conservatives, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger began sketching a rationale for his reelection for fellow Republicans on Friday by portraying himself as a bold leader who can rise above partisan squabbling to meet California’s critical needs.
The Governor understands that with California Republican registration at 35 % that he must appease the GOP activists while appealing to moderate voters. Arnold has never been a conservative and it is obvious that he is ill at ease speaking before this conservative GOP constituency.
The governor reminded 650 Republicans of the times he has stuck to a conservative line: slashing the car tax, rejecting calls for higher income taxes, blocking a move to grant driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. But in a hotel ballroom dinner speech opening the state party’s weekend convention, Schwarzenegger also confronted conservative outrage at his vast new public-works spending proposal, arguing to delegates that it fits Republican traditions dating to the Civil War.
Schwarzenegger is laughable at citing the car tax and driver’s licenses for illegals as his conservative achievements. He would NEVER have been able to RECALL Gray Davis if he did not impose Davis’s illegal resumption of this punitive tax. Likewise, in his veto statement Arnold hedged on the rationale for NOT granting illegal aliens driver’s licenses.
And comparing himself to Lincoln and the Civil War? Who is his speech writer?
“We Republicans have a history of boldness,” Schwarzenegger said in an address punctuated by frequent cheers and applause. “I love that. Abraham Lincoln struck down slavery. Teddy Roosevelt fathered the environmental movement. Dwight D. Eisenhower built the interstate highway. And Ronald Reagan tore down the wall and defeated communism.
“This is a time in California’s history that calls for similar boldness.”
Schwarzenegger, you are NO Lincoln, Roosevelt, Eisenhower or Reagan. And your infrastructure bonding plan to enslave California taxpayers for decades is comparable to the interstate highway program?
How laughable is this?
The Governor’s 16 minute speech will do nothing to buttress him in polls with GOP voters.
Flap handicaps MOST California Republicans will stay home this fall.
Blogger reactions:
SactoDan: If We Don’t Build It, They Won’t Come- Schwarzenegger at the CAGOP Convention
Roseville Conservative Blog: Governator Comes Out Swinging!
Boi From Troy: Schwarzenegger’s Five R’s for 2006
Steve Frank: Lame Excerpts
John Fleishman: Arnold’s Speech – “Safe” but didn’t address GOP concerns
MSM:
Los Angeles Daily News: GOP to fight for Arnold, despite doubts
San Jose Mercury News: Schwarzenegger tells GOP it’s time to lead
Sacramento Bee: Governor pitches his building agenda
Ventura County Star: Governor seeks unity from state GOP
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