David Broder offers conventional wisdom on Arnold Schwarzenegger's left turn

I think this column might be a week or two old, but it's just now being printed in the Houston Chronicle, so let's take a look at the thoughts of David Broder in "California's model for the middle":

...In 2005 [Arnold Schwarzenegger] declared war on the Democratic legislature and the public-employee unions and forced a special election on four initiatives designed to cripple the unions' influence and strengthen his hand as governor. Voters rejected all of them and drove his approval ratings into the basement.

Oddly enough, Broder doesn't mention that Arnold's campaign for his initiatives sucked. He let the unions define him as a meanie and about all he could reply with were a few TV ads at the end of the campaign. I might be wrong about this, but in one of them he was dressed in a sweater. In any case, those commercials were indeed Carter-esque.

Arnie's Bush-linked advisors think "moderates" like Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney could compete for California using the same corrupt formula:

...The contenders would not have to go as far as Schwarzenegger has in embracing Democratic issues. The state might respond to a candidate who combines fiscal prudence and avoiding higher taxes with a progressive attitude on the environment and such social issues as immigration and civil rights...

Of course, immigration is much, much more than just a "social issue", but one wouldn't expect someone who defines "progress" as encouraging illegal immigration and collaborating with extremist-linked groups to understand that.

Politics · Fri, 10/27/2006 - 01:30 · · Importance: 1