Thursday, October 20, 2005

President Hot Potato

A measure of how far the President has fallen:

Republicans disparage Bush visit.

President Bush flew cross-country to help dedicate a new Air Force One exhibit at the Ronald Reagan presidential library, but his appearance at a GOP fundraiser while he was here irked top California Republicans.

They said Bush's appearance Thursday night at a $1 million Republican National Committee fundraiser was poorly timed because of the upcoming Nov. 8 special gubernatorial election.

"Unless President Bush is coming to California to hand over a check from the federal government to help us with the financial challenges we face, the visit seems ill-timed," said Karen Hanretty, a spokeswoman for the state Republican Party


Wow. Can you imagine a Republican President being told he was not welcome at a GOP fundraiser? Of course, the point is very specifically and accurately made. California is a very liberal state, with a huge edge in terms of voter registration favoring Democrats and a state which has twice rejected Bush's brand of conservatism by landslide margins, so it is likely that Bush's appearance will only remind people of why they don't like Republicans. This can only hurt, and in no way help, the fate of Governor Schwarzenegger's proposed package of 'reforms' that will be on the ballot on Nov. 8.

And here is an even more direct assessment of how popular Bush is in California:

During a campaign stop Wednesday in Anaheim, Schwarzenegger addressed why he was passing on the opportunity to sit with Bush.

``We're in high gear right now for our campaign,'' he said. ``So of course, right now, it's all about paying attention to that. So this is why I couldn't really accept the invitation to be part of the ceremony at the Reagan Library out there....

Leading California Democrats on Thursday asked Schwarzenegger to break from his special election campaign long enough to meet with Bush. Democrats criticized the governor's decision, saying Schwarzenegger is putting politics ahead of the needs of the state.


Talk about a zany world. The Republican governor runs away from a meeting with the President, while Democrats wish he had gone to the meeting.

Of course, California has moved so far to the left that it is almost unrecognizable to conservatives. There are still a few conservative areas (after all, California is an immense state, home to one out of every eight Americans,) but the shift in this state from the days of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan is so sharp that the third paragraph, in which a spokeswoman for the state GOP suggests that the only good reason for President Bush to visit California is to deliver Federal money, shows how far to the left the state has drifted.

5 comments:

Mr. Mack said...

Gotta wonder where these guys will turn to for camapign funding. I mean, the Delay machine is, for the time being, inoperable, and Rove is quite busy, it would seem, on his own, Bush apparently has little to offer.

shrimplate said...

They can always fall back on raising funds the old-fashioned way, by selling drugs brought up from South America in CIA planes, like the Reagan administration did.

Chuck said...

This is the kind of stuff I like to read about- more turmoil in the ranks of the enemy. It's just like a holiday! :)

Anonymous said...

"President Hot Potato" ... luv it! Gonna chucke over that one for a good while! -Barbi

dorsano said...

Rank and file Republicans in MN are pretty much demanding that their party leadership return any money given by DeLay's PACs to local candidates.

And the campaigns of local candidates are talking privately about how difficult it is to campaign right now given the sorry state of the national leadership.

You don't hear much any more, or at least not as much, the "conservative" mantra of let's dismantle government - it's more, we need government that works.