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Contributors
Doug Gamble- Contributor
Doug Gamble
is a former writer for President Ronald Reagan and resides
in Carmel.
 Expediency
vs. Principle
If the recall gets back on
track, a crucial choice looms Oct. 7
[Doug Gamble] 9/17/03
If the court decision postponing California's recall election
is overturned and the vote is put back on track, and assuming
state Sen. Tom McClintock stays in the race, Republicans will
have to choose between expediency and principle Oct. 7. At the
moment,
expediency is leading in the polls.
If this were
a primary, the conservative bent of state Republicans would
probably mean a
McClintock victory over Arnold Schwarzenegger.
But since the candidate receiving the most votes becomes governor
if Gray Davis is recalled, conservatives are tempted to give
Schwarzenegger a free pass on ideology just to have a Republican
as chief executive.
Even if it
means postponing a GOP governorship until January 2007 - and
I believe a conservative running a smart
campaign
can win statewide office in this state - I hope California
Republicans will match McClintock's principled stand on the
issues with principles
of their own and vote for him over a watered-down Republican
whose unofficial campaign slogan seems to be, "Details,
schmetails." If he were Arnold Schwarzenegger, insurance
agent, instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor, his campaign
would be a joke and unworthy of coverage.
The fact
is his support is built entirely on a foundation of celebrity.
How else to
explain the all- news channels breaking
away from regular programming to cover live the actor's every
utterance before a microphone? It is only a movie star's
fame that makes him more media-worthy than McClintock.
When
Schwarzenegger is greeted at campaign events by throngs of
squealing teen-age girls and crowds pressing forward for
handshakes and autographs, it has nothing to do with politics
and everything
to do with fame. The actor's calculation, probably correct,
is that in our celebrity-obsessed culture, star appeal
trumps substance.
Those who
vote for Schwarzenegger will do so without really knowing what
they'll be getting. He still speaks in vague
generalities and has not spelled out the particulars of
achieving stated
goals.
According to TV ads that contain more fluff than the lint
filter of an overused clothes dryer, his entire solution
to the budget
deficit is to "open the books."
He has said
nothing about what programs he'll cut, and, although he insists
he won't raise taxes, I don't believe
him.
Particularly
irksome is his decision to duck all but one of the scheduled
debates. What other than political
cowardice
and contempt
for the voters would cause a candidate to pass up opportunities
to make his case before a statewide TV audience, a
viewership made all the larger by interest in the recall? And
what
credible candidate would refuse to hold a news conference
at a party's
state convention as Schwarzenegger did last weekend?
Yet
even such solid Republicans as Orange County Rep. Dana Rohrabacher
and conservative spitfire Ann Coulter
seem
to have fallen under
the Schwarzenegger celebrity spell, backing a candidate
who is pro-abortion, favors gun control and gay adoptions
and
is to
the left of Sen. Dianne Feinstein on school vouchers.
Schwarzenegger
is compared to Ronald Reagan, but the real Reagan Republican
in this race is McClintock,
a courageous
fighter
against big government and higher taxes for over
two
decades. Also, it
is McClintock who has seen a recent surge in poll
numbers while Schwarzenegger's have remained relatively
stagnant.
But apparently
no good work goes unpunished as the California
GOP sees it, so it's the genuine Republican the party
wants to
boot to
the sidelines.
If enough
Republicans vote for Schwarzenegger, he may become governor,
but at what cost to the
party's
soul?
Their votes
will decide if conservative principles are worth
fighting for or whether
most California Republicans are just star-struck
groupies.
This opinion piece first appeared in the Orange County Register
Copyright 2003 Doug Gamble
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