Comments on: Schwarzenegger To Pimp Centrism In ’08

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 23 Nov 2006 21:52:04 +0000

Arnold is a very strange person, sometimes I really get surprised by his statements and comments. But it is true that he came a long way from Mr.Olympia and Connan to where he is now. Respect for that.

By: Pete Abel

Pete Abel — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 18:51:22 +0000

Listen to Arnold tell his personal story of why he first identified himself as a Republican — it’s because he didn’t like the intrustive Socialists of his country of origin. When he came to the USA, heard that Republicans basically stood for individualism/individual liberties — and keeping Government’s nose out of our individual lives — he said, and I paraphase, “That’s me. I’m a Republican.”

Granted, today’s Republican Party doesn’t resemble any of that. In fact, if the R’s had staid true to their heritage and to the reasons why Arnold and I and so many others signed on the dotted line so many years ago, we’d be living in a world where the Republican party supported gay marriage and abortion, a world where the GOP would never — not in a gazillion years — touch something like the Schiavo case.

So is Arnold’s move a move back to the Center? Or is it simply a move back to the basics of what he has always personally and passionately believed, i.e., Government can do a lot of good, but it must stop short of intruding on our individual freedom to choose the lives we will lead, as long as those lives don’t harm our fellow citizens.

That’s what Arnold’s about.

By: sleipner

sleipner — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 02:49:24 +0000

I certainly hope you’re right, wj. I imagine that his wife makes his life far more comfortable when he’s at least moderate than when he’s drifting to the right in any case.

By: wj

wj — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 22:00:22 +0000

Watching Schwarzeneger from within California, I think he found his adventure with the right wing a learning experience. It looked like he was basically moderate on most issues (certainly way too moderate to win a Republican primary in California, except as an incumbant), but got convinced by the California Republican establishment that the way to go was to jog right. Well, we all saw how that worked out — badly. And going back towards the center got him easily reelected.

So I think he has decided to stick with the moderate approach. (Especially since he has a massively Democratic legislature to deal with, and the special-election/mass appeal approach was a disaster.) And he looks like he is much more comfortable in the center anyway.

By: sleipner

sleipner — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 07:12:54 +0000

Frankly I suspect that now Schwarzenegger’s won the election he’ll go right back to the right wing hackery with which he started his first term. The only reason he moderated his positions at all was political expediency – he realized he would be fired despite his mass media popularity if he kept flouting the will of the people.

I do think that Giuliani is the Republicans’ best candidate to date, mostly because McCain has made a fool of himself pimping issues he used to have integrity about to try to make himself look more Republican. Not to mention he’s way too old to last as president…I dread another senile Reagan figurehead.

By: Justin Gardner

Justin Gardner — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 04:51:36 +0000

I like him. He started out hacky, but he’s ended up in a very good place and I think he could potential be a leader for the moderate movement.

I guess we’ll see.

By: Paul Silver

Paul Silver — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 00:52:00 +0000

It would be nice to see him team up with Mayor Bloomberg to nurture moderate Republicans. There are many districts in the country where only a republican can get elected. If the Dems screw up and power swings back the other way it would be nice to have a receptive moderate counterpart.

By: Heather

Heather — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 22:37:05 +0000

Ahnold isn’t really a RINO in my estimation. He IS a Centrist FisCon and SocLib. He’s also done a lot to pull California away from the brink of bankruptcy – in spite of the shrieking lefties.