GOP Convention: You Can’t Say Republicans Weren’t Warned

Facing declined influence in the state and nationally, Republicans attending the GOP Convention in Indian Wells remain convinced that staying true to their core principles is more important than embracing change.  Jon Flechman, finally, at least admits he doesn’t understand the Governor or his motivations:

Unfortunately, if you read media accounts of the convention, it’s hard to tell that there was so much positive activity and enthusiasm.  I would love to lay the blame for this on liberal main-stream-media reporting with a goal to disrupt conservative harmony.  But, alas, to look for the source of the sour ink, we need look no further than our recently re-elected Republican Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger.  For some reason that escapes this website publisher, Governor Schwarzenegger decided to come into a convention of the party’s faithful and give a speech calling for the GOP to move away from its core principles and embrace the political “center” (by following the Governor’s leftward lunge).  It was very disconcerting to hear, and was not greeted well by the party faithful.  (NOTE: not entirely true if you read the liberal mainstream coverage quoted Republicans as saying the Governor is right) The lack of enthusiasm for this message was evident by the lack of rousing approval that the Governor had been used to receiving at previous visits to CRP conventions.  I think it would be fair to say that GOP donors and activists, knowing that the Governor was going to be moderate on social issues, have been stunned and are quite disappointed at the Governor’s retreat from the traditional GOP positions of limited government (NOTE: Might want to note Presidet Bush’s retreat from this same core value) and opposition to higher taxes and fees.  As an interesting note, after Schwarzenegger spoke and left (curiously not staying to hear the remarks of two other large-state Governors, Charlie Crist of Florida and Rick Perry of Texas), Governor Perry in his remarks delivered a rebuttal to Arnold’s message, counseling the California GOP to stand firm for our core principles.
Coverage of this convention and the Governor’s remark are absent from the Register with the exception of Steve Greenhut’s blog post about this on Orange Punch last Friday.

At the GOP Convention in Indian Wells, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will no doubt get a warm welcome, despite his efforts to undermine just about everything the party claims to stand for. It should be a depressing convention. There’s is basically no way that a Republican will win the presidency, following the disastrous Bush presidency. GOP pollsters know the party will lose a fair number of congressional seats. Republicans have no chance of making any real gains at the state legislative level. And the party is reduced to yammering about law and order and blaming Mexicans for every problem. The party is circling the drain — a victim of its own leadership and a variety of other factors. The party deserves its current headaches. Given the national GOP’s continuing embrace of war, this crack-up is a good thing. If party leaders refuse to learn the right lessons, they need to keep losing until they learn the right ones. Perhaps eight years of President Clinton and a Democratic Congress will be enough to convince the party to relearn the importance of limited government and noninterventionism.

The Register should have covered this event.  But there was no shortage of stories that all carried the same idea; the GOP is in trouble and the party’s leaders don’t think so.  Wonder who will capture the elusive Whig party vote?