The Blue Voice

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

With labor holding their feet to the fire, California Dem leaders pretend to have backbones for a day

Let's hope they can keep it up.

I mentioned a couple of days ago how the two top Democratic officials in the California legislature were acting like total patsies for Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign. And how California labor leaders were starting to ask them what the heck they thought they were doing.

Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross follow up on their earlier report in Democrat[ic] co-stars desert governor after kickoff San Francisco Chronicle 10/04/06:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger kicked off the bipartisan, $37 billion state-rebuild bond campaign Tuesday absent two of his biggest Democratic co-stars at most stops - thanks in part to President Bush's visit to California.

Those in the know said problems between the governor and Democrats Don Perata and Fabian Núñez surfaced right about the time Bush decided to campaign for two House Republicans in California, the same day as the bond kickoff.

According to one Democratic operative close to the negotiations between the two sides, it soon became apparent to the Dems that the governor would be using his appearances with Perata and Núñez to prove he isn't the "Bush Republican" that gubernatorial rival Phil Angelides is making him out to be. (my emphasis)

Duh! What happened is they realized their base was getting pretty irritated at seeing them down on their knees going all Vichy with Schwarzenegger. It's pitiful that they ever agreed to do such a thing in the first place.

After all, Schwarzenegger had no plans to get within a hundred miles Tuesday of the unpopular president as he hopscotched from Bakersfield to San Pablo to push for the bonds.

A Republican operative close to the talks pointed the finger in a different direction, saying Perata, the Oakland Democrat who leads the state Senate, and Assembly Speaker Núñez, D-Los Angeles, backed away from the bond kickoff after catching heat from labor leaders for appearing too chummy with the governor.

And that's just fine with me! That's one of many reasons we need strong unions. Unions have an institutional interest in delivering the goods for their members. And that gives them incentive to snap Dems like Perata and Núñez back to reality when they go Vichy on us.

And because the Dems in the legislature have been so busy playing kissy-kiss with the rightwing Republican Governor who will go back to kicking them in the face the day after he gets re-elected, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides is having a hard time making the key point about what Schwarzenegger is about. In Bush ties not dragging Schwarzenegger's poll numbers down: Democrat Angelides' efforts to link opponent to president aren't convincing Californians San Francisco Chronicle 10/03/06, Carla Marinucci reports:

A flurry of recent polls show Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides hasn't gained traction in his efforts to tie Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to unpopular President George Bush, but a new study sheds light on why: Voters in Democratic-leaning California simply don't appear to care that their Republican governor is a Republican.

And, the poll suggests, certainly not a Republican who helped elect Bush.

The new poll released Monday by the San Jose State University Survey and Policy Research Institute showed that two-thirds of voters in the nation's most populous state - including 57 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of liberals, 69 percent of independents and 65 percent of moderates - say Bush's leadership will have no influence on their vote for the next governor.

It can't be stressed enough that having Dems act as stage props in public appearance has been absolutely essential for him to be able to pose as "bipartisan".

If Schwarzenegger wants to sign Democratic-sponsored legislation, great. But Democrats were ridiculous to enable his lavish public bill-signings. They should have been staging counter-events to push the rightwing Governor on his failings and his endless, frantic fund-raising from corporate interests. From Carlucci's report:

"They know he's a Republican, but they don't see him as Bush's evil twin,'' said Phil Trounstine, who heads the San Jose State research center. "To some degree, he has neutralized his Republican partisanship.''

With less than six weeks until the midterm elections, the findings of the San Jose State poll could hold some good news for Republicans in other parts of the country who wonder whether Bush's poor ratings might create a tidal wave that swamps GOP candidates.

In California, at least, the lesson from the Schwarzenegger campaign appears to have come clearly out of Hollywood: The governor has quickly and effectively banished his connection with Bush, a figure who has become a political villain - at least in California - and in doing so has appeared to re-create his past familiar role as a good guy.

"Schwarzenegger has rewritten the script for this movie," said Melinda Jackson, the San Jose State political science professor who is also the poll's director. She says the polls are evidence of how the governor has successfully transformed his profile from "fire-breathing conservative" to pragmatic moderate, "exactly the kind of leader California voters tend to support." (my emphasis)

We need serious fighting Dems in leadership positions, not Dems who take Joe Lieberman as their model of statesmanship.

posted at 8:37:00 PM by Bruce Miller

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