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GOP brand pronounced dead in deep-blue California

danarhea

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The Republican Party, as a brand, is dead in California.

That's the eye-opening consensus of a crowd of political observers, lawmakers and strategists - Democrats and Republicans - gathered at a UC Berkeley symposium this weekend to mull over California's defiantly blue status in the wake of a conservative tide that swept the nation in November.

The way I see it, the Republican Party did this to itself, by throwing it's support, not to any of the Conservatives who were running against Gray Davis, and who could have easily beaten him, but to Arnold Schwartzneggar, an avowed Liberal on many issues. Thus, the introduction of this poison pill into California politics, by the GOP, has tarnished the Conservative brand beyond repair in the near future.

However, I disagree with the consensus of the political observers. While Conservatism is on life support in California, at the present time, it is not dead. We must look past the next few years, roll up our sleeves, and rebuild the Conservative movement. It will take years, but I believe it can be done. And when it is finally done, the Republican Party must make a promise to never again back a RINO in California. Although the governorship looks out of reach for a while, there are still Congressional districts that can be won. Each one of those is additional insurance that will help the Republican Party stay in control of the House, and that is what is important. There are still red districts in California, and it's more than a few. Some of those are blue for the moment, but with the right direction, they can become red again.

Time to roll up sleeves and get to work. Yes, I believe that California is still on the table. The GOP brand has no place to go in that state but up, and that is a silver lining in an otherwise very dark cloud of the Republican Party's own making.

Article is here.
 
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Politics is cyclical. The current GOP is indeed dead on arrival in California. I have no doubt they will mount a comeback using smoke and mirrors, lies and deceit, hate and fear, whatever works until they find the right combination for the California electorate.
 
Politics is cyclical. The current GOP is indeed dead on arrival in California. I have no doubt they will mount a comeback using smoke and mirrors, lies and deceit, hate and fear, whatever works until they find the right combination for the California electorate.

The conversation here is about the GOP not the DNC...
 
The GoP is pronounced dead in Berkley. I laughed.
 
Erm, what?

The Republican party is becoming less popular because a lot of big Republicans in California are moderates and the GOP is swinging away from that.

I have to laugh at the idea that California is a "deep blue" state though. We're probably one of the more moderate states in the US, I'll never understand why people say California is liberal.
 
by your standards perhaps they aren't. by general American standards, however, California is reliably dark blue.


as for the GOP there; California (like Illinois) is zooming off the face of an economic cliff. the crash will be ugly. no offense to California GOPers, but perhaps it's better for the country at large and the republican party in general if the Democratic Party was allowed to put on full display the results of their policies.
 
by your standards perhaps they aren't. by general American standards, however, California is reliably dark blue.
Except that isnt true at all.

Our governors are almost always Republican, we've had to battle over gay marriage, something that shouldnt happen in a supposedly deep blue state. There is a SIGNIFICANT red population in California, most of NorCal is Republican and many areas of SoCal are Republican as well. People tend to think of the four big cities, LA, San Diego, Sacramento, and San Fransisco, as representing the entire state. When in reality, yes these cities tend to be more liberal but that is the case in ANY state; urban areas are much more politically open than rural areas.

I dont see any justification for calling California liberal.
 
Except that isnt true at all.

Our governors are almost always Republican, we've had to battle over gay marriage, something that shouldnt happen in a supposedly deep blue state. There is a SIGNIFICANT red population in California, most of NorCal is Republican and many areas of SoCal are Republican as well. People tend to think of the four big cities, LA, San Diego, Sacramento, and San Fransisco, as representing the entire state. When in reality, yes these cities tend to be more liberal but that is the case in ANY state; urban areas are much more politically open than rural areas.

I dont see any justification for calling California liberal.

last year was pretty much a historic 'wave' year for Republicans. They flipped the House pretty thoroughly, and took out not a few supposedly 'safe' Democrat seats.

of the 53 Representatives that California rates in the House of Representatives, after the historic wave of 2010, 18 of them are Republicans.

of the 2 Senators that California rates in the Senate, neither of them are Republicans.

hint: if, in a wave year, still only 1/3rd of your districts vote for a Republican.... then you are a blue state.
 
last year was pretty much a historic 'wave' year for Republicans. They flipped the House pretty thoroughly, and took out not a few supposedly 'safe' Democrat seats.

of the 53 Representatives that California rates in the House of Representatives, after the historic wave of 2010, 18 of them are Republicans.

of the 2 Senators that California rates in the Senate, neither of them are Republicans.

hint: if, in a wave year, still only 1/3rd of your districts vote for a Republican.... then you are a blue state.
It was not historic, it's happened every year after an election.
 
The whole west coast, the northeast, and some places inbetween are pretty much lost to the gop. The gop doesn't represent their values. The dnc does.
 
ahnold tried, got shellacked, gave up

in the special election of may, 05, the gubernator sponsored four extremely sensible, conservative propositions, trying to go over sacto's head to the voters

led by the nurses, CA kicked ahnold's ass

spending caps, teacher tenure reform, parental notification before teenage abortions, union dues used for political purposes only with express permission of members...

the gub went 0 for 4

since then, he's been largely irrelevant

my state is bankrupt, has been for the better part of a decade

worse, CA is hopeless, paralyzed by despair, no one looks to sacto for solutions

not anymore, not for a long time

the special of 09 registered complete disgust with the ruling class out here on the left coast

props 1a thru 1e---increased contributions to rainy day fund, increased funding for primary ed, borrowing from future lottery proceeds, reallocation of cig tax, one time adjustment of state income tax---backed by the establishment entire, from ahnold to bustamente to the cta and seiu to the msm's...

they fell by margins of 30, 24, 28, 32 and 32, respectively

my state has given up, sacto's assemblies have given up

as for moonbeam:

After spending nearly 20 years working his way back to the pinnacle of California politics, Jerry Brown is risking it all with an opening gambit that will either lead his distressed state to solvency or leave him in political ruin.

Brown’s bet is that the fear over California’s enormous $25 billion budget hole will give him a six-month window to unite the state’s many powerful warring factions for the greater good – even as each of them takes a major hit.

He’s expecting the state’s dominant state employee unions to sign on to major cuts in salary and services, business to back tax increases and the counties to deal with an enormous shift in expenses onto their books.

On top of that, Brown needs the dysfunctional legislature in Sacramento to cast votes designed to cut services and increase taxes. Even if he can persuade his party to go along with the painful cuts – and that’s a big if – he needs the votes of several vulnerable Republicans in both the state Assembly and Senate to assemble the two-thirds majority needed to approve a budget.

Jerry Brown takes a big risk - Andy Barr - POLITICO.com

CA was the only state in the union effectively to resist the wave that made tsunami tuesday, it is still strangely blue

but change is worldwide, liberal methodologies from greece to los angeles have flatly failed

cuz if the eu can turn...

austerity is the new byword

and if moonbeam can't pull off his gambit, a very far reach...

he's depending on a special election this june to get his taxes

watch and see

on another note, redistricting, more crudely called gerrymandering, has been taken away from the legislature and given instead to an "independent" panel

lines could not be drawn more advantageously for dems out here than they've been for a generation

the new boundaries can do nothing but help the minority CA

it's pensions and medicaid that are killing us

CA declares fiscal emegency

ie, more failed liberal experiments

stay up
 
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The whole west coast, the northeast, and some places inbetween are pretty much lost to the gop. The gop doesn't represent their values. The dnc does.

But within that sea of blue are oases of red. Run Conservatives in those districts and, while the state may stay blue, more representatives are added to the House. This is where I believe a difference can be made. There are diamonds for the taking, in 2012, in that thar rough. :)
 
last year was pretty much a historic 'wave' year for Republicans. They flipped the House pretty thoroughly, and took out not a few supposedly 'safe' Democrat seats.

of the 53 Representatives that California rates in the House of Representatives, after the historic wave of 2010, 18 of them are Republicans.

of the 2 Senators that California rates in the Senate, neither of them are Republicans.

hint: if, in a wave year, still only 1/3rd of your districts vote for a Republican.... then you are a blue state.

Note that only one of the two senate seats was up for election, it was Boxer who is popular, and she still only got 52 %.
 
Anyone SERIOUSLY want to look at California and cite it as a glaring example of liberal political success? Just because something is massively liberal and democrat...well...how much debt does the state carry? How much did the fed have to gift it just to pay its teachers? What is the future for places like LA county? WHat is Californias current and projected employment future?

Seriously kids...I full on support the rights of liberals and Californians to seceede and hope every conservative in California gets the message and closes shop and leaves.
 
Republicans are dead in California and will not return during the lifetimes of anyone existing today.

Now Democrats control everything in this state. And now is the time to bring this state to its knees as an abject lesson to the rest of the country about the consequences of leftist governance.

There is no way Jerry Brown can make the numbers pencil out. He has no hope of success. The best thing for conservatives to do is to exacerbate the agony and spread the demoralization among leftists. Bring California down and leftist ideology will be swept away.
 
Anyone SERIOUSLY want to look at California and cite it as a glaring example of liberal political success? Just because something is massively liberal and democrat...well...how much debt does the state carry? How much did the fed have to gift it just to pay its teachers? What is the future for places like LA county? WHat is Californias current and projected employment future?

Seriously kids...I full on support the rights of liberals and Californians to seceede and hope every conservative in California gets the message and closes shop and leaves.

I respectfully differ on the best thing for old conservatives to do. Young conservatives should save themselves and their families by leaving. Old conservatives should stay and gum up the works. Demand entitlements. Put stress on the state's budget. Demoralize young leftists with the tax burden they bear in order to give us extra pocket money for greens fees. **** them up every way possible.
 
The way I see it, the Republican Party did this to itself, by throwing it's support, not to any of the Conservatives who were running against Gray Davis, and who could have easily beaten him, but to Arnold Schwartzneggar, an avowed Liberal on many issues. Thus, the introduction of this poison pill into California politics, by the GOP, has tarnished the Conservative brand beyond repair in the near future.

However, I disagree with the consensus of the political observers. While Conservatism is on life support in California, at the present time, it is not dead. We must look past the next few years, roll up our sleeves, and rebuild the Conservative movement. It will take years, but I believe it can be done. And when it is finally done, the Republican Party must make a promise to never again back a RINO in California. Although the governorship looks out of reach for a while, there are still Congressional districts that can be won. Each one of those is additional insurance that will help the Republican Party stay in control of the House, and that is what is important. There are still red districts in California, and it's more than a few. Some of those are blue for the moment, but with the right direction, they can become red again.

Time to roll up sleeves and get to work. Yes, I believe that California is still on the table. The GOP brand has no place to go in that state but up, and that is a silver lining in an otherwise very dark cloud of the Republican Party's own making.

Article is here.

You should never declare anything dead in politics. That kind of hubris always leads to a decisive turnaround as those who declare think they have it in the bag and stop being responsive.

Republicans are dead in California and will not return during the lifetimes of anyone existing today.

Now Democrats control everything in this state. And now is the time to bring this state to its knees as an abject lesson to the rest of the country about the consequences of leftist governance.

There is no way Jerry Brown can make the numbers pencil out. He has no hope of success. The best thing for conservatives to do is to exacerbate the agony and spread the demoralization among leftists. Bring California down and leftist ideology will be swept away.

Are you seriously advocating causing harm and misery to further an agenda?
 
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I respectfully differ on the best thing for old conservatives to do. Young conservatives should save themselves and their families by leaving. Old conservatives should stay and gum up the works. Demand entitlements. Put stress on the state's budget. Demoralize young leftists with the tax burden they bear in order to give us extra pocket money for greens fees. **** them up every way possible.

Take entitlements? That kind of flies in the face of Conservatism, don't you think?
 
Take entitlements? That kind of flies in the face of Conservatism, don't you think?

My friend, keep your eye on the prize. Whatever defeats our mortal enemies is justified as long as it is not a violation of the law.

Bring them down. Burden them, vex them, harass them, demoralize them, show them there is no hope. :)
 
My friend, keep your eye on the prize. Whatever defeats our mortal enemies is justified as long as it is not a violation of the law.

Bring them down. Burden them, vex them, harass them, demoralize them, show them there is no hope. :)
Dont you think that this kind of adversarial attitude towards others in politics is somewhat destructive to the system as a whole?
 
My friend, keep your eye on the prize. Whatever defeats our mortal enemies is justified as long as it is not a violation of the law.

Bring them down. Burden them, vex them, harass them, demoralize them, show them there is no hope. :)

OK, this makes sense. Let's do it, but YOU be the one to go on welfare and I will be the one to call you a lazy Liberal. :mrgreen:
 
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