Governor blasts state GOP
By Kevin Yamamura - Bee Capitol Bureau
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger delivered an indictment Friday of his own California Republican Party during an address at its annual fall convention in Indian Wells, suggesting that the state GOP has a defeatist mentality and calling on the party to pursue independent voters in order to regain power.
The Republican governor has long been at odds with his party's conservative base, but the tone in his Friday speech was more strikingly critical of California Republicans than at any other time in his governorship.
"In movie terms, we are dying at the box office," Schwarzenegger declared, according to prepared text of his remarks. "We are not filling the seats."
Schwarzenegger ticked off statistics showing the "astonishing" decline in Republican registration throughout California. He rebuked Republican leaders for blocking independents from voting in next year's GOP primaries while Democrats allow those voters to cast ballots in their contests.
And the governor portrayed Republicans in California as seemingly defeated and unwilling to fight to reclaim majority status.
"In business, if you lose market share, you do something about it," Schwarzenegger said. "But I wonder if we've been so beaten down by our minority status that we've developed a bunker mentality. I wonder if we've come to believe that our only remaining power is to say, 'No.'"
Poster Comment:
Californians are leaving the GOP because the leadership keeps shoving RINOs down our throats. After the primary, I'm out too.