OCT 16 - 31, 2004

VOL. 2 ISSUE 20

OCTOBER 20, 2004 – They could not be more opposite.

George W. Bush ran for office as a moderate, making promise after promise and pitch after pitch to us in the middle, swearing he would speak for all parties and people, unite us, and not support extreme policies.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, did his best to appear conservative.

Each was trying to counter their public image, Bush trying to soften his southern conservative, born-again fundamentalist image, and Arnold to not seem the playboy that left even the most liberal of liberals gasping in shock.

Both were moderately successful in convincing the elements they sought to sway that they would govern in a way they would love.  Bush got enough moderates to make the 2000 election close, and Schwarzenegger almost entirely won over conservative voters.

But this week, Arnold pulled a Bush and shot directly into the faces of those who trusted him.

Conservative Republicans were certain Arnold was really just another George W. Bush, a good ‘ol boy who may have been wild in his early days but now was in line with the conservative agenda.  They figured it was the moderates who were being suckered in by his playboy image, and that they would be kept happy by his theatrical appearances and so not notice while he implemented their conservative agenda.

Even more, they hoped Arnold’s installation in the recall election would bolster Bush’s chances in the heavily Democratic-leaning state.  But this week, Arnold fired a shot – actually, more like a machine gun clip – across the bow of the Bush Republicans.

First, he came out in favor of a proposition on the ballot in California that floats a bond in support of one of the holiest crusades of the Bush Republicans, stem-cell research – and not just stem-cell, but embryonic stem-cell research.

Why?  Because he wants to.  His father-in-law, he said, has Alzheimer’s, and so he’s for the research that may help.  (see article: Schwarzenegger Endorsing Stem Cell Research)

And no, this wasn’t a lone salvo.

Next he stood up against something that is purely political.  He came out in support of a ballot initiative that would end party primaries, against the Republican party’s wishes.  In a heavily Democratic state, that could mean that state office races could be between two Democrats, with no real Republican contender on the ticket.

Arnold’s reasoning?

"An open primary is an important reform that will lead to more mainstream legislators from each party coming to the Capitol."  (see Breaking News from Mercury News)

In other words, he would like to give us moderates and independents more of a chance.

And just in case the Republican Party didn’t get the message, Arnold then did so uncampaigning for the President.

No, he didn’t say it was the greatest thing ever to get to speak in favor of Bush at the RNC Convention.  He said once he went Bush/Limbaughian, he stopped getting laid.

“"There was no sex for 14 days," said Mr Schwarzenegger… "Everything comes with side-effects," he said  (see article: Arnie's Plug Means No Hard Feelings)

‘Support Bush and You’ll Stop Getting Laid,’ is hardly the type of endorsement the Bushies had been hoping for.

In taking all of these shots, Arnold is speaking out for a forgotten group of Americans – moderate Republicans.

The Bushies have entirely taken over the Republican Party, to the point that moderates, like Jim Jeffords (I-NH) had to leave the party, and other moderate to liberal Republicans have been entirely ostracized and bullied into oblivion.

Even one of the top members of Bush’s staff, Secretary of State Colin Powell, has faced this same fate.

But the reality is that there are millions of Powell/Schwarzenegger Republicans who are angered and frustrated.  A large number of them have chosen, as with Arnold, to befriend Kerry for the time being.  But in reality, what they want is for their Party to come back from the absurd extreme it has shot off to.  A little moderate rhetoric may work well in the press or for an election or two, but in the end a lack of moderate policies incurs that wrath of moderate Americans.

Arnold is not going to pansy-up to the religious right and change his views on stem-cell research or anything else.  He is not going to be a girlie man who, as George H. W. Bush did, suddenly changes his views on abortion or, as George W. Bush did, suddenly find religion or, as Ronald Reagan did, change religions and become a pseudo-pious preacher.

If George W. Bush were to win the upcoming election and the Republicans hold Congress, then Arnold will be the odd man out and Powell will quietly fade into unwelcome oblivion.

But with a Kerry victory, the Republican party will become a battle between the pissed-off Buchanan right and the just as frustrated Powell/Schwarzenegger middle.  And in the middle, the Bush/Limbaugh neo-conning Machiavellian anarchist branch of the Republican Party will be crunched and punished.  Who comes out on top – or whether there is perhaps simply a reinvigoration of the party that allows some room for all of these groups – will decide if the Republican Party truly goes for a massive fall, or if the disaster of the Bush/Limbaugh experience simply gives America back the Republican Party as a viable, morally-sound option in future elections.

We at The Moderate Independent applaud Schwarzenegger’s stand, bucking his sales pitch and showing himself to truly be the sort of moderate independent that America needs more of.

Now if he could just work out his disastrous borrow-and-spend fiscal policy.