Arnold's Base Idea Will Not Build G.O.P. Base

From the pages of Times Against Humanity . . .

In an interview with the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) declared that he believes the Republican Party should move "a little further left" to attract new voters and build the G.O.P. base. "Schwarzenegger said he sees a clear line of demarcation between the Republican and Democratic Party," Jimmy Moore reports for Talon News.

"The Republican Party currently covers only the spectrum from the right wing to the middle, and the Democratic Party covers the spectrum from the left to the middle," Schwarzenegger explained in the newspaper interview. "I would like the Republican Party to cross this line, move a little further left and place more weight on the center."

"This would immediately give the [Republican] party 5 percent more votes without its losing anything elsewhere," Schwarzenegger claimed, displaying the liberal tunnel vision that typifies his Hollywood co-stars or, as Karen England, head of California's Capitol Research Institute put it, "his 'extreme arrogance and total ignorance' about the core constituents of the Republican Party."

"Schwarzenegger has spent too much time in Hollywood," England remarked in a statement. "He needs to start mingling more with mainstream Californians."

To be sure, this is scarcely "man-bites-dog" news. Since his election in 2003, Moore writes, the California governor "has openly shown his support for liberal social issues such as gay marriage and abortion, among others." No wonder pro-life, pro-family Republicans like England are upset.

We are outraged that Schwarzenegger has the audacity to misspeak for the millions of Republicans in this country who believe that abortion is murder and that the life of a child should come before the mere convenience of a woman. We are outraged that Schwarzenegger would turn his back on two-thirds of Californians, many Democrats included, who voted just four short years ago to protect traditional marriage in this state.

Writing to supporters, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said that he is "surprised when elected officials seem to forget what voters want, even when it has only been just a few weeks since an election."

Every time voters are given a chance to speak out, they vote to uphold marriage and traditional moral values. . . . Unfortunately, too many political leaders appear to be morally deaf.

Schwarzenegger is not only morally deaf; he is tone deaf politically. The United States is not Hollywood -- or even California -- and following Arnie's half-baked idea of pandering to his fellow pro-abort, pro-perversion liberals will not build the G.O.P. base. It would, however, show the door to Catholic and evangelical voters who re-elected President Bush on the basis of such moral issues as the defense of life and marriage.

"If Schwarzenegger thinks that the majority of the G.O.P. base will stick with the Republican Party on fiscal issues alone, then he has a lot to learn about the makeup of his own party," England exclaimed.

After all, even a liberal columnist like the Racine, WI, Journal Times' Rachel Campbell concedes:

Now simply isn't the time. If proud conservatives are going to go bananas every time you say "Happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," you can imagine their reaction to easing restrictions on gay marriage.

Let's pray that Conan the Liberal's moldy idea stays in the fetid imagination of the Culture of Death and that the Stupid Party does not have to learn its lesson the hard way.

Supplemental Reading:

• See also "My Governator Offers Some Bad Advice," Jimmy Akin, Defensor Fidei.