9
9 Trillion Dollar Republican Natio
Guest
GOP struggles with identity crisis
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Sunday, September 9, 2007
It is the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, but today there
is an identity crisis roiling the Republican Party as it approaches
the 2008 election - as GOP moderates and conservatives confronting the
Iraq war, corruption and the declining profile of President Bush
engage in a heated debate over just whose party it will be in the
future.
The painful struggle for the soul of the GOP was played out here at
the state convention of the California Republican Party, the nation's
largest, in shockingly different speeches by two leading GOP governors
this weekend.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has championed "post-
partisan" cooperation, issued a bold call for a return to Reagan's
"big tent" and moderation during the opening night of the GOP
gathering of 1,400 Friday. He warned conservative party activists who
dominate the GOP to take the conciliatory middle of the road - court
independents and address issues such as global warming and health care
- or watch their party "dying at the box office."
Minutes later, conservative Texas Gov. Rick Perry shattered that mood
with an incendiary address deriding Schwarzenegger-style moderation
and decrying California's "bankrupt, liberal political philosophy"-
exhorting Republicans to stand their ground on social issues such as
abortion and gay marriage. And without ever mentioning the California
governor's name, Perry launched a blistering attack clearly aimed at
his direction.
"It's a sad, sad state of affairs when liberals campaign like
Republicans to get elected, and Republicans govern like liberals to be
loved," he said, getting whoops and repeated standing ovations from
the 400 delegates at the opening dinner that put Schwarzenegger's
polite reception to shame.
With five months to go until the first primaries and caucuses of the
2008 presidential election, the divergent scenes at the state GOP
convention in the nation's most populous state served as a road map
for what may lie ahead as Republicans debate what issues, what
candidates - indeed, what very philosophy - they should offer to
American voters if their beleaguered party is to thrive and hold
ground.
The dilemma was evident as delegates heard Saturday from presidential
candidate John McCain, who in 2000 was considered a favorite maverick
of many delegates. The Arizona senator has lost ground among moderates
for his strong support of the Iraq troop surge and among conservatives
for his advocacy of immigration reform and campaign finance reform.
McCain acknowledged this is a "perilous time for our party - but, far
more important, a perilous time for our country."
"As we all know, the war in Iraq has not gone well, and the American
people have grown sick and tired of it," he said. "I, too, have been
made sick at heart by the many mistakes made by civilian and military
commanders, and the terrible price we paid for them."
But as he gently reminded the delegates of the late President Reagan's
"shining city on the hill" speech - McCain sat at the side of Reagan
when it was delivered - he suggested that there should be no
partisanship in the goal of serving what Reagan called America, "the
last best hope of man on earth."
The challenges posed for the embattled Republican Party in California,
dominated by conservative leadership, are particularly daunting: The
state GOP is in the minority in both legislative houses, has lost
120,000 voters from its rolls in the past year, operates in the red
because of a paucity of donors and has few promising prospects for
future statewide elective races.
But the discomfort with the call for a retooling was evident in
conservative California Republican Party state chair Ronald Nehring,
who was asked in a press conference more than a half-dozen times by
reporters if he agreed with Schwarzenegger's speech. He stubbornly
refused to express an opinion, sticking to his message that Democrats
are "the party that has lost the middle ground."
GOP delegates were apparently also not eager to get into a fight on
the party's platform - and whether Republicans should jettison hard-
line talk on such social issues as abortion and gay marriage and stick
to a more streamlined, mainstream approach, the "big tent" Reagan
philosophy that Schwarzenegger espoused.
Patrick Dorinson, a GOP consultant, said that Schwarzenegger's
"terrific" call for a return to the moderate middle was a necessary
reminder to Republicans that "you have to truly understand the
electorate that you are dealing with ... and clearly we have to reach
out to independents."
Adam Mendelsohn, the governor's communications director, said
Schwarzenegger wants the party to be "talking about solving problems"
and reforms on voters' minds, health care being at the top of the
list. "Just because there are issues that Democrats owned," he said,
"that doesn't mean there aren't Republican solutions."
But conservatives were dismayed, even angered, by what they said was
the governor's efforts to abandon party principles.
"Rick Perry gave the Republican speech at this convention," said Mike
Spence, a leading voice in the conservative California Republican
Assembly. "What (Schwarzenegger) has been doing is undermining the
Republican party his entire governorship ... the way he's run the
party, his campaigns and his policies. He came here to attack and to
bring up divisive issues."
Jon Fleischman, a vice chair of the California GOP and influential
publisher of the Flashreport, a popular GOP Web site, said that
Schwarzenegger must "come back to his roots, Ronald Reagan, Milton
Friedman." But "to come into a Republican convention and talk about
how the success plan for Republicans is to be more like Democrats is
very unfortunate."
McCain, asked whether his party is resonating with the political
middle, acknowledged a host of problems facing GOP elected officials
and candidates at all levels.
"I don't think it's our message. I think it's our actions," he said.
"I think when you have former members of Congress in federal prison;
when you have the corruption that was bred by this out-of-control
spending, which betrayed our Republican base that cares about fiscal
conservatism; when we fail after Hurricane Katrina - we say
everything's fine and there's people that literally are dehydrating
without water in the Superdome - they've lost confidence that we
can ... be effective (as) the ruling party."
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Sunday, September 9, 2007
It is the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan, but today there
is an identity crisis roiling the Republican Party as it approaches
the 2008 election - as GOP moderates and conservatives confronting the
Iraq war, corruption and the declining profile of President Bush
engage in a heated debate over just whose party it will be in the
future.
The painful struggle for the soul of the GOP was played out here at
the state convention of the California Republican Party, the nation's
largest, in shockingly different speeches by two leading GOP governors
this weekend.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has championed "post-
partisan" cooperation, issued a bold call for a return to Reagan's
"big tent" and moderation during the opening night of the GOP
gathering of 1,400 Friday. He warned conservative party activists who
dominate the GOP to take the conciliatory middle of the road - court
independents and address issues such as global warming and health care
- or watch their party "dying at the box office."
Minutes later, conservative Texas Gov. Rick Perry shattered that mood
with an incendiary address deriding Schwarzenegger-style moderation
and decrying California's "bankrupt, liberal political philosophy"-
exhorting Republicans to stand their ground on social issues such as
abortion and gay marriage. And without ever mentioning the California
governor's name, Perry launched a blistering attack clearly aimed at
his direction.
"It's a sad, sad state of affairs when liberals campaign like
Republicans to get elected, and Republicans govern like liberals to be
loved," he said, getting whoops and repeated standing ovations from
the 400 delegates at the opening dinner that put Schwarzenegger's
polite reception to shame.
With five months to go until the first primaries and caucuses of the
2008 presidential election, the divergent scenes at the state GOP
convention in the nation's most populous state served as a road map
for what may lie ahead as Republicans debate what issues, what
candidates - indeed, what very philosophy - they should offer to
American voters if their beleaguered party is to thrive and hold
ground.
The dilemma was evident as delegates heard Saturday from presidential
candidate John McCain, who in 2000 was considered a favorite maverick
of many delegates. The Arizona senator has lost ground among moderates
for his strong support of the Iraq troop surge and among conservatives
for his advocacy of immigration reform and campaign finance reform.
McCain acknowledged this is a "perilous time for our party - but, far
more important, a perilous time for our country."
"As we all know, the war in Iraq has not gone well, and the American
people have grown sick and tired of it," he said. "I, too, have been
made sick at heart by the many mistakes made by civilian and military
commanders, and the terrible price we paid for them."
But as he gently reminded the delegates of the late President Reagan's
"shining city on the hill" speech - McCain sat at the side of Reagan
when it was delivered - he suggested that there should be no
partisanship in the goal of serving what Reagan called America, "the
last best hope of man on earth."
The challenges posed for the embattled Republican Party in California,
dominated by conservative leadership, are particularly daunting: The
state GOP is in the minority in both legislative houses, has lost
120,000 voters from its rolls in the past year, operates in the red
because of a paucity of donors and has few promising prospects for
future statewide elective races.
But the discomfort with the call for a retooling was evident in
conservative California Republican Party state chair Ronald Nehring,
who was asked in a press conference more than a half-dozen times by
reporters if he agreed with Schwarzenegger's speech. He stubbornly
refused to express an opinion, sticking to his message that Democrats
are "the party that has lost the middle ground."
GOP delegates were apparently also not eager to get into a fight on
the party's platform - and whether Republicans should jettison hard-
line talk on such social issues as abortion and gay marriage and stick
to a more streamlined, mainstream approach, the "big tent" Reagan
philosophy that Schwarzenegger espoused.
Patrick Dorinson, a GOP consultant, said that Schwarzenegger's
"terrific" call for a return to the moderate middle was a necessary
reminder to Republicans that "you have to truly understand the
electorate that you are dealing with ... and clearly we have to reach
out to independents."
Adam Mendelsohn, the governor's communications director, said
Schwarzenegger wants the party to be "talking about solving problems"
and reforms on voters' minds, health care being at the top of the
list. "Just because there are issues that Democrats owned," he said,
"that doesn't mean there aren't Republican solutions."
But conservatives were dismayed, even angered, by what they said was
the governor's efforts to abandon party principles.
"Rick Perry gave the Republican speech at this convention," said Mike
Spence, a leading voice in the conservative California Republican
Assembly. "What (Schwarzenegger) has been doing is undermining the
Republican party his entire governorship ... the way he's run the
party, his campaigns and his policies. He came here to attack and to
bring up divisive issues."
Jon Fleischman, a vice chair of the California GOP and influential
publisher of the Flashreport, a popular GOP Web site, said that
Schwarzenegger must "come back to his roots, Ronald Reagan, Milton
Friedman." But "to come into a Republican convention and talk about
how the success plan for Republicans is to be more like Democrats is
very unfortunate."
McCain, asked whether his party is resonating with the political
middle, acknowledged a host of problems facing GOP elected officials
and candidates at all levels.
"I don't think it's our message. I think it's our actions," he said.
"I think when you have former members of Congress in federal prison;
when you have the corruption that was bred by this out-of-control
spending, which betrayed our Republican base that cares about fiscal
conservatism; when we fail after Hurricane Katrina - we say
everything's fine and there's people that literally are dehydrating
without water in the Superdome - they've lost confidence that we
can ... be effective (as) the ruling party."
