Nicholas Byram
2003-09-28 05:20:06 UTC
Sadly, Tom McClintock doesn't see the set-up....He is pleased that the
Sacramento Bee, LA Times, SF Chronicle, and various TV Stations are giving
him good press? As if that liberal media would really support him? They are
only doing it to try to divide votes and insure a Crud Bustamante victory.
case in point below...
*****
McClintock takes to the airwaves
He sticks to his message on the state budget and his vow to finish race.
By Margaret Talev, Sacramento Bee
The morning after the big debate, everybody wanted a piece of Republican Tom
McClintock, whom many in his own party have come to see as the guy poised to
ruin Arnold Schwarzenegger's bid to take over California's governorship.
So, early Thursday, the conservative state senator, known for his intense
gaze and penchant for quoting the Declaration of Independence, headed over
to what's become his second home lately, a satellite studio in midtown
Sacramento.
There, he hunkered down for hours of interviews, in rapid succession, giving
a dozen television anchors across the country what they wanted:
--A display of his encyclopedic knowledge of California budget minutiae.
--Some good, old-fashioned fire and brimstone about how his
Democratic-controlled, economically troubled state is on a collision course
with disaster.
--And an insistence that he's not dropping out of the biggest race of his
career, the Oct. 7 election to recall and replace Democratic Gov. Gray
Davis, just because some beefy movie star rival -- who calls himself a
Republican but inhabits a different ideological galaxy -- wants him to.
In four straight interviews, with Fox News, CNN, an NBC affiliate from San
Jose and finally MSNBC, McClintock stayed very much on message. From show to
show, interviewers asked nearly all the same questions. His answers were
almost verbatim.
Will he drop out? "When I make a promise, I stand by that promise," he said
again and again. "I'm in this race to the finish line."
Even at 18 percent support, as some recent polling has shown, though, isn't
he trailing Schwarzenegger and the other top candidate, Democratic Lt. Gov.
Cruz Bustamante?
"Arnold has been pretty much dead in the water," he shot back, noting how
the actor's support has been in the mid-20s for weeks.
"Meanwhile, I've gone from an asterisk five weeks ago, behind Peter Camejo
of the Green Party, and I've moved into a solid third-place position. The
wind's been really on my side. And if that momentum continues into the final
stage of the campaign, I expect to win on election day."
*****
(But the "Momentum" is in large part liberal media manufactured! Don't you
get it, Tom???)
*****
But isn't McClintock, who opposes abortion and affirmative action and wants
to slash government spending, too conservative for California?
"I had a professor in college who used to say that a conservative is a
liberal who's been mugged," he responded. "Well, the people of California
have been mugged by their government, and they know it, and they want a
change."
What does he make of the insults traded between Schwarzenegger and
independent Arianna Huffington during Wednesday night's televised candidate
debate?
"I don't get involved in these juvenile, personal bickering matches that
have been going on," he said. "I've focused on the future of California from
Day One."
If McClintock seems an old pro at the TV game, it's just an act. Add up all
the interviews he's given in two decades in California politics and it
doesn't touch the magnitude of free, national media exposure he's squeezed
out of his recall candidacy since the race began in July.
*****
(Seriously, Tom, why are the liberal media giving it to you? Think about
it...)
*****
He knows it's the ideologically moderate and politically inexperienced
Schwarzenegger whose celebrity has ignited so much of the interest in this
race -- and in the other candidates.
As far as McClintock is concerned, that makes his own campaign all the
sweeter.
To his sensibilities, Schwarzenegger is a Republican-lite, perhaps the
choice for some pragmatists but not for the true believers, he said during a
break in the studio.
"Ronald Reagan taught us to paint our positions in bold colors and not paint
them in pale pastels," he said of the former California governor and party
icon. "This is no time for Republicans to be changing their principles."
Many nights, McClintock said, his dreams become an extension of the
campaigning he's done earlier in the day. He replays conversations with
supporters who cheer him on.
"When you go through a crowd of people wishing you well, it really is a
wonderful feeling," he said. "I get the reruns when I go to sleep. I kind of
enjoy that part of it."
So far, at least, the rising chorus of fellow Republicans pressing him to
drop out is something he can only hear when his eyes are open.
Sacramento Bee, LA Times, SF Chronicle, and various TV Stations are giving
him good press? As if that liberal media would really support him? They are
only doing it to try to divide votes and insure a Crud Bustamante victory.
case in point below...
*****
McClintock takes to the airwaves
He sticks to his message on the state budget and his vow to finish race.
By Margaret Talev, Sacramento Bee
The morning after the big debate, everybody wanted a piece of Republican Tom
McClintock, whom many in his own party have come to see as the guy poised to
ruin Arnold Schwarzenegger's bid to take over California's governorship.
So, early Thursday, the conservative state senator, known for his intense
gaze and penchant for quoting the Declaration of Independence, headed over
to what's become his second home lately, a satellite studio in midtown
Sacramento.
There, he hunkered down for hours of interviews, in rapid succession, giving
a dozen television anchors across the country what they wanted:
--A display of his encyclopedic knowledge of California budget minutiae.
--Some good, old-fashioned fire and brimstone about how his
Democratic-controlled, economically troubled state is on a collision course
with disaster.
--And an insistence that he's not dropping out of the biggest race of his
career, the Oct. 7 election to recall and replace Democratic Gov. Gray
Davis, just because some beefy movie star rival -- who calls himself a
Republican but inhabits a different ideological galaxy -- wants him to.
In four straight interviews, with Fox News, CNN, an NBC affiliate from San
Jose and finally MSNBC, McClintock stayed very much on message. From show to
show, interviewers asked nearly all the same questions. His answers were
almost verbatim.
Will he drop out? "When I make a promise, I stand by that promise," he said
again and again. "I'm in this race to the finish line."
Even at 18 percent support, as some recent polling has shown, though, isn't
he trailing Schwarzenegger and the other top candidate, Democratic Lt. Gov.
Cruz Bustamante?
"Arnold has been pretty much dead in the water," he shot back, noting how
the actor's support has been in the mid-20s for weeks.
"Meanwhile, I've gone from an asterisk five weeks ago, behind Peter Camejo
of the Green Party, and I've moved into a solid third-place position. The
wind's been really on my side. And if that momentum continues into the final
stage of the campaign, I expect to win on election day."
*****
(But the "Momentum" is in large part liberal media manufactured! Don't you
get it, Tom???)
*****
But isn't McClintock, who opposes abortion and affirmative action and wants
to slash government spending, too conservative for California?
"I had a professor in college who used to say that a conservative is a
liberal who's been mugged," he responded. "Well, the people of California
have been mugged by their government, and they know it, and they want a
change."
What does he make of the insults traded between Schwarzenegger and
independent Arianna Huffington during Wednesday night's televised candidate
debate?
"I don't get involved in these juvenile, personal bickering matches that
have been going on," he said. "I've focused on the future of California from
Day One."
If McClintock seems an old pro at the TV game, it's just an act. Add up all
the interviews he's given in two decades in California politics and it
doesn't touch the magnitude of free, national media exposure he's squeezed
out of his recall candidacy since the race began in July.
*****
(Seriously, Tom, why are the liberal media giving it to you? Think about
it...)
*****
He knows it's the ideologically moderate and politically inexperienced
Schwarzenegger whose celebrity has ignited so much of the interest in this
race -- and in the other candidates.
As far as McClintock is concerned, that makes his own campaign all the
sweeter.
To his sensibilities, Schwarzenegger is a Republican-lite, perhaps the
choice for some pragmatists but not for the true believers, he said during a
break in the studio.
"Ronald Reagan taught us to paint our positions in bold colors and not paint
them in pale pastels," he said of the former California governor and party
icon. "This is no time for Republicans to be changing their principles."
Many nights, McClintock said, his dreams become an extension of the
campaigning he's done earlier in the day. He replays conversations with
supporters who cheer him on.
"When you go through a crowd of people wishing you well, it really is a
wonderful feeling," he said. "I get the reruns when I go to sleep. I kind of
enjoy that part of it."
So far, at least, the rising chorus of fellow Republicans pressing him to
drop out is something he can only hear when his eyes are open.