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California Republican Party: Dirty Tricks and "Four More Years"--In Iraq

By Rick Jacobs
Chair
The Courage Campaign

As the Petraeus/Crocker show starts tomorrow, think about this: a Republican White House victory in 2008. That'd mean four more years in Iraq and who knows what in Iran. It'd mean four more years of torture in prisons, of wire tapping our phones and computers, of making the environment worse, not working to reverse the damage. Four more years sounds far- fetched, doesn't it? The "surge" has failed. America's low standing in the world is matched by that of Bush's standing in the US. The Republican presidential candidates are in disarray. The American people "get it." The Republicans can't win again in 2008, right?

The California Republican Party this morning seemed to agree that in a fair election, the Republicans lose. Noting that they could only attract John McCain to their confab (no other candidates bothered to show), seeing their own Governor Schwarzenegger chide them for being too far to the right, the delegates were clearly down in the mouth. The prospects indeed look dim. No one pays attention to them and they don't like anyone who's running.

So without a vision for a better world, what did they do? They passed a resolution endorsing the dirty tricks initiative that will simply steal the 2008 presidential election for whomever the Republicans finally dredge up. (I've been writing about this for a while because it will decide the outcome of the 2008 election.) With official Republican Party support, the backers of this outrageous initiative can almost assure that it'll be on the June 2008 ballot. That'll give the right wing party crazies led by their pro-war Chairman Ron Nehring something to cheer about: they can raise money and engage their shrinking base to come out and rig the election. Let's keep it simple: if this passes, we have to win Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida or some other tough combination of states in order to win the White House.

And even with that shrinking base, it could pass because we have three elections here in California next year. The June election will generate the lowest turn-out and therefore, with their obfuscation tactics on full display, they'll drive their own base to vote yes and hope their lies will confuse the others. At the least, we'll have to spend lots of money fighting it, a sort of classic spoiled child victory for the right wing either way.

Governor Schwarzenegger gave the delegates a talking to on Friday night, explaining that they had left the voters behind, that they had to address issues such as the environment and healthcare if they hoped to win another election. This was on the heels of his having called the Electoral College dirty tricks initiative part of a "loser's mentality" for those who seek to change the rules in the middle of the game. But the governor refused to go all the way: he would not say outright that he opposes the power grab, even though he calls himself post-partisan. I guess you can be post-partisan if you don't have real positions on tough issues.

Courage Campaign is running a netroots/grassroots effort to galvanize our base to kill this thing. If you think General Petraues and the Bush Administration endanger the nation, think about four more years of Fred Thompson or Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani. Think about four more years in Iraq. Think about invading Iran. We have to stand up now and say no. Not in California. Not in America.

Rick Jacobs is the founder and chair of the Courage Campaign. He chaired the presidential campaign of Howard Dean in California and serves as Senior Advisor to Democracy for America.

Posted on September 09, 2007

Comments

Another Rep power grab, outlined by Sherry Greenberg in
the California Majority Report,
regards redistricting. Unfortunately, that power grab has not yet been analyzed by those who should know better. Why can't Dems get it through their heads that the Reps will always try to change the rules of the game (Florida 2000, voted id laws, "caging", splitting California's electoral vote, redistricing "reform")? Why should the Dems go along with this?

Posted by: publius at September 9, 2007 09:50 PM

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