Schwarzenegger urges GOP to move beyond ideology
The governor says it is important for his party to regroup and support spending on programs Americans want.
Reporting from Sacramento — In the wake of crushing defeats for Republicans in last week's national elections, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said today that his party should regroup by moving away from some of its core conservative principles and embrace spending on programs that Americans want.
"I think the important thing for the Republican Party is now to also look at other issues that are very important for this country and not to get stuck in ideology," the governor said in an interview broadcast on CNN this morning. "Let's go and talk about healthcare reform. Let's go and . . . fund programs if they're necessary programs and not get stuck just on the fiscal responsibility."
Schwarzenegger, a social moderate, long ago earned the enmity of many California Republicans, who believe he abandoned some of the fiscally conservative views he espoused when he ran for office five years ago and began proposing new spending. They cite, for instance, his failed plan to dramatically expand health insurance in the state. Last week, Schwarzenegger angered Republicans again by proposing a statewide sales tax increase to balance the budget.
But the governor has not so openly criticized the approach of the conservative bloc that dominates his party on the national level. He said he thought Republicans had "a very good party," and he has no plans to leave it, because he agrees with their push to reduce restrictions on business and to remain strong on crime. Schwarzenegger said, however, that the GOP should support greater investment to build roads and fix schools and other "things that the American people want to have done."
They should not "always just say, 'This is spending. We can't do that.' No, don't get stuck with that. We have heard that dialogue. Let's move on."
Schwarzenegger told CNN's John King that he believed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska would have won if not for the plunging stock market in the days leading up to the election. The governor deflected a question about whether McCain had used bad judgment in selecting Palin as his running mate.
Since Tuesday, he said, California First Lady Maria Shriver, a Democrat and a member of the Kennedy family, had been running around their house with a cardboard cutout of President-elect Barack Obama, gloating over his victory. Schwarzenegger, who joked about Obama's "scrawny" physique while the governor was campaigning with McCain, said he was "proud" to see the American people elect their first African American president.
"I was touched by it," he said. "Democrats and Republicans should do everything they can to help this man and his administration to be successful." But he said that there was no validity to rumors he would quit as governor to work in the Obama administration.
Rothfeld is a Times staff writer.
michael.rothfeld@latimes.com
