Perhaps California conservatives owe Richard Riordan a debt of
gratitude: In seeking to destroy a real Republican Party in the
state, Riordan managed to save it. He spent the better part of his
campaign baiting traditional Republicans, leaving Bill Simon with
an enormous opening to exploit.
Usually country club Republicans advance their “inclusive”
left-wing agenda with a measure of respect for the party’s base.
Not Riordan. He made it plain from the start that his big circus
tent would cover everyone except conservatives.
Riordan took great glee in driving traditional Republicans into
Simon’s arms. He allowed himself endless gibes at the expense of
the party faithful. How appropriate it is that this great expert on
“winning” and “electability” couldn’t even win a primary against a
political rookie.
Gerry Parsky, the White House’s man in California, may need one
of the stewardesses on his private Gulfstream jet to hand him a
towel. Egg covers his face. His attempt to foist a de facto liberal
Democrat on California Republicans backfired comically, leaving him
with no credibility in the state party.
Parsky views the conservatives who sustain the party with the
same level of contempt as Riordan. The White House should pull the
plug on Parsky’s elitist meddling in the party and replace him with
a real Republican.
The Simon victory reveals that the party runs on two tracks,
considerably distant from each other: the country club
establishment runs left, the faithful run right. Even the
California congressional delegation — which sold its soul for
Riordan and got nothing except embarrassment in return — appears
woefully out of touch with ordinary Republicans.
The David Dreiers of the delegation arrogantly shushed the
conservatives who told them not to support the Jim Jeffords of
California. “Victory,” they said, is the goal, and Riordan is the
stooge to get us there.
Riordan ended up making a stooge of them. While they dishonestly
assured the rank-and-file that Riordan represented real
Republicanism, Riordan was out on the trail screwing around with
liberal hacks like John Burton and Barbara Lee.
Riordan’s joke of a campaign ended in fitting style: He spent
two of the last nights of the campaign in San Francisco hamming it
up in a magic and comedy routine.
Simon, meanwhile, ran a “disciplined” campaign, as even the
left-wing “Los Angeles Times” put it. He courted conservative
groups diligently, promised tax cuts, drew attention to Riordan’s
liberalism, and milked Rudy Giuliani’s endorsement for all it was
worth.
Giuliani’s touch is golden: According to the Times, 30 percent
of Simon voters credited “Giuliani’s endorsement” as a “major
influence” on their vote.
Simon would do well to make Giuliani the honorary chairman of
his campaign. Giuliani’s glow will make Simon’s face visible to
Californians sick of drone Davis.
Naturally, the media and moderates in the party — who know so
much about winning that they prodded Riordan to run — are now
lecturing Simon on what he “needs to do to win.” The Times offered
this “news analysis” on Wednesday morning: “Simon’s Conservative
Image Could Play Into Davis’ Hands.” Translation: We here at the
Los Angeles Times will do everything in our power to make Simon
look like an extremist so that Davis can win.
Simon is hardly the conservative of the Times’ feverish
imaginings. The truth is that he holds conventional Republican
views on most issues and has no intention of running a highly
ideological campaign. He is more eager to talk about water and
highways than abortion and affirmative action.
His pro-life views are studiously low-key. But watch the media
take these quiet musings and transform Simon into the second coming
of Randall Terry.
True, the abortion issue can kill a candidacy — Richard
Riordan’s. He never stopped talking about his affinity for abortion
rights; he almost sounded like a flak for Planned Parenthood. The
delicious irony of his women-like-me-because-I’m-pro-abortion
babblings is that Republican women defected from him in droves.
The abortion issue could even help Simon with Hispanic
Democrats. Simon, a pro-life Catholic like many of them, can ask
them if they feel comfortable with a Democrat governor who sees the
unborn children of poor minorities as nuisances to be exterminated
with their tax dollars.
Simon, having beaten one high-profile liberal, is now ready to
beat another.
