Bustamante campaign: Gov. Davis is sabotaging Democrats' hopes

[Nambe]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)

Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, the lone high-level Democrat running to replace Gov. Gray Davis should he be recalled on Oct. 7, went on national TV Sunday to accuse Davis's aides of sabotaging his effort to offer a Democratic alternative to California voters.

"If some of the governor's minions would stop trying to undercut my efforts, I think we could have a very coalesced opportunity for Democrats ... and we have a possibility of having a win-win position on the ballot," Bustamante said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Bustamante's chief strategist, Richie Ross, went further, saying Democratic donors and activists were being pressured by the Davis camp to withhold support from Bustamante.

"He's run into a pretty wide range of people as he's been making his phone calls, finding that many of them are being visited or called from the governor's campaign in an effort to shut him down," Ross said in an interview Sunday. "They are saying, 'Do not help the Bustamante effort.'" -

Banish bush From Texas Too

[imhotep]

1. guess he didn't get the memo

From Bill Clinton and the DLC.
Bustamante isnt going to be the only democrat sabotaged by elements within his own party. This is just a prelude to next year when they will work to destroy the nominee.

[diplomats]

3. Huh?

I can guarantee you Bill Clinton will work his butt off to get a Democrat elected in 2004. He'd love to see another one-term Bush presidency. You just watch.

[moondust]

16. Which does he want more?

A Democrat elected in 2004 OR his wife to be the Dem candidate in 2008?

[wtmusic]

2. If Bustamante would stop trying to undercut Davis's effort

to remain governor, we'd have a better opportunity for Democrats!

Is this the same Bustamante who said he didn't support the recall? Sounds like ambition is getting the best of his judgement.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Davis is DEAD - Do you understand dead? Rigor mortis dead!

Now if you want to put all of your eggs on Davis's basket, go right ahead, but I guarantee you that the next California governor will not be a Democrat.

Davis is DEAD! Rigor mortis dead! Nothing that Davis can do, not even Big Dog, can save his sorry ass. All the polls, including the Fields poll, show that Davis will lose in the recall by a marging wider than the Mississippi at its widest!

If we don't rally around Bustamante, then one of the Republicans will win the plurality and we end up with NOTHING!

Bustamante is the Lt. Governor and he is the legitimate successor to the Governor, except when there is a recall. We need to support Bustamante, and support him we must!

I support Bustamante despite the fact that he is Lieberman's man in California. Why can't you?

[aquart]

10. Except this isn't about Davis. Get that?

This is about your vote. Y. O. U. R. V. O. T. E.

If Davis is dead, so is your vote. The people of California elected Davis to serve a term of office. That is being nullified. And YOU are helping to nullify it.

Smart, sweetie. In trying to play the odds, you lose.

[Xithras]

18. One vote I'M happy to nullify

I only voted for Davis in the last election because our party didn't have the balls to run a REAL Democrat for governor (you'd think that charade Davis called a first-term would have shown the Dem leadership what a spineless reich-wing friendly charlatan he really is, and that they'd have dumped him at the first chance...but nooooo.) When the last election cycle started, I remember thinking that the ONLY way Davis would be our next governor was if our party showed itself to be too spineless to boot the jerk, and if the Republicans ran a total idiot. Well, guess what happened!

Davis is a borderline criminal who ONLY won because the Republicans found the worst possible candidate on the planet and chose HIM in the primaries. I, and everyone else I've spoken to about it, held our noses while we voted for Davis simply because he was the lesser of two evils. Given the option now, I intend to help correct that mistake.

Vote YES on the Recall!
Vote YES for Bustamante!

[robbedvoter]

25. It's not one vote - it's EVERYONE's! Mine too!

So you aid the coup at the risk of Democracy in this country!
You obviously missed the whole coup - a bit from Palast:

> Californians have found the solution to the deregulation
> disaster: re-call the only governor in the nation with the
> cojones to stand up to the electricity price fixers. And
> unlike Arnold Schwarzenegger, Gov. Gray Davis stood alone
> against the bad guys without using a body double. Davis
> called Reliant Corp of Houston a pack of "pirates" --and now
> he'll walk the plank for daring to stand up to the Texas
> marauders.

And I have in NY a governor who slept through 9.11 and the blackout, didn't lift a finger to get us reconstruction money and blamed Canada like an idiot for the blackout. Why isn't Pataki dead? Cuz he's GOP so the media shelters him, while hate radio mobs Davis for years. I am sick and tired of the tirades against Davis. You certainly miss the bigger picture here.

[Xithras]

38. Bull

>So you aid the coup at the risk of Democracy in this country!

This board tends to hold the minority opinion on that subject, but most real life California Democrats that I've both spoken with and see on TV don't agree with that assessment. The recall IS NOT A COUP, because the VOTERS get to choose whether or not Davis leaves office...you can't get more democratic than that! Gray Davis will leave office ONLY if the MAJORITY of voters in the next election choose to give him the boot. Democrats are the majority party in California...nobody gets kicked out of office without our approval (and, right now, most of us approve of the idea).

> Californians have found the solution to the deregulation
> disaster: re-call the only governor in the nation with the
> cojones to stand up to the electricity price fixers

Gray Davis didn't stand up to the energy companies, he rolled over and begged for mercy like a whipped dog. He signed their energy contracts over the objections of nearly EVERY OTHER POLITICIAN IN THE STATE INCLUDING HIS OWN PARTY, a decision which has cost this state over $20 billion. Press, politicians, and citizens across the state wanted him to hold off on signing those contracts until we discovered the root of the energy problems (which later turned out to be Enron), but Davis ignored the naysayers and gave the energy companies exactly what they wanted.

It was only after the contracts became a political liability that he bagan fighting their validity! It was only when people began questioning his fitness to govern that he started fighting back. Davis didn't care about "getting" the energy companies or finding out the cause of the energy crisis, he just knew that the rolling blackouts were making him look stupid and wanted to end them at any price. When the energy companies offered the contracts, he jumped and signed them without EVER questioning their motives or even wondering where this power was supposed to come from (after all, wasn't it SHORTAGES that were supposedly causing the rolling blackouts? How was a $41 billion contract supposed to fix those? Davis never even asked).

You can back Davis because he's a Dem if you really want to, but Davis is a Democrat in name only and is more interested in satisfying his political ambitions and his donors than helping the people of California. Bustamante is a well known Democratic ACTIVIST who has PROVEN that he'll FIGHT for what he believes in. I'm sick of our "liberal when it's convenient" governor...I want someone in that seat who will push the ideals that you, I, and everyone else on this board claims to support. I want Bustamante!

[IndianaGreen]

19. Okay, let's play it your way... Bustamante drops out in favor of Davis

Now what? Will that help Davis at all? I don't think so, but we won't know for certain until the election.

One thing that we can be 100-percent certain is that if Davis loses and gets recalled, the winner in the plurality will not be a Democrat. Repeat, will not be a Democrat!

Are you willing to put all of your money on Davis on such high stakes? Fine! But don't blame Nader, Camejo, or the Greens for this folly.

The Davis-or-nothing strategy is the Terry McCauliff strategy, and we know what winner McCauliff has been to the Democrats (the late Maynard Jackson was the choice of progressives for DNC Chair).

[Tinoire]

22. IG, IG

I do not, no, NOT AT ALL, like the fact that the Democratic Leadership abandoned Davis over Enron and the abandoned him over the recall.

Something here STINKS and it stinks DEMOCRATIC!

How the hell does the Democratic Party hope to get CA votes when they can't even stand by a CENTRIST CA Democrat? This shows me how far over to the dark side the leadership really is.

Honestly, I hope CA goes fucking Green in the next elections! Th next 5 years of hearing about NADER will be most entertaining indeed as people conventienty choose to forget stories like this one!

I am beyond disgusted with the Dem Party tonight. Could be the whiskey but I don't think so- this has been building for a while.

There is something about Bustamante that the leadership prefers over Davis. WTF is it?

[IndianaGreen]

23. Well, since we are in a conspiracy mode: Lieberman

It is an undisputed fact that Cruz Bustamante has endorsed Joe Lieberman for President and is the Chair of the California Lieberman for Prez.

Archived Press Releases:

California Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante Endorses Lieberman, Named State Campaign Chairman
(May 29, 2003)

National Hispanic leader is first statewide Calif. official to endorse for '04

SANTA MONICA, CALIF. California Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante, who rose from the fields of California's Central Valley to become the state's second-ranking official, endorsed Joe Lieberman's presidential bid today, becoming the first statewide elected official in the Golden State to make an endorsement in the 2004 presidential race. In a beachfront news conference here today, Bustamante was also named California State Chairman for Joe 2004.

"I am honored to join Senator Joe Lieberman's campaign for President," said Bustamante. "I am endorsing him because he believes in quality schools for our children, good jobs for workers and safe communities for our families that's a California agenda and a national agenda."

"Cruz will bring to my campaign not only great strength in California, but also a national reputation on education, the environment, health care and consumer protection," Lieberman said. "By working his way from the Central Valley to Sacramento, he has lived the American Dream, and I couldn't ask for a better ally in making that dream a reality for all Californians."

Bustamante, a native of San Joaquin, California, is one of the nation's most prominent Hispanic officeholders. He served as a state Assemblyman and Speaker of the Assembly before being elected Lieutenant Governor in 1998. He has worked to reduce class sizes in California schools, to enact a $1.7 billion middle-class tax cut, to reform welfare and to lower student fees at state universities and colleges.

Today's announcement continues a series of major California endorsements for Lieberman in the past two days. Wednesday, Lieberman won the backing of a slate of Silicon Valley leaders, including venture capitalist John Doerr, bay area financier Sandy Robertson, Broadcom Chairman Henry Samueli, and Handspring CEO Donna Dubinksy.

http://www.joe2004.com/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5297&JServSessionIdr010=7y4dutaczb.app14b&news_iv_ctrl=1001

[Tinoire]

21. Aw Fuck- what a DU day!

In one thread I'm blasting you and in another- this one- I'm ready to kiss your feet.

Well said!

This is about your vote. Y. O. U. R. V. O. T. E. and NOTHING ELSE!

Let's just iron out our other disagreement elsewhere. I never thought you were a bad guy- just pained.

Peace

[Eloriel]

32. I don't think you understand.

There is NOTHING wrong with supporting both Davis AND Bustamonte.

Here's how it works: people vote yes or no on the top of the ballot re recalling Davis. Then on the bottom, all the same people vote on WHO they want in IF the Davis recall passes. Get it? SUPPORT BOTH, just in case Davis loses (which is likely).

Vote NO on recalling Davis, and vote for Bustamonte on the bottom.

If the Dems don't get behind Bustamonte (the best alternative, under the circumstances, and with lots of Latino support), given the current likely trajectory for Davis, we will lose CA to Arnold or somebody equally odious. Get it?

There's NO disloyalty to Davis to vote for Bustamonte on the second half of the ballot after voting NO on the recall itself.

This is about hedging your bets, pure and simple. Davis seems quite likely to lose. Who would YOU like to see in there instead?

Eloriel

[toopers]

39. Please correct me if I'm wrong . . .

but it is my understanding that you cannot vote "No" to the recall and then vote for Bustamante. Once you vote not to recall, then that counts as a vote for Davis, and the remainder of the ballot is void. However, if you vote yes for the recall then you can vote for another candidate. That was my understaning. Please let me know if I am wrong.

[0rganism]

42. You're wrong.

Hey, you wanted to know.

[meisje]

17. he's dead jim... dead!

n/t

[TahitiNut]

29. Yeah... and Dewey Beat Truman, too.

[robbedvoter]

26. I know your irrational hatred of Davis (you missed the Enron thingy)

Required reading:

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0817-07.htm 
 
Published on Sunday, August 17, 2003 by CommonDreams.org

Ahnuld, Ken Lay, George Bush, Dick Cheney and Gray Davis

by Jason Leopold

 In the meanwhile, no one here has in it for Bustamante - he's the next best scenario IMO. I was happy he jumped in - still am. The two just need to get on the same page and make it clear to everyone that they are NOT OPPOSING EACH OTHER.

[IndianaGreen]

30. I don't hate Davis, I just realize that he is DOA and will be defeated!

California Democrats have to figure a way to salvage something out of a bad situation.

Go right ahead and support Davis and criticize Bustamante for not standing alongside the same Governor that opposed Bustamante on Prop 187.

We need California in 2004 in order to beat Bush. Having a Republican Governor in Sacramento will complicate matters.

This doesn't appply to you, my dear friend robbedvoter, but do you wonder if part of the ill-feelings that some Democrats have expressed towards Bustamante could be due to his ethnicity? Is Bustamante too Brown to be governor?

August 17, 2003

IN THEIR OWN WORDS
Cruz Bustamante
By Doug Smith, Times Staff Writer

For three successive years in the Assembly, Bustamante opposed tax cuts proposed by Gov. Pete Wilson, saying they were weighted toward the wealthy and threatened needed programs.

"Let's not give a tax break to people who drive foreign sports cars. Let's give a tax cut to people who drive family cars," Bustamante said during the 1995 budget debates.

"The governor's tax-cut plan is dead because it cut education in the future," he said in 1997. "We have a need to hire more teachers to finish class-size reduction, schools need repair and we don't have textbooks. We need the money for education."

As Assembly speaker, Bustamante appeared in a TV commercial to help fight off a Wilson administration welfare reform that would have cut benefits for young and elderly noncitizen legal immigrants.

"It's because of maybe who I am and where I come from," he told reporters. "It's about my background and how I got here."

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-ownwords17aug17,1,2726249.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[LauraK]

40. Agreed! Vote for B. and no to recall.

That's what B. is saying. He must distance himself.

[Piperay]

6. Bustamante is not hurting

Davis' chances, Davis is done, he is finished and doesn't have a chance in hell of keeping the office he was elected to. It's better to support Bustamante and keep the repigs out. I am voting NO recall and then marking Bustamante I don't see how that will hurt Davis, it will save California.

[sandnsea]

9. They can do BOTH!!!

Doesn't anybody know what the word cooperate means anymore??? They can both rail away that the recall is a threat to democracy and at the same time point out their own qualities as well as the quality of the other. Davis could say, hey if you really don't like me, go ahead and vote for Cruz, that would be great. Cruz could say I totally support Governor Davis, but if you really don't like him, here's some information about me.

We are really just pushing each other off cliffs lately.

[w4rma]

11. It's called cutting your losses. Bustamante is telling folks, "vote no"

Lt. Gov. Bustamante is on OUR side. Gov. Davis is also on OUR side. I'd like to see Davis slap the Republican Party in the face with a "no", but if we're unable to pull that off (chances are slim) then Bustamante is the best backup plan.

[shanti]

12. not true

how is voting no on the recall and yes to bustamante undercutting davis? if enough people vote no he will remain the governor (slim chance). it's imperative that the dems have a back up!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

24. wtmusic exactly

[shance]

35. Bustamonte just lost my vote. Guess he showed his true colors today

No wonder the California Democratic Party has been slow to endorse the guy. And the fact hes chairing Liebermans campaign is no warm fuzzy either.

What a pathetic show of unity and leadership for him to pull this maneuver at this juncture.

[tsipple]

5. Relax, Folks...

...This is called separation strategy. Helps both Davis and Bustamante, to have a little (gentle) distance between them. California Democrats are doing just fine.

[joeybee12]

8. Bustamente is dead!

Mark my words, if the election is postponed until March, Davis will prevail, and Bustamente, the sanctimounious little s**t that he is, will never again win state-wide office. He's not doing this to "save" the party, but for his own ambiotins. He makes me sick!

[shanti]

13. a fellow democrat makes you "sick"??

are you really a dem?

[joeybee12]

14. Yes, he makes me sick

This recall could be over so damn easy if it weren't for Dems like Bustmante and their pathetic, self-absorbed hand-wringing. It's a Nazi power grab, pure and simple--as soon as you run you give the recall credibility. Stay on message--no on recall--it sucks. Not some mamby-pamby two-faced, vote, no, but oh, yeah, just in case...nice way to let the sharks smell fear and taste blood. Dems will never be the majority party ever again with people like Bustamente.

[robbedvoter]

28. That's a bit extreme to say the least.

We need a candidate in that crowd just in case less that 50% oppose the recall. It's a two front battle and the two should fight each his own and not each other.

[IndianaGreen]

20. If the election is postponed until March, all bets are off!

And Davis may actually have a chance to get Californians to change their minds and vote "No" on the recall. In order to do so, Davis will have to perform in a way that he has yet to do. Davis will have to become even more unpopular by endorsing a tough economic package that will put California back on the road to recovery, but that will also raise and shift taxes while cutting spending.

The harsh truth is that none of the Republican and the Democratic candidates have any plausible solutions for California's problems, all they have to offer is rhetoric and platitudes. One has to look at the independents such a Peter Ueberroth, and the third party candidates such as Green Peter Camejo and Socialist John Christopher Burton to find anything resembling as a "plan" of recovery. Of the three, only Ueberroth has the experience and skills to succeed with the legislature.

PS: As it has been pointed out by several DUers, there is little likelihood that the election will be postponed until March. John Ashcroft's Justice Department will jump through the hoops to get the proper certification that all the counties are in compliance with the Voting Rights Act.

PS 2: Bustamante will make a fine governor:

[ElsewheresDaughter]

7. Davis needs the "Gaint Head Job Terminator" at his next rally

[Democat]

15. This is a stupid comment to make publicly

Californians are going to throw Democrats out if we can't get out shit together and stop this infighting.

If Cruz has a problem, he needs to deal with it without going public and cryting and making voters think Democrats are idiots.

Save your attacks for the people running against you.

[robbedvoter]

27. Right, The two are not really competing against each other

They have to act accordingly. Bustamante needs to fight against the other candidates, Davis to expose the Enron coup.

[IndianaGreen]

31. So why is Davis following McCauliff's Davis-or-nobody strategy?

Bustamante's chief strategist, Richie Ross, went further, saying Democratic donors and activists were being pressured by the Davis camp to withhold support from Bustamante.

"He's run into a pretty wide range of people as he's been making his phone calls, finding that many of them are being visited or called from the governor's campaign in an effort to shut him down," Ross said in an interview Sunday. "They are saying, 'Do not help the Bustamante effort.'"

http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/6555701.htm

[Le Taz Hot]

33. That may be what the Davis camp is claiming

but I can tell you that the DNC is saying "no" on the recall and "yes" on Bustamonte.

[David__77]

36. Yes, but...

I think it serves a limited purpose - to give Bustamante independent stature and credibility. This is good for having a two-pronged strategy. Now he should make some anti-recall statements, and gain image as being anti-recall but also a dynamic Democratic candidate.

[PATRICK]

34. They should stop playing the fool

and get on the SAME PAGE before it is seen merely as a last desperate act. Summit. Haggle. Decide. Or both of you can be members of a growing band of washed out Dems bickering about blame on the OUTSIDE.

Relax. Do the politically smart thing, put aside the ego for the sake of the people you purport to serve. Forget your indignation and look how people will percieve the sorry mess. You can earn debate points and still lose all the votes.

Get the picture. Get together. Unite and win both propositions and show the power of the democratic vote, which is the ONLY thing that can make up for the crippling waste of resources and good will that will happen no matter how the recall turns out.

Any first rate humans on the crust of this volcanic cap?

[David Zephyr]

37. NO to Recall! Yes to Bustamante!

As a Democrat in California, as a past voting member of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party Central Committe, as a voting member to the California State Democratic Convention for a decade...

I will not happily wager the entire future of the Golden State solely on the survival of Gray Davis. Sorry. There's a hell of a lot more at stake than just a single politician.

Davis' team would be wise to stop playing games with Bustamante and work together with a Two Punch Strategy. This is a good opportunity, and indeed it may be the last opportunity, for Gray Davis to show that he can work with others.

On the other hand, California Democrats will also be watching Bustamante and how dedicated he truly is in speaking out against this Republican conceived and financed Recall of the duly elected Democratic Governor of California.

We need a unified front. It must not be a "Save Davis" only campaign. If Davis and his team run it this way, they will go down into defeat and drag down a hell of a lot of good people with them.

No to the Recall.
Yes to Bustamante.

[nolabels]

41. Anybody seen this lovely pop up yet

http://205.180.85.40/w/pc.cgi?mid=22157&sid=9589

[0rganism]

43. Whoa! That pic actually makes Larry Flynt look pretty good

Also, they chose a really lousy photo of Gary Coleman. Who the hell wants to look up anyone's nostrils? Lousy angle, and don't tell me they couldn't find a top-down or straight-on shot of a guy who's 4' tall...