Schwarzenegger Telling Rep. Party to 'Move a little further left,' Outrages Pro-family Groups
Several pro-family groups are outraged over California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s comments made in a recently published German newspaper interview telling the Republican party to “move a little further left” and embrace gay marriage and abortion rights.
"I would like the Republican Party to cross this line, move a little further left and place more weight on the center," said Schwarzenegger in the interview. "This would immediately give the party 5% more votes without it losing anything elsewhere."
"This was not a smart statement," said Randy Thomasson, president of Campaign for Children and Families. "The Republican Party needs to strengthen its conservative, pro-family values, not water them down. Likewise, the liberal Democrat Party needs to change direction and go right."
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"If the Republican Party abandons family values and moves to the left, it will quickly become indistinguishable from the anti-family Democrat Party,” he added.
Thomasson said the governor signs half of all “anti-family bills” that reaches his desk, including bills that will force insurers to undermine marriage (AB 2208), strengthen "gay marriage by another name" (AB 2580), allow pharmacists to facilitate illegal drug use (SB 1159), and expand transsexuality and the subjective "hate crimes" agenda (SB 1234).
"Arnold should stop lecturing conservatives, and start apologizing to conservative voters for all the anti-family bills he's signed," said Thomasson.
Karen England of the Capitol Resource Institute, a pro-family public policy organization in California, said Schwarzenegger’s comments regarding gay marriage and abortion rights “show extreme arrogance and total ignorance concerning the values and dedication of the party's core constituents.”
"Schwarzenegger has spent too much time in Hollywood. He needs to start mingling more with mainstream Californians,” she continued.
"We are outraged that Schwarzenegger has the audacity to misspeak for the millions of Republicans in this country who believe that abortion is murder and that the life of a child should come before the mere convenience of a woman," concluded England. "We are outraged that Schwarzenegger would turn his back on two-thirds of Californians (many Democrats included) who voted just four short years ago to protect traditional marriage in this state. By embracing gay marriage, Schwarzenegger shows that he is not simply in the 'center' on this social issue - he is, actually, far to the left."
In addition to supporting abortion rights, Thomasson added that Schwarzenegger also supported Proposition 71, a California-initiative which allocated $3 BILLION in bonds for stem cell research including embyronic stem cell research. Pro-lifers and conservative Christians who believe that human life begins at conception say the laboratory experiments which result in the destruction of the embryos is unethical and will undermine human life.
"Arnold is mistaken that the Republican Party can lose family values without losing pro-family voters,” said Thomasson.
Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council, suggested the Governor ignored the voice of “values voters” who overwhelmingly approved traditional marriage during the elections.
Said Perkins in his Dec. 20 daily e-mail update, “Every time voters are given a chance to speak out, they vote to uphold marriage and traditional moral values. Unfortunately, too many political leaders appear to be morally deaf.”
