Not so Fast...

Some of the Republicans at the private meetings that the press have been portraying as rallying sessions for conservatives against what they see as Gov. Schwarzenegger's tilt to the left (see below) are now saying the meetings are being misportrayed. Again, the Register has the story. But the story only quotes Mike Spence as recanting on the account of the event. Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, described the gathering as a small, private meeting of conservative leaders. "We talked about our vision in the conservative movement going out 10 years from now and the things we need to do to make it happen," he said. "The press has mischaracterized what the meeting was about," Spence said. "This was a very positive meeting about our future." That would be the same Mike Spence, who said, two days earlier in the LA TImes: "We're expecting the governor will go all out to stop us from expressing our views … " said Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a grass-roots organization. "There will be a conflict at the state convention between those of us who want to support Republican ideas and those who want to be pro-governor." And the same Mike Spence who said to the Mercury News in December: Despite the governor's assurances, one conservative who has been most outspoken against Kennedy said he was not mollified, nor were the activists who do the political grunt work necessary to win elections. ``It's not over,'' said Mike Spence, the president of the California Republican Assembly. ``We still have the February convention. The governor, if he proposes his big general obligation bond, there's going to be another big fight over that, and I think the dissatisfaction is going to continue.'' That would be the same Mike Spence who had the quote of the Susan Kennedy saga, saying in the LA Times, ""She embodies everything I have spent my life opposing. It obviously raises more problems and concerns about where he is headed next year." But suddenly Spence changed his tune, telling the Register: "We had people here who are supportive of the governor and those who are not. It was a mix of leaders. It wasn't to get together to plan for one day in February. It was a very positive meeting."