MYSTERIES OF THE GOP

President Bush met today with California’s next governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, drawing the keen attention of many who’d be reluctant to admit watching an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie -- even if they got to sit next to President Bush. Those would be the analysts and experts who say such things as:

“It may be that you can’t take Arnold on the road to, say, South Carolina. He has political views far to the left of most mainstream Republicans.”

That was Bruce Cain, of the University of California at Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies, quoted in The New York Times. He was almost certainly referring to Schwarzenegger’s support of abortion rights and gay rights, which “most mainstream Republicans” oppose. And Cain certainly isn’t the only one watching the Bush-Schwarzenegger relationship with curiosity and anticipation.

But herein lies one of the central mysteries of mainstream Republicans: They insist they want to reduce government intrusion into people’s lives ... but not if they disapprove of what people want to do with their life, such as sleep with people of the same sex, or take part in a medical procedure opposed mainly by the religious.

Maybe Bush’s requisite renewed interest in California will force the conflict to some sort of resolution. The chances are greater, though, that Bush will admit to a making a mistake on Iraq or his tax cuts.

So it’s not very likely.