Schwarzenegger the “Democratic Governor”

Kos has a post up titled "Arnold Schwarzenegger (D-CA)" in which he observes that the Califormia Governor is operating as a de facto Democrat. His performance can't be considered "perfect" to all Democrats, of course (his budget trims funding for programs dealing with welfare and the disabled). But not even Democratic governors are "perfect" on every issue. So it's pretty funny seeing California's neanderthal Republican Party reduced to an irrelevant sideshow as Arnold and the state's Democrats work to enact a surprisingly progressive agenda. However that may be, the fact remains that Schwarzenegger is still officially a Republican. He may have more respect for the reality of global warming than most elected Republicans, but he still views the world officially through Republican colored glasses. Unless he formally rejects the governing philosophy of the GOP, and leaves the party, his membership is an official and explicit endorsement of the Republican agenda as a whole. His name at the top is an umbrella embracing and functionally supporting all those who share the party affiliation (George Bush, Dick Cheney, Tom DeLay, Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott, Rush Limbaugh, Jerry Falwell, Brent Bozell, Bill Kristol, etcetera, ad infinitum), whether he happens to agree with any given agenda item or not.