GIVE IN TO ARNOLD

Arnie is so pleased that 'America opened their arms & took him in'!

People are *really* stupid. Again.

http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=284&row=0

This election proves me completely vindicated in that prejudice.

Arnold himself is really nothing to worry about. He has none of his own ideas worth repeating and will do whatever anyone says as long as he gets the roaring adulation of the populace, which is what he was after in the first place. There was an excellent editorial in either the NYT or the WP on the careless, unchecked narcissism that is Arnold, could somebody look it up?

It'll be interesting to see what they end up doing about the migrant worker massive. Somebody tax that labor!! Fuck poor people!!

Votes cast:

Schwarzenegger 3,288,361
Bustamante 2,234,026
McClintock 907,560

Um...folks, that's a landslide. Or a mudslide.

Reagan's biggest failing has to be his promising smaller government while presiding over an explosion in the size of the government. True, some programs were cut during his tenure, but his rhetoric didn't match his actions. Government spending went way up.

Not sure what this has to do with Arnold. It may be that they're both goofy and both are/were actors. Other than that, they may not have much in common. And if they do, it will be to Arnold's advantage.

I wonder if Arnold is going to be able to do anything he faces an electorate that hate taxes and a state in a huge amount of debt. Something will have to give, but that's obvious, no?

No, there's something confusion here. You can vote for that option, and that's precisely what I did.

Now he has to actually work with people in Sacramento, who are still largely Democrats. Bustmante had some tough words for him in this video.

"No" votes on recall (that is, votes for Davis): 3,438,424

Votes for Arnold (whether or not they voted for Davis in first place): 3,475,671

This is hardly a landslide.

He was a horrible governor who would have been beat last November had the theocrats in the Republican party had the sense to nominate a candidate with more moderate views.

The fish rots from the head down, and the voters of California properly blamed Davis for many of their problems. He rarely accepted any blame for anything, instead pointing to predictable boogeymen. He has been unliked by many, many people in his party for a long time.

Arnold won for the same reason that Jesse Ventura and Hillary Clinton did: their celebrity and outsider status transcended any requirement for experience, fresh ideas, or any sort of appreciation for the average voter. The difference is that Hillary walked into it with an armada of pols behind her and the two muscleheads don't have nearly the ally base required to get anything done. And Hillary's ability to raise money has made her a force in the party and the Senate.

Nothing much is going to change in California. The legislature is still dominated by Democrats who most certainly will do what they've always done, and the only way Arnold will change anything is if he goes over their head to the people. And I'm not sure he's the person for that job.

The fact remains that based on the numbers above we still can't determine whether more voters preferred Davis or Arnold.

If you look at it flatly, to use Douglas's description, notably more people voted for recall than against it -- a rejection of Davis, a rejection influenced by who was campaigning, to be sure, but also a clear if hardly resounding majority. Who was wanted for a replacement is where it gets muddied, but like DB said yesterday and like Dan and I have been saying about Gore all along, the clear loser in this campaign did not sell his case to the voters and suffered accordingly.

"California, your deficit has been ERASED."

*cough*
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=284&row=0 (as posted above)
*cough*

The Terminator star also warned fans he would have "no time for movies".

There's always a bright side.

Daria, the people didn't have a problem with it in 1992 or 1996 with Bill Clinton. They sure as shit aren't going to suddenly develop an aversion to it now when the opportunity arises to elect a celebrity to public office. Fred Grandy, Sonny Bono, Clint Eastwood, Jesse Ventura, Hillary Clinton...all took the same carriage to the gravy train. People never gave a rat's ass what those people thought about anything, let alone who they were porking or taking handouts from in order to get elected. And that's not even beginning to touch the surface of your average city council in a major metropolitan city, which the details are in truth far more depressing than the public's ignorance on something as relatively ceremonial as a governor or president.

Not to mention the fact that the state of California harbors an entire industry that has preyed on women literally from the beginning and continues to exploit them even as we speak. The power players in that industry don't dare speak out against Arnold or Bill Clinton or anyone else with a dick-in-my-hand problem; they know the hypocrisy is just to self-evident. Every one of those fuckers made excuses for Clinton's misogyny, blithely called it a private sex act or part of a vast right wing conspiracy of rape/sexual harassment. Easy come, easy go. I really don't know how so many women can tolerate it.

With his huge, mighty fists, no less.

The first:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might have postponed his Sacramento fundraiser Monday night, but he's having no trouble at all bringing in money from the special interests -- er, individuals and businesses who support his political goals. Schwarzenegger on Monday reported receiving more than $750,000 in contributions to his political committee in the past couple of weeks. The money comes from all the usual sectors -- alcohol, finance, real estate, insurance, etc., including many of the same interests that used to contribute to Gray Davis.

And the second:

Retreating from two central campaign promises that helped make him governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday dropped his personal "guarantee" that cities and counties would be compensated for billions in lost car-tax revenue and reversed his pledge to safeguard spending for public schools.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4030694663&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger traveled to a quiet San Jose neighborhood Thursday, and -- dogged by protesters -- filled a pothole dug by city crews just a few hours before, as part of an attempt to dramatize his efforts to increase money for transportation projects.

The choreographed press opportunity -- at least the governor's fourth recent event involving transportation issues -- seemed aimed as much at thwarting the demonstrators who have followed Schwarzenegger for weeks as grabbing new attention for his proposal.

Schwarzenegger strode toward television cameras on Laguna Seca Way to the sounds of the Doobie Brothers' "Taking it to the Streets,'' while flanked by 10 San Jose city road workers wearing Day-Glo vests and work gear. After speeches by the governor and city officials, a dump truck backed up and unloaded a mound of black asphalt and, as television cameras recorded the moment, Schwarzenegger joined the work crew, taking up a broom and filling the 10-by-15-foot hole, later smoothed over by a massive roller truck.

.....

"For paving the streets, it's a lot of lighting,'' said resident Nick Porrovecchio, 48, motioning to a team of workmen setting up Hollywood-style floodlights on the street to bathe the gubernatorial podium in a soft glow.

Porrovecchio and his business partner, Joe Greco, said that at about 7 a.m. they became fascinated watching "10 city workers standing around for a few hours putting on new vests,'' all in preparation for the big moment with Schwarzenegger.

But their street, he noted, didn't even have a hole to pave over until Thursday morning.

"They just dug it out,'' Porrovecchio said, shrugging. "There was a crack. But they dug out the whole road this morning.''

"It's a lot of money spent on a staged event,'' said Matt Vujevich, 74, a retiree whose home faced the crew-made trench that straddled nearly the whole street. "We still have the same problems. Everything's a press conference.''

"She maybe is Puerto Rican or the same thing as Cuban. I mean, they are all very hot," the governor said. "They have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it."

"my foot tastes bad."

Chorus:
I am full blood Boricua
Read the tattoo on his arm
He tells me: Mami, I need ya and my heart beat pumps so strong
Getting lost in el ritmo he whispers te quiero, te quiero
I begin to give in with no hesitation,
Can't help my infatuation
It's pure Infatuation (yeah, yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah)

Skin the color of cinnamon,
His eyes light up and I melt within
Feels so good it must be a sin
I can't stop what I started, I'm givin' in
He brings life to my fantasies,
Sparks a passion inside of me,
Finds the words when I cannot speak,
In the silence his heart beat is music to me
Mama used to warn me not to rush love (not to rush love) with another
She said: I'm not trying to lecture I just care about my daughter
Ay Mama you seem to forget,
I never will let a man control my emotions
But when he smiles I feel like a little child,
And when he says

Chorus

Caught between my mom's words and what I feel inside
I want to explore his world but part of me wants to hide
Should I risk it, can't resist it, this has caught me by suprise
Should I let him take me to Puerto Rico
I can't hold back no more
Let's go tonight

Papi hold me, say that you adore me
Never let go never leave me lonely
Papi hold me, say that you adore me
Never let go never leave me lonely

Chorus

Papi hold me, say that you adore me
Never let go never leave me lonely (lonely)

You dont have to read my mind, to know what I have in mind
Honey you oughta know
Now you move so fine, let me lay it on the line
I wanna know what youre doin after the show

Now its up to you, we can make a secret rendezvous
Just me and you, Ill show you lovin like you never knew

Thats why, Im hot blooded, check it and see
I got a fever of a hundred and three
Come on baby, do you do more than dance?
Im hot blooded, hot blooded

If it feels alright, maybe you can stay all night
Shall I leave you my key?
But youve got to give me a sign, come on girl, some kind of sign
Tell me, are you hot mama? you sure look that way to me

Are you old enough? will you be ready when I call you bluff?
Is my timing right? did you save your love for me tonight?

Yeah Im hot blooded, check it and see
Feel the fever burning inside of me
Come on baby, do you do more than dance?
Im hot blooded, Im hot blooded, Im hot

Now its up to you, can we make a secret rendezvous?
Oh, before we do, youll have to get away from you know who

Well, Im hot blooded, check it and see
I got a fever of a hundred and three
Come on baby, do you do more than dance?
Im hot blooded, Im hot blooded

Hot blooded, every night
Hot blooded, youre looking so tight
Hot blooded, now youre driving me wild
Hot blooded, Im so hot for you, child
Hot blooded, Im a little bit high
Hot blooded, youre a little bit shy
Hot blooded, youre making me sing
Hot blooded, for your sweet sweet thing

Is this supposed to be one of those unspoken/implied rhyme lines? ("Get in your pants" etc.)?

he looks like a halloween mask of himself

has any real person ever had that expression ever?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw7gUMdd2FY

in private, sitting on a toilet

Good lord, he's coming up on five years as governor later this year. Who knew.

His latest bemusement:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday encouraged lawmakers -- especially those from small towns -- to do more globe trotting on the dime of special interests.

Speaking at a forum on global economics held by the nonprofit Milken Institute, the governor suggested lawmakers would be more willing to embrace his plans to privatize the building of roads, schools, high-speed rail systems and other public works if they could see how effectively it has worked in other countries.

"Some of them come from those little towns, you know what I am saying, they come from those little towns and they don't have that vision yet of an airport or of a highway that maybe has 10 lanes or of putting a highway on top of a highway," Schwarzenegger said. "They look at you and say, 'We don't have that in my town. What are you talking about?'

"So they are kind of shocked when you say certain things. So I like them to travel around."

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2009-01/44493493.jpg

It's legacy time!:

Although Schwarzenegger and others say his good intentions have been foiled by extremist state lawmakers, an unstable tax structure, a broken budget system and a global recession, none of that may matter when history is written, some analysts believe.

"So far, he hasn't solved the problem that he was elected to solve," said Gary Jacobson, a political scientist at UC San Diego. "In crisis you have opportunity to be great, if you can pull it off somehow. If you can't, it's hard to be perceived as a success."

Etc. etc.

I do like this from Tombot back in October 03:

The worst thing that will occur is that Arnold will actually be allowed to make some decisions of his own. However he hasn't really expressed any desire to do this, so the best we can hope for is that his Republican masters will have in mind some decent fiscal policies to get Cali out of the hole and back on track. The national economy is going to have a very rough time recovering without a healthy California economy, so this is paramount. Unfortunately I don't think the Republicans have that kind of vision.

And here we are!

is he playing nixon?

Looks like Rudolf Hess in that pic

Yeah, that works:

First the Fresno City Council president, Cynthia Sterling, warned the governor that he would be “going down with us” if the state takes the city’s gas tax revenues, as Schwarzenegger has proposed doing with hundreds of millions of dollars designated for local governments across the state.

Sterling said such as move would cost Fresno jobs, stop repairs, and render the city – which she said has the nation’s highest concentration of poverty -- unable to pay debts. The gasoline money would never be returned, unlike local property taxes the state can borrow and must repay under Proposition 1A. Sterling told the governor she campaigned with him for that measure in 2004.

“I stood behind you here in Fresno,” she said. “I was one of the ones who went to the people and said, ‘This is the right thing to do,’ and that this governor is going to remember us when the times get hard.”

But if the state takes the city’s gas money, “we are also all going to go down, as you will be going down with us,” Sterling finished, to huge applause.

"That’s why I’m here, to listen,” Schwarzenegger said. Next, a man in the audience lectured him for failing to resolve the Central Valley water crisis, saying, “when you refuse to address the most important issue that belongs to this valley … you have lost control of your state government.”

Clearly offended, the governor retorted, “I hope that you didn’t refer to me as saying that I haven’t addressed the issue because I think it’s very important that everyone knows that I have been fighting for water for the last four years straight…. But I know maybe you didn’t mean that.”

“I did mean it,” the man shot back, whereupon Schwarzenegger called to the stage Mayor Victor Lopez of Orange Cove, who delivered a screaming endorsement of the governor and his efforts to bring more water to the area.

“We have the best governor that any state in this whole nation ever, ever has had,” Lopez yelled, as Schwarzenegger stood behind him looking pleased.

victor lopez you a fool

how come no-one has tried to recall arnold yet for being just as ineffectual and useless as gray davis was? does california's constitution and ballot initiative process makes the governorship a weak post in this state? I can't remember the last time there was a governor here that anyone even liked.

“I hope that you didn’t refer to me as saying that I haven’t addressed the issue because I think it’s very important that everyone knows that I have been fighting for water for the last four years straight…. But I know maybe you didn’t mean that.”

imagining Arnold saying this is fantastic

californias fuckedness is a fantastic argument against direct democracy

Our ballot initiative process is far too easy, imho.

What the:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikearauz/pay-no-attention-to-governor-schwarzeneggers-3s/

Hail and farewell, I guess:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=78205

This guy.

"I can step very comfortably into the entertainment world and do an action movie with the same violence that I've always done," Schwarzenegger said in an interview this week. "I can have the same amount of heads coming off — and any other body parts — and as far as that goes, I don't blink."

Maria Shriver declares separation from ex-gov of CA

haaaaaaaa