Schwarzenegger Announces : Running for CA Gov.

mama - you hit the proverbial nail on the head. Leno milks the same basic jokes night after night and some of them are good but also can flaunting the law of attrition. Of course, that may be his way of advancing his own poltical bent. Stewart is more like Shakespeare's Puck, "What fools these mortals be." Maher holds up the fine tradition of Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl and his not pulling punches pissed off Disney, that's for sure. The HBO show is far superior. The thing is he debates with his guest and although Leno will approach some of that territory, it's rather flacid at best.

I thought I remembered - somewhere back in my head - some nastiness about Arnold and Lou Ferrigno. Ferrigno was a popular figure, and his ma and pa usually came to see him, and he was very proud of them. Arnold used to poke fun at him and then.

From Slate:

The Movie Arnold Doesn't Want You To See
Posted Thursday, August 7, 2003, at 1:27 PM PT


Last year, Slate's Virginia Heffernan celebrated the 25th-anniversary re-release of Pumping Iron, the documentary about the 1975 Mr. Olympia competition. Pumping Iron is the movie* Arnold hopes California voters don't rent between now and Election Day. The film captures the Austrian Oak in all his vicious, megalomaniacal glory: Arnold bullying, tricking, and psyching out his dopey rival Lou Ferrigno. Arnold extolling his own ambitions: "I was always dreaming about very powerful people, dictators, people like Jesus, being remembered for thousands of years." (And Arnold lighting up a fat celebratory joint—don't you dare try that now, Gov. Schwarzenegger.)

Okay. The gloves are off. Arnold is tacky at best (which is what I thought from the start)(along with his followers), and really bad news if what we read and sense is true.
S
o this is no longer about a celebrity running for office under weird circumstances, this is yet another very deliberate, dirty Republican mess -- as Mamaj indicates. I think that's the way we should treat it -- I hope that's the way savvy Californians are treating it... and that they'll do something about it.

Is anyone else as tired as I am of watching the Republicans play very, very dirty pool and then seeing that people observe it as though it were an amusing spectacle? Reminds me of the Romans...

Tartar, It's not only Californians that are uneducated in the political process or how to pick the best candidate. Ahnold will win, simply because he has name recognition. If he ran for president today, he'd probably end up with a pretty good count against the other candidates for the same reason. American voters as a whole are not all that sophisticated. As I have declared earlier in tihs forum, I will vote "no" for the recall, and not vote for any candidate on the ballot - for all the reasons given by mamaj, and everything else that's wrong with this recall. c.i.

Well done, CI. That's my choice (as a Texan!). No on the recall.

I scrolled through the posts so far, CI and Mamajuana, and miss where Mamajuana said vote no on recall and not for any candidate if recall goes through.

I plan to vote no on recall and secondly for Bustamente should the recall go through, which is allowed on the ballot apparently. I would like to hear more about why I shouldn't do that, given that I am already opposed to the recall effort.

osso, You have every right to select and vote any way you please. It's your right and obligation to vote the way you feel best meets your political essence. c.i.

I know that, CI, and I plan to. However, if there is some reason I haven't figured out not to vote for Bustamente in the advent a recall passes, I would like to hear what it is.

The ballot is formulated, I gather, in two parts to be voted on at the same occasion, so that one votes yes or no for recall, and then, given that a recall goes through, who you would choose. There is only one I would consider and that is the present Democrat Lt. Governor, Bustamente, who (apparently) put his name on the ballot as safety measure for Dems.

As far as we know, what you say is true; Bustamante is the democrat's 'safety net' in the event the recall is voted for. I just don't care for Bustamante even as a safety net. c.i.

I care for him more than Arnold.

Yes, muscles that look like walnuts and a show-biz background are all very interesting. I'm sorry to say that theater seems to be the basis for most people's vote. Anybody read info about Arnold's politics? His ideas and policies towards:

1) Budget and economy
2) Education
3) Environment
4) Prison, three strikes, drugs, rehab
5) Abortion, gay marriage, religion in schools
6) Business practices and regulation
7) Public services

His revamped website outlines his platform
http://www.joinarnold.com/en/agenda/arnoldsviews.php

I'm not sure if these issues are relevant when voting for a candidate, but
I'm curious for any analysis and comparisons anyways.

(Going beyond Bustamante's racism gossip, some analysis of his platform would
be useful too, if you accidentally bump into any).

Just fishin for data,
Thanks!



----- RANDOM THOUGHTS -----

From www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/28/politics/main570639.shtml :

If Arnold is not a real politician, maybe that's his best asset! Politicians tend to politic and grub for power, rather than address community problems that need solving. I would trust an "I don't care what mud you sling" direct, crass attitude -- long before the traditional shyster in a suit.

Also, a Hollywood personality is 100% contrived. When interviewed for a hardware magazine, use the hardware lingo and attitude. When interviewed by OUI, use the language of that audience. Connect with them on their terms. Every movie, competition, and media gossip is a presentation, not the actual person. I have no way of telling who Arnold really is as a person any more than Madonna, Iacocca, or Bush. I don't care what kind of accent or personality an employee has, as long as they get the job done! I'd rather look at a candidates business plan, resources, and (supposed) agenda.

Also, Hollywood already owns our minds. It's influence greatly exceeds national borders, in very calculated ways. As one of the top-grossing actors in history, the governor's job might actually be a step down in power for Arnold. He would be the richest governor ever, of the richest and most populous state. Is this good or bad, dunno? Again, what is he actually trying to accomplish? Even if he takes clumsy small steps, are they at least in the right direction?

Also, much of the job is about the governor's connections, who they can get together to research and work on things. Fame, name recognition and motivational ability (show business) seems quite relevant, no?

I'm not really as blustery and opinionated as I sound ... just trying to figure things out wherever I can.

All the adjectives attached to Ahnold won't matter, because he'll win the recall election. I don't trust Bustamante for the reasons outlined in the racist organization he belongs to - even today. Why he won't distance himself is a question I'm not willing to pursue; that's his problem. Besides, I promised never to vote by political affiliation; but for the best candidate on the ballot. c.i.

I don't know if Bustamente is personally racist or not. I will try to look into it. Back in the seventies, many many people in LA were involved in MECHA. Some, not all, of their pov made sense to me at the time. I think he may be right that they have been a force for good in the latino community.

That he might be racist against blacks worries me more than the mecha connection. I may know some people who know him, will attempt to check it out.

osso, Some other ideas of Bustamante is also suspect, such as making gas a state controlled utility. Might want to check on that at the same time.

BBB's prediction re the Cal recall election
BumbleBeeBoogie's prediction: The recall vote will fail by a narrow margin. Bustamonte will receive more votes than Arnold or any other candidate, but it won't matter. Davis will remain in office.

California will have lost over 30 million dollars needed to reduce the deficit due to the Republications trying to steal an election they couldn't win by regular means. The Democrates will have spent many millions of dollars to fight the recall that they won't be able to spend to defeat George Bush's 2004 election to a second term.

BBB

My gas bills are horrendous, CI, far far worse than electrical.
I am not automatically against state control of it. I have put in a new state of the art heating system at great expense and I keep my heat at about 64, which is not comfortable. They are still high, but not as much so. Before I did that, one January PG&E bill leapt to 476./mo. On my income that is killing.

osso, Trying to regulate the price of gas is - is - is just plain stupid. The price of gas is much different than the price of utilities; gas prices will continue to yo-yo depending on OPEC and other government mandated addititives such as we have in California to reduce emissions. The price of utilities skyrocketed, because of the half-ass deregulation in California, and the manipulation of the supply from all those energy companies including Enron. Gray Davis also signed a ten year contract with the utilities while knowing that California was in the process of building more energy plants. Stupid, stupid, stupid......

Hey, wait a minute. C.I. Why would I tell anyone who or what to vote for for? What I have are opinions, and Lord knows, lots of them. But I'm not a Californian (although more than half the family is), so that's what I have about this California thing - opinions.

I do think this whole recall is a Washington ploy, and Issa was the expendable pawn. I would not vote for recall, myself, because I believe California has a duly elected governor who inherited a bad mess and is blamed for it because of his personality - a weakness obviously spotted by DeLay and Rove.

And the one created this mess - Pete Wilson - is one of the chief players chosen by mr macho. But there are other players on the scene, too, and one of the baddest apples is Don Sipple. He's a thoroughly amoral, immoral, unethical advertising/PR type, with a history of dirty campaigns. He's also a wife beater. For real. Two wives. Mother Jones published a story, Sipple took them to court, both the ex-wives testified, Sipple had no case.

http://www.mojones.com/mother_jones/SO97/blow_jump.html

http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/story/7216285p.8161699c.html

Now, considering all the people Arnie has gathered around him, it seems to me that his story gets worse and worse. And should be publicized. California cannot afford Schwarzenegger.

Incidentally, C.I., I know you're up in Silicon Valley. But my republican southern portion relatives despise Arnie, and don't really think there's going to be such a big vote for him. They say he's not popular as a person.

Oh well, as we say...from their lips to God's ears.

I am talking about household heating gas. I did think that rise was connected to the rise in utilities. In any case, it skyrocketed at the same time. I probably saved some articles on it at the time, but have scrapped them. Household heat is vital in certain parts of california.

mamaj, What we've been noticing on polls in California is that the Los Angeles polls always shows Butsamante in the lead, but in central and northern, Ahnold seems to hold rein. It doesn't matter to me, because it's essentially "out of my hands." I'm not voting for anybody, but will vote "no" on the recall. I already know that Gray Davis inherited a big mess, and there's nobody wealthy enough to fix this mess in three years. If you go back and read some of my posts, you'll see that I blame the legislators as much - maybe more. I try to keep up with both national and local political news, but I don't remember hearing about Don Sipple. Since I've already made up my mind on the recall vote, I've been concentrating much of my time and effort on my responsibilities as a Civil Grand Jury member.