Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine My Governor can kick your Governor's butt!

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present the Governor-elect of California, Ahhhh-nold Schwarzenegger.

What the hell were we thinking?

I've got to go lie down now...

I voted!

I think California became ungovernable at some point. Good luck, people. At least where it's warm you won't have to burn the furniture.

Schwarzenegger has, as he said, signed paychecks on the front, instead of just on the back. He's had phenomenal success in the productive private sector, creating jobs and wealth for himself and thousands of other people, and in three different occupations. (The third? He owns a huge chunk of the city of Santa Monica.)

It's a good development to have someone take over such an office after success in the Real World. Someone who's long been dealing with politicians' looting and imbicilic legal creations, rather than taking part in drafting them into law. A shock to the inbred system. I think he'll do well.

(I supported one of the Libertarians on the ballot, but I can live with the Governator. I hope he can live with one of the most fiendish groups of malefactors in existence ... no, not the Legion of Super-Villains, but the California General Assembly.)

So, when does someone get a million or so people together to recall the recall?

So how many "Total Recall" jokes were there when Arnold was running? (how many "Running Man" jokes were there for that matter?)

Jay Leno probably accounts for 75% of those jokes.

I'm not as worried about Arnie as I am about the people behind him, and what they're motivations and interests might be. In politics, your bigger supporters generally expect something in return.

I know-- I was Mary Carey's biggest supporter! Where's my tax-free lapdance, dammit?! I bought all her videos!

I think it's funny how a lot of people think that Arnold is stupid because he has a funny accent and he used to be a bodybuilder. That's like assuming that a supermodel is an idiot because she's gorgeous. For a guy who's supposedly dumb, he's done all right for himself. If anyone is mentally deficient, it's the people making those assumptions.

I'm embarrassed to live in retarded California.

I'm not too sad that Davis was booted out on his ass. He was a robotic money making machine, devoid of compassion, and only did what his handlers told him was politically expedient.

I don't have great hopes for Arnold, but he may surprise us. He isn't beholden to anyone - certainly not the right wing of the Republican party that didn't support him. Socially, he appears to be pretty moderate - he's not religious and doesn't care who anybody sleeps with. That's ok by me.

With the way government has been declining in this country over the last 3 years, I'm just happy if they leave us alone.

The one thing, I don't like is that a Republican win in California does give Republican party additional momentum for the upcoming presidential election. That's one asshole I'd like to see thrown out naked in the snow.

AMEN!! Unlikely though - they all need our tax dollars. I didn't follow the recall too closely - did Schwarzenegger say anything about cutting/raising taxes?

I don't think he really said much about taxes. His campaign message was rather non-specific. But I'll admit, that I too did not follow it closely.

Well, if the groping allegations are true, we know he'll be a "hands-on" governor... :rolleyes:

Move to Tennessee Baby!!!!

I have a feeling when Arnold referred to "tough choices" he meant "taxes", but maybe I'm wrong.

It was kinda odd to see him surrounded by a phalanx of the Shriver/ Kennedy clan. Seeing them together really pointed out to me that unlike them, Arnold is a self-made man and as he pointed out, he came to this country with nothing.

Yes, But can your Governor kick my ex-governor's butt?

If Vince MacMahon has his way, we'll all find out at WrestleMania XX!!

It's funny, but if the Republican Party ever really learns the Arnie lesson--that voters will turn out for a Republican who is fiscally conservative but socially liberal--they might win a lot of votes away from the Dems. But they've sold their souls to the Religious Right, and until that changes I will NEVER vote Republican. All of the latest polls prove that we're a 50% nation, split right down the middle along party lines. Until one party or the other figures out how to appeal across those lines (Clinton's first election, anyone?) consistently, we will remain a 50% nation.

You guys should know better than to talk politics around a social studies teacher...

And oh year, Icefire, while I agree that Phil's doing a bang-up job, Mr. Bredesen can't kick Arnie's ass.

Will Arnold, as the self-made man, be led around by the nose by the established and entrenched power structure of California? There was an interesting comment on another board (quoted below) about how those born into the upper classes are more effective at dealing with the corruption and machinations of the wealthy; it made me wonder how Schwarzenegger would do in this context:

(just for reference, this quote was from a thread discussing New York AG Spitzer and his crusade against financial fraud):

" Here's an odd thought about history ... What if Al Smith had been
nominated in 1932, and had won the election? (Even a big city
catholic could have beaten Hoover that year.) Smith might have
kowtowed to Wall Street, far more than Hoover had done and
almost opposite to Roosevelt's attitude. Roosevelt's upper-class
background gave him a tremendous psychological advantage in
dealing with wealthy people.

Moral of this story: When tycoons run amok, vote for the
upper-class candidate. Self-made figures like Grant, Harding, Al
Smith, Nixon, and even Eisenhower had far too much respect for
millionaires. The Roosevelts, Kennedy, and Nelson Rockefeller
didn't. Maybe this is another reason to be disappointed with Bush..."

That's a really interesting idea...Add into the "wealthy" presidents Teddy Roosevelt, Mr. Trust Buster....throw into the self-made man kowtowing pile Ronald Reagan and Warren Harding. It explains the mind set a little...I've never been able to understand the appeal of the Republican Party's economic message to "heartland" people who garner no significant rewards from their support for the GOP (other than their attempt to lock us in the 50's, when white guys were kings). Could it be that many people out there support tax cuts for the wealthy because they respect and admire the wealthy simply BECAUSE they're wealthy? A side effect of our fanatic love of celebrity?

I can give you a hypothetical answer to why Bush breaks the mold. I've become pretty convinced that Bush says and does what he is told to do. Rove, Cheney, and Co. run the show, and our executive is little more than a fundamentalist whack job of a figurehead. That crew are all former Nixonites and Reaganites who haven't run a clean government any time they've been in power, and what they've learned from those earlier presidencies is to hide it better, not that Watergate or Iran-Contra were wrong or even that they were bad ideas. Wolfowitz (sp?) wrote a paper on seizing power in Iraq in 19 freakin' 92 that pretty much is a blueprint for what they've done in Iraq--which to me means they used 9/11 as a cynical pretext for something they wanted to do all along, or worse, they were going to do anyway.

Whoops, it's never good to release the bitterness this early in the morning....

Only trust the upper classes to stand up to the wealthy? I dunno ... that smacks of elitism.

The problem I have with this argument is that only 42 men have served as president. That's a very small number from which to judge any measurable conclusions about how they stand up to those they may perceive as superior.

Also, there are many other factors involved in how they operate. As armsfalloffboy suggests, there are others in the administration who influence decisions, not just the president, whatever his (or, eventually, her) background. And the times of Roosevelt were different from the times of G.W. Bush. I'm not comfortable comparing the two just on the basis of how they may or may not respond to the wealthy.

Yes! I've long thought this -- the Republican party was supposed to be the party that let people run their own lives and kept government at arm's length. But the religious right has turned them into the watchdogs for what happens in people's bedrooms which turns off a lot of people who might otherwise give them more credence.

Even Ross Perot??