I previously posted about how politicians – both Democrats and Republicans – tailor themselves to their region’s poltiical alliances. Democrats in the south are more conservative than the majority of Democrats, Republicans in the north are more liberal than the majority of Republicans.
To that you must add Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He ran on a moderate platform in a weird election against a historically bad Democratic governor. When he got in office, he lurched to the right, introduced some costly special referendums (and yes, California’s ballot initiative process where tons of issues don’t get decided by the legislature but instead by costly ad campaigns is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever seen), which all got smacked down at the polls. What did he do? He moved back to the center – and thanks to that plus the California Dems not having their act together, he’s primed to win easily.
Look, I would much rather California have a Democratic governor, but if most Republican governors had to govern the way Ahnuld does – from the center-leftish – I could sleep just fine at night.
You don’t live in California. I do.
Maria Shriver, took over his administration and moved him left.
But even though the Dems have a majority in CA the Dem Party is a joke. We need an overhaul here just like the rest of the country.
His politics aside (and not being from CA, I don’t follow their local politics too closely), I think Arnold deserves a lot of credit for putting his money where his mouth is and running for office. That’s more than you can say for the liberal actors, all of whom are content to criticize the government and make the occasional U.N. photo-op. Let’s see Alec Baldwin put his reputation on the line and run for governor of NY. How about Congressman Penn? Even Jerry Springer has run for office.
Folks, he governed right until it came time for reelection. Then he moved center.
Upon reelection, he’ll move rightward again.
I used to live in California, and I know how bad Davis was. The CA Democratic party needs to get a clue, maybe not being out of office for a while with a relatively benign Ahnuld will focus them.
Hedley: the idea that every actor – liberal or conservative – has to run for office in order to opine on politics is asinine. One could say the same for bloggers, or just any Joe on the street. Makes no sense.
Not every one. Let’s start with one liberal and go from there. And quite frankly, our government would benefit from legislators and politicians who weren’t lawyers, but rather more doctors, busienssmen, actors, etc.
You heard it here 1st. By this time next year CA will have a Democratic governor. Named Schwarzenegger.
R.
Not every one. Let’s start with one liberal and go from there
I know I’ll catch hell for this.
Al Franken, Minnesota.
Howard Dean, MD, Vermont.
The Democrats in California are completely fucked up because they’re beholden to too many big-money special interests– oil corporations, energy corporations, prison-workers unions (helloo, Davis!), Hollywood moguls and the Dreaded Mouse, tech corporations, bleah.
In short, they’re hardly any better than the Repugs.
Solution is to vote Yes on Proposition 89 (http://89now.org), and bring Clean Money and Fair Elections to Ku-lee-fur-nia.
Schwarzenegger was right: “Money comes in, favors go out, and the people lose”. Problem is, he’s even worse than Davis at taking slush money from Corporations and fat-cats.
California needs Clean Money now. Vote Yes on Proposition 89.