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Well, even though it was great for punchlines and idle dinner time conversation, the reality that Arnold Schwarzenegger is in fact the next Governor of California makes us think it's the wrong message to be sending out there, to other countries, to the aliens spying on us: If you have Nazi associations (father, random comment, whatever), a fondness for groping women not your wife, multiple $100+ million grossing movies, no real political skills, and some serious white chompers, you can too can govern one of the most important states in the U.S. So, Gothamist has decided to secede from the United States - join us if you dare! Or at least demand California secede.
The L.A. Times and Washington Post on the election.
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i second that motion...
I've got the white teeth -- I wouldn't describe them as "serious chompers" though -- but I think I've got a lot of work to do before I too could be governor.
i've recently been conforted by the fact that he can never run for president, being that he wasn't born in the states. yay framers of the constitution!
another reason I'm glad to live in paris. The French political satire puppet show called 'Les Guignols' has a Schwarzy puppet now, replete with Germanic-American accent and tight pecs.
i am flabbergasted by ahhhnold's election. i was temporarily comforted by the thought that he would be so focused on running for president next that he wouldn't dare screw anything up in california (anymore than it already is) because of the inevitable scrutiny of his next campaign, and then dahl just burst my bubble. he can't even run for pres after this!?! this really is just a disgusting ego trip for the terminator? what is the deal with these people?
ps. for all those people who might say arnold can't be that bad because he is married to a kennedy, i say hogwash. maria is scary - there is something truly wrong with anorexic women over the age of 40.
Sophia, as Tom Wolfe would say, Maria is a "Social X-Ray."
the kennedy women do have quite a track record with egotistical, piggish men...
So I'm confused now, a recall election? Are we supposed to be living in a representative republice or a direct democracy? The whole country seriously needs to take a Government 101 class.
ahhh,i love my country, only in the USA baby...go ARNIE! ya'll need to stop acting like the world is over, dramaqueens aren't cool.
California has a history of making disasterous political choices. Note: Governor Nixon, Governor Reagan, Proposition 13, Governor Davis and now Governor Arnold. I'm just glad I'm about as far away from CA as I can get and still get good sushi.
scariest throwaway line from a crappy movie, Demolition Man:
Stallone: "Hold it! The Schwarzenegger Library?"
Bullock: "Yes, the Schwarzenegger Presidential Library. Wasn't he an actor?"
Stallone: "Stop! He was President?"
Bullock: "Yes. Even though he was not born in this country, his popularity at the time caused the 61st Amendment…"
you know we live in strange and weird times when Sly Stallone's a prognosticator.
Maybe the message it sends out to the rest of the world is that anyone can succeed here, that it doesn't matter where you were born, in the U.S. your personal attributes and hard work count for more than anything else.
Ruidh: Governor Nixon? Which parallel universe did you grow up in?
I do think the American Dream aspect of Arnold is amazing. His personal drive and determination is incredible, and there is much to be admired - he's very smart, much smarter than people givehim credit for. But his political know-how leaves me unmoved.
well, thats why he'll get the chance to prove that in the next few years. he's been involved politically for many years, and is more savvy in that world than many even know about. here's to the america dream, and as one former diplomat said in support, "...proof that in America, everything is possible"
How has Arnold been "involved politically for many years?" Apart from donating money, his only political experience was as the country's gym teacher (aka Chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports) under Bush I.
Let's not get carried away. He is a popular guy who won a gimmicky election thanks to a pissed off electorate.
When Bush was "selected" president, our democracy was "officially" killed, with the recall of Davis and election of Arnold, democracy has now been effectively Buried forever. Jen and others may joke, but this country is no longer what you might have thought it was. And as for this comment...
"i've recently been conforted by the fact that he can never run for president"
Don't be too comforted, if Bush could do all he's done in such a short time, I'm sure it's also possible to get that part of U.S. law change/policy/whatever changed as well. As funny as I want this whole Arnold thing to be (and it is), I'm also very scared on a deep level about what this means for our country.
Boy, do I agree! When I heard the news on the radio this morning, I just sat there shakin' my head. I still can't believe it. Its getting embarassing to be from this country.
Yesterday I mailed my absentee ballot to California, then immediately registered to vote in New York with two nice women at a table in Astor Place. I am very happy that proposition 54 was defeated by a 2 to 1 margin. At least Californians are not totally crazy. That was the scariest part of the entire ballot.
I'm with Hoyt. If Arnold were say, an Ethiopian mother of six who left Africa to start a new life for her family in California, worked her way up, opened her own business, was involved in the local community, rose to power on the merits of her intellect and political savvy (as opposed to cash and box office glory), then I'd say, Wow, that's an impressive American dream story. But the story of the middle class Austrian who rises to power on the merits of his weight-lifting and his hackneyed delivery of movie one-liners? Sorry, not impressed.
One example (below) of political experience from last year that went unnoticed bc he wasn't running for Governor.
wow, i can't believe the world is going to end bc Arnie was elected Governor. how come no one said the same when Ventura won? hmm, maybe bc he wasn't a republican, i dunno.
Assemblyman Tony Strickland, R-Westlake Village, chairman of the Assembly Republican Caucus, said many Republican lawmakers already know and respect Schwarzenegger from his successful campaign last year for an initiative to fund after-school programs.
"Arnold Schwarzenegger, I believe, has met with almost every single one of our caucus members," Strickland said
I didn't think it was even remotely possible, and now it's come true. Someone just take a giant X-acto knife and separate CA from the rest of the country, and we'll float away quietly in embarrassment...I'll miss you all! (wave, wave) I'll miss you all!
Proposition 54
defeat54.org
the recall vote won because voters in california wanted the governor to be held accountable. arnold, like conan, must know that he who lives by the sword, dies by the sword. there is enough pissed off liberals out there, with money, to get the signatures for another recall. i'm sure they'll get the signatures and when the time is right pull out the recall on arnold. it could get ugly. it is ugly. it's politics at its best. i love it.
I say go for it, Arnold. If the California electorate feel that Arnold's the man to lead them, who am I to judge that decision? He didn't come to America and become a global icon on sheer luck alone. So why not let Arnold have the benefit of the doubt before we start breaking out the giant x-acto knives? Besides, if things don't work out, they can always have another recall and elect Gary Coleman.
Actually, Sen. Orrin Hatch is working on a bill that could allow Ahnold to become POTUS.
As for the rest, I think we've finally entered the simulacrum.
'Demolition Man' will become required viewing in collapsing schoolrooms and Universities across the nation, and new political candidates will demand equal screen time...
My poor native state, and my poor native city, Sacramento, is going to have Ah-nawld living in the governor's mansion. Sick. Glad I'm not there to live through it.
To change the born citizen requirement would require an amendment to the Constitution, which are nearly impossible to pass - 39 state legislatures have to ratify them. Ain't gonna happen.
How can you criticize his "political know-how" when he's just been elected? He may not be experienced but getting elected governor requires serious political skills, regardless of your fame and wealth.
And making an issue of supposed Nazi connections is idiotic. I thought liberals were opposed to McCarthyism. If his father is an issue why don't we ban the children of communist sympathisers from office.
For all the holier-than-thou types who look down on California, there are plenty of people who wonder what kind of suckers would elect someone who has never lived here senator.
On behalf of California, I apologize to the rest of the nation and to the world. At least there won't be any new Schwarzenegger movies for a while, though the price we're going to pay for that privilege is far more than $9.50 a ticket.
Now I remember exactly how I felt when O.J. was taken off the hook for decapitating his wife. What about all those women this supposedly intelligent, ambitious guy mauled? I don't think any of those women were excited about having their names in the paper to describe their experiences with A-hole's creepy hand-roving. Being a sexual predator is a little different than having extramarital affairs. How can anyone sees this as anything but massive white man ego running amok beats me. The dismissal of his treatment of women is just one of many flabbergasting, stomach-turning aspects of this nightmare.
After reading and seeing some of the negative press the Germans are spewing out about Arnold winning (I live in Hamburg), which can also be read here, it makes me wonder if Germany couldn't learn a thing or two about America.
On another note:
Arnold wasn't the first muscle-bound guy to be elected governor. Let's not forget Jesse "The Bod" Ventura.
I might hop on the secession bandwagon. These sure are strange times.
A comentator on the Today Show this morning said that the only other place in the country with a large number of celebrity registered voters was New York, but something about electorate attitudes would prevent us from electing a movie star to political office. Thankfully. Not that it's ever saved New York from electing totally incompetent government officals before.
This is an interesting analysis from MoveOn.org:
Pollsters report that Schwarzenegger was swept in on a tide of deep emotional anger toward incumbents, which they think is a national phenomenon. In the end, a "throw the bums out" sentiment overrode any fear of Schwarzenegger and any support for Davis.
This anger can be and should be properly directed toward the Bush administration and congressional leadership. This will be our mission in the coming year. The Chickens are coming home to roost.
Voters see the need for change. They are ready to revolt against business as usual and against big-money politics. Together, we will promote a common vision for the future and find leaders to carry that vision with real passion.
The truly good news from last night is, of course, that Proposition 54, the "racial privacy" initiative, was soundly defeated by 64% to 36%. It was crucial to stop this new right-wing tactic in its tracks. With so little public awareness, all of our work in getting out the word was really important.
"He may not be experienced but getting elected governor requires serious political skills, regardless of your fame and wealth."
I'm sorry, that's hilarious.
MoveOn, that's what I said!
Nixon was Senator from California in the late 1940's - early '50's. Ike selected him to be Vice President, and Nixon was a very young age, like 40 or so.
After he served two terms and lost against JFK for president, he returned to California and tried for Governor there. The opposition was old man Brown (Edmund Sr., not Edmund Jr. "Jerry"). Nixon lost (1962).
That is where the famous (at least if you are over 35) quote came from,
"you won't have Dick Nixon to kick around anymore!"
(I know some of you I have to explain Nixon to, but trust me, that line was a poltical joke for many years, because Nixon later moved to NYC and became President in 1969. So they still had him to kick around.)
(And they did.)
The California recall provision was primarily meant to remove a corrupt governor who was too connected to the "Eastern establishment" (Wall Street/Rockefeller/Standard Oil, etc.) The populists were very strong out west, and a number of their progressive brethren, too, were interested in having the recall and the referendum as checks against elected officials who were not serving the people.
No one of the time expected that mass media (which only consisted of newspapers then) would be able to whupp the people into a storm over a rather impotent elected official (not a very powerful Governorship). And then use that animosity to install a glamor guy who made few if any concrete policy proposals and instead threw out a series of "pledges". Like a boy scout or something.
He will probably have HIS ass handed back to him if the economy doesn't move, and he has to deliver the bad news to a significant number of Californians that sh** costs money!
Somebody is bound to be disappointed, and the petitions will circulate once again . . .
Sorry Billtron! Just thought that excerpt was a little more explanatory. But, yeah! you were first in here.
uh, its all about "our poor country". shere patriotism.
and has anybody read the interview with ahhnold in warhol's "interview" magazine?
what comes around comes around
Thank you Nola for your comments! Right on!
I think we should give Arnold a chance, we gave Gray Davis one and it didn't really work out, now did it??? Who knows, maybe he will do a great job, you can't really criticize him yet, he just got elected!