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!

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

Sorry Billtron! Just thought that excerpt was a little more explanatory. But, yeah! you were first in here.

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 . . .

MoveOn, that's what I said!

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

Proposition 54

defeat54.org

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!

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