There Arnie was, big as life, addressing a coven of Republicans in California, and discussing his potential gubernatorial bid, should the recall election succeed against Governor . . . um, er.
At which point Arnie slapped his fingers on his forehead, grinned sheepishly, and said. "Dis iz zo embarrassing; I cannot think of the name of the governor of California."
On one level, I could relate. Gray Davis isn’t the most memorable person ever to hold the governor’s chair. I can’t remember bad movies I’ve seen, like the one where Arnie acts like a robot. What was that called?
Jon Stewart thought that burst of genius on Arnie’s part was worthy of being listed as his "Moment of Zen" that is the closing sequence on The Daily Show.
From Bartcop’s page, I got a picture of a young, muscle-bound Arnie with a bimbo perched on his shoulders wearing only a bikini bottom. (At least, I think the dark patch was a bikini bottom. She might have been an Austrian hausfrau). I gleefully took the image, put blue drapes over strategic points, and slapped it on the front page of the local Democratic party newsletter, with the caption, "Arnie: Standing tall for family values!" Bartcop has another image of Arnie that shows that he has more in common with the statue David than just greco-roman features. Our leading Republican gubernatorial candidate, it seems, is hung like a hen. Must be all the ‘roids.
Arnie is among the best the state GOP has to offer. For years now, the party has been hagridden by libertarian ideologues and loony pseudo-Christian whack jobs, and they, more than anything else, are the reason California goes so heavily Democratic every election. Last year, they had one guy who could have beaten Davis, and in truth, probably wouldn’t have been a bad governor – Los Angeles Mayor Rick Riordan. Naturally, he got creamed at the polls by one of the usual rich little dilettantes that infest the party, and he went on, in turn, to lose to the least popular governor California has had in decades. This time, the Republicans are offering several rich little dilettantes, including one, Darryl Issa, who generously and unselfishly financed a full 80% of the recall drive.
I talked to a guy last week who, in my estimation, had the most unenviable job in all of California. It was his sad duty to show up in front of the Boards of Supervisors in California’s far northernmost counties, the poorest part of the state, and explain to them what the impact of the budget crisis in Sacramento was going to do to them. Like most folks, I’m a little standoffish to Sacramento bureaucrats; this is, after all, a part of the state where 91% of voters do not wish to be a part of that particular state, and for once, I’m with the majority opinion. But I felt warm sympathy for this poor schlub. I would sooner go into a den of lions who haven’t eaten in six days to tell them that dinner is going to be late.
In fact, that’s just about what this poor guy was doing. I wonder if he survived.
Case in point: Republican "solutions" to the budget crisis. Naturally, they want to just do across-the-board cuts in services. Surgery with a chainsaw, filleting with a meat ax. In the rare instances where they actually make specific suggestions, they tend to be extremely idiotic.
For instance, the Sacramento Bee reported today that they took a good idea that one of their own came up with, and said, "aha! If we implement this in a completely irresponsible manner, we can save $750 million!"
The idea was a good one. Sharon Runner, a Republican assemblywoman from the desert areas northeast of Los Angeles, had heeded complaints from teachers that kids were starting kindergarten at too young an age. It seems that under the existing law, you had to start kindergarten if you turned five before the following December 1st. This meant there were a lot of four year olds – 115,000 of them – in kindergarten. And kindergarten is apparently more intensive than it was when I was in kindergarten (three of the best years of my life) where they didn’t bother teaching the three "R"s because let’s face it, I was just going to grow up to become a political essayist anyway, so why waste the effort?
The kids weren’t developmentally ready, the teachers told Runner, and Runner responded with a bill changing the required birthdate from December 1st to September 1st.
The bill wasn’t supposed to go into effect until next year, since to do it immediately would leave parents, schools, and kids unprepared for the change. But the Republicans needed to save $750 million right now, so they are pressing to have the change take effect immediately.
It will wipe out the savings the Pubs want so much, because the schools can’t rejuggle the classes to take advantage of the sudden gap of 115,000 students. The Republicans can claim the saving would be in this year’s budget, but in reality, they squandered it by moving it up so nobody was prepared to take advantage of it.
Not to mention inconveniencing over 100,000 families state wide.
Incidently, Arnie, who did legitimately pick up a lot of political cachet in the state by pressing for a state initiative that helps preschoolers, hasn’t weighed in on this move by the state Republicans yet. Runner had suggested that the money saved by her plan could go to help preschoolers as well.
If Arnie wants a chance to show a solid commitment to something that really matters, this is his big chance. He’ll have to cross swords with the ideologues and nutballs that inhabit the assembly and the party leadership, but if he stands firm, he can pull it off, and look halfway decent at a time when nearly every other state politician looks like a fool, a poltroon, a moron and a two-bit thief.
Nobody is sitting around waiting for Issa or Simon to take a stand on behalf of the kids. They feel put upon enough that they have to spend any money at all on educating the whelps of poor people. They exist to afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable, and make it clear that the role of people who don’t have much money is to support people who do have much money as much as possible.
Even as the signature gathering passes the point where it forces an election, support for a recall is eroding quickly. Davis had been on the losing end by eight points just a week ago, and now he trails only by 3 points. Voters know a power grab when they see one, and realize that as unlikeable and ineffectual as Davis is, he’s an improvement over Simon or Issa or any of the strange, cold far right ideologues of the state GOP. Even the best the GOP has to offer can’t even remember the name of the man he plans to run against.
If Darryl Issa and the recall movement don’t show just how horribly money has corrupted the electoral process, nothing will.
Oh, yes: the recall will cost California taxpayers $30 million.
That’s $780 million the Republicans have pissed away by grandstanding instead of governing.