Just one day into his campaign for governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger is being called a liar, Hollywood opportunist and con man.
And that's just by fellow Republicans.
Schwarzenegger bungled his television announcement on the Tonight Show Aug. 6 by burning one of his supposed closest allies, former LA Mayor Richard Riordan. Riordan was reportedly "stunned" that Schwarzenegger announced on TV after giving Riordan indications he would not enter the race.
Schwarzenegger claimed that he and Riordan agreed to maintain suspense, which a Riordan aide disputed in no uncertain terms [see http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-media7aug07,1,6506478.story]. "This idea that we have worked together, keeping people guessing and all this for the last few weeks is [ridiculous]," the Riordan advisor said, adding that he knew what it was like to get mugged.
Only one day on the campaign, and already even Republicans are calling Schwarzenegger a liar. Makes for a great Hollywood story, huh?
Schwarzenegger makes Reagan seem intelligent, Bush seem articulate and Gore seem loose. He is fine for shallow, idiotic movies where his most complex line is "Hasta la vista," but not for governor of the largest state in the country.
In yukking it up with Jay Leno, the only reason Schwarzenegger could give for running was because the Golden State had supposedly "deteriorated." He showed no understanding of the complexities behind California's budget problems, which were mostly caused by the Republican-controlled federal government cutting funds to states and refusing to help in California's energy scam crisis.
Moreover, Schwarzenegger could not articulate what he would do as governor beyond "pumping up" Sacramento, whatever the hell that meant. His announcement on comedian Leno's show would be funny, if there was not so much at stake. Many in the mainstream media are already calling him a formidable political force, if not the front-runner in the race. What does that say about the mainstream media?
Schwarzenegger has no political record beyond organizing a proposition for after-school programs - boy, that's going out on a limb, huh? That's like Laura Bush speaking out for.....reading! Whew, these Republicans take my breath away with their courageous stands on the controversial issues of the day.
What does Schwarzenegger really know about running a state? His Planet Hollywood restaurants crashed and burned. What does he know about getting legislation passed or forging compromises with people of different views?
Schwarzenegger says he has all the money he needs and won't be beholden to "special interests," but what about his own interests? What are his own interests? We do know that Schwarzenegger came from Hitler's home country of Austria, and his father WAS literally a Nazi in occupied Austria. That should set well with the California Jewish community.
Why should we trust this millionaire for an important political position when he has no political track record? Someone with all the money he needs can be a Perot-like dictator, not a politician who has to learn the fine art of compromise.
If Schwarzenegger wants to run for mayor of Brentwood, fine. But not governor of the largest state in the country, especially one that is clearly on the Democratic side. It just smells of more Republican dirty tricks.
Then there are the rumors about his extramarital affairs and marital problems. At least Schwarzenegger has owned up to his steroid and marijuana use - but he's still another hypocritical Republican who goes around telling kids to stay off drugs, something he didn't do.
The great mystery here is: How could a member of the Kennedy clan marry this dimwit?
Finally, there is a tape going around cyberspace [see http://www.ugo.com/channels/freestyle/features/celebritypranks/default.asp] in which Schwarzenegger's voice is calling a Hooters waitress a "son of a b*tch" and asking her if she likes discipline. It's probably digitally enhanced, but you never know. Schwarzenegger was known to play such weird pranks a lot against body-builders he competed against to gain a psychological edge.
Before we have to endure a political career that could be worse than Reagan or Bush, we need to put an end to these pranks and foolishness. We need to say, "Hasta la vista, baby," to Schwarzenegger.
California is starting to give Florida and Texas a run for their money in the battle for the weirdest political sideshows. In fact, I'd say the United States' largest state has taken over first place.
Since California was where Republicans started this recall the governor business to divert attention from Bush's lies about Iraq, the economy and everything else, we have to be proactive and take the offensive. That's why I started a petition to "totally recall" Schwarzenegger, even before he gets in office.
Rather than sit around worrying about what to do if this Total Recall jerk actually wins the governorship of the largest American state, go and sign this petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/schwarze/petition.html - you'll feel better. I know I felt better after writing the petition following Schwarzenegger's low-brow act with Leno, who called the announcement "huge." I guess anything on TV that doesn't have to do with snake pits and boobs is surprising.
These petitions are being done to turn the tables on the Republican hypocrites who mostly caused the budget crises in states like California through the Republican-controlled federal government's funding cuts to states. The liars then spun it around as they always do to blame those crises on Democrats and the victims.
The Republicans just want to take the heat off the Bush administration's lies about Iraq and other matters by diverting attention from those Republican scandals. Much of the mainstream media, which over-covers Kobe and Schwarzenegger while losing sight of the Iraqi lies, has bought the Republican lies, but you don't have to do so.
Here are some other petitions against Republicans:
Petitions to impeach George W. Bush: http://www.votetoimpeach.org/
http://www.petitiontoimpeach.com/petition.html
Petition to impeach Bush and Dick Cheney: http://democrats.com/elandslide/petition.cfm?campaign=impeach
Petition to oust Texas Gov. Rick Perry: http://www.e-thepeople.org/petition/7225/view
Petition to oust Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: http://www.petitiononline.com/JebLies/petition.html
Petition to oust House Majority Leader Tom DeLay: http://www.petitiononline.com/tdl0000/petition.html
Petition to oust Florida Rep. Katherine Harris: pending
Petition against the Republican agenda in Congress: http://www.boycott-republicans.com/
Petition to stop the redistricting of Congressional seats in Texas eight years too early: http://www.savetexasreps.com/petition.php
And here are some Republicans who need to have recall petitions organized against them:
California Rep. Darrell Issa, who funded much of the recall effort against Democratic Gov. Gray Davis and jumped in the race. He gave at least $1.7 million to pay professional signature gatherers $1 a name or more for each signature. The one good thing about Schwarzenegger's announcement is that now Issa has absolutely NO chance to win. Hasta la vista, Issa-cakes!
The other 24 Republican governors from the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and Vermont.
In particular, petitions against Republican governors in states that Gore won in 2000 need to be circulated - in Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland [I plan to start one here once I move to this state this fall], Massachusetts [How can there be a Republican governor in this Kennedy-strong state? At least there is a blog against Romney at http://romneyisafraud.blogspot.com/], Minnesota, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Residents in these states should call your elections divisions and find out how to start petitions to recall your governor. In some states like Texas, officials do not allow for such recalls. But that shouldn't stop you.
The petitions will still be good to energize people against Republicans, get people's dissatisfaction with Republicans on the record, and raise some public awareness and media attention. So turn the tables on Republicans and start those petition drives".
P.S. In less than a week, my petition against Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay - probably the most fascist member of Congress who is a major force behind the recent move to redistrict Texas eight years early to grab more Republican seats in Congress - has surpassed 1,100 signatures. Thanks to all who signed it and passed it on - please continue doing so if you can.
To sign the petition to remove DeLay from office, go to http://www.petitiononline.com/tdl0000/petition.html. You do NOT have to be a Texas resident to sign that one - I plan to deliver copies of the signatures to DeLay myself, as well as to key media members and political activists in his district who can start the process of removing DeLay more directly.
Jackson Thoreau is an American writer and co-author of We Will Not Get Over It: Restoring a Legitimate White House. The updated, 120,000-word electronic book can be downloaded on his Internet site at http://www.geocities.com/jacksonthor/ebook.html. Citizens for Legitimate Government has the earlier version at http://www.legitgov.org/we_will_not_get_over_it.html.
