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CA-GOV: Arnold Morphs Into A Liberal
At this point there's really no longer any doubt that Arnold Schwarzenegger is solidifying his hold on the California electorate by playing a Republican governor on TV while in reality enacting Democratic policies which suck the air out of his opponents' attacks on him. The latest example? An elaborate ceremony surrounding his signing of a minimum-wage increase. Arnold took great care to stage it in the midst of a Latino neighborhood marketplace. The Los Angeles Times reports that Arnold went out of his way to make sure the photo op was just right, asking the assembled reporters, "You guys have enough lights?"
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Can we call him Governor Schwarzenegger instead of "Arnold" please? He's a politician and does about as much politics as policy.
My question is: What Schwarzenegger will we get on November 8 if he's reelected? The bipartisan, "moderate" that we get to see during election years, or "all my critics are stooges and girlie men" Governor we had in 2004 and 2005? Candidate Schwarzenegger says and does good things. Governor Schwarzenegger is rude ("that black blood and latino blood makes them 'hot'"), bitterly partisan if he doesn't get his way ("for all those who don't agree with these policies, stop being economic girlie men").
September 13, 2006 6:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think I'll go on calling him Arnold; it's easier to type.
He's certainly been triangulating between the Republicans in the state legislature, who are way to the right of the state as a whole, and the Democrats, but he vetoed two previous minimum-wage increases, and he only accepted this one after the amount of the increase was reduced and the indexing for inflation was taken out.
He's running a smart campaign, but he's a long way from morphing into a liberal.
September 13, 2006 7:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Personally, I call him the gropinator. I think we'll get the kiss-my-butt Ahnold (the other thing I call him besides a++hole)that we've all grown to know and dislike. He's an ACTOR, not a policymaker. He, like the other rethugs, does what it takes to win elections. That is what matters. After last fall it seems to have dawned on him that the rest of us are not as far right as the thugs in the legislature, so he has to cater more to us for a little while. Then he'll have a "mandate" to screw us some more.
All I can say is that if he wins, the voters are stupider and shorter of memory than even I thought at my most cynical.
September 14, 2006 12:10 AM | Reply | Permalink