Was watching a press conference earlier and it dawned on me (again) that he was actually elected to lead one of largest and most important states in the country. Politics aside, that's the stupidest thing Ive ever heard.
Arnold Schwarzanegger is the governor of a state!
- Thread starter BurlyShirley
- Start date
the bad part is that he wants to be a senator at this point. so he has been playing both sides of the state, pissing off many people on both sides.
I personally would like to see him gone and moved back to Austria, but that's just me.
I personally would like to see him gone and moved back to Austria, but that's just me.
Almost as dumb as electing a Hollywood actor to be president.
Fixed!
Ahnold being the governator is also keeping him from making the sequel we have all been waiting for.........
Twins 2
The return of Sawed-off.
When the super comedic duo of Ahnold and DeVito team up, very mild humor ensues.
Twins 2
The return of Sawed-off.
When the super comedic duo of Ahnold and DeVito team up, very mild humor ensues.
By "very mild humor", you mean "
"
damn - gotta spread some rep around!Fixed!
I reacted the same way when I heard his voice this morning on the radio and people were calling him "Governor"...a brief "WTF?" moment.
I'd rather have him as pres. then the resident dip****.
Colbert 2008!
CA and MN need to have a Governor Battle Royale.
Arnold "If it bleeds, we can kill it" Schwarzenegger vs. Jesse "I aint got time to bleed" Ventura.
We need to elect Chuck Norris to a political position somewhere.
Arnold "If it bleeds, we can kill it" Schwarzenegger vs. Jesse "I aint got time to bleed" Ventura.
We need to elect Chuck Norris to a political position somewhere.
All I have to say is thank god he wasn't born in this country!
But you have to wonder... I figured the first time he was elected it was because of his popularity, he'd serve his time and be out of there. But he got RE-ELECTED.
But you have to wonder... I figured the first time he was elected it was because of his popularity, he'd serve his time and be out of there. But he got RE-ELECTED.
I wouldn't be surprised if they found some kind of way around that...D
He is short too........
I am the one in uniform
I am the one in uniform
You have to give the man some credit though. He is about six quadrillion times better as a person and a governor than his predecessor. And he's gone against the "bow to the stupid interest groups and lobbies" road at a rate highly unusual for politicians in general, and politicians in California in particular.
1) Why is he better than his pedecessor?
2) What has he done that has gone against special interest groups?
I look forward to reading what you have to say, otherwise it's just the same party lines.
He did some show on an aircraft carrier I toured last Oct while I was in San Diego. I didn't care at all. I was mostly interested in trying to get pics of the really hot model in a tiny little sailor's get up with fishnets and a thong. I was not pleased when I realized the batteries on the camera were dead.
Schwarzenegger has been doing way too much compromising!
What a dissapointment !
What a dissapointment !
You sir deserve neg. rep. points for admitting that you could have taken pics. if you didn't fail at your job to be prepared.
Mostly for reflux, who looks forward to this.
OK. I don't want to get sucked into a raging political debate. Really, I'm pretty divided on political issues and I don't debate all that well. It bugs me when people talk like they know Arnold is a total joke in office, but they don't really know much about it. It's not specific to Arnold, or politicians though; it's the general principle of knowing what the heck you're talking about before opening your mouth. Anyways, here's my take:
1. Davis demonstrated servile deference to the law enforcement and teachers' unions. He made a lot of very very bad budgetary decisions to satisfy these groups (e.g. 3 at 50...like that's sustainable...) ultimately at the expense of the public good. He was rather ineffective as a leader because he lacked vision; he was wrapped up in details (e.g. spending time deciding if things should be sent priority or regular mail--true story; he'd been in positions where this attention to detail was good or at least OK prior to becoming "the man"). Word on the street (and by street I mean non-partisan govt agencies) was that he could be a bit two-faced in his dealings and didn't really care much about anything other than securing votes. In other words, large doses of two common qualities I despise in politicians.
How has Arnold done better than Davis? For one, he hasn't f-ed up the state budget as much. Also, he's taken stands on issues that made him unpopular among powerful unions for no other reason than he thought it was the right thing to do for the overall good. Being rather cynical about politics, I found this quite refreshing--not necessarily because of the issues, but because of the principle. I also appreciate that Arnold doesn't always tow his party's line. He's certainly not perfect; he has definitely made mistakes (in fact, the way he came out after unions so strongly and so rapidly severely weakened his ability to have an impact there), but he's got at least a little bit of vision and a little bit of guts. And I think it's reasonable to say that something is better than nothing.
2) If you live in CA and actually vote, you ought to know:
Prop 73 (2005): limit political spending by public unions
Prop 74: make teachers work longer than two years to achieve tenure in public schools
Both failed, hard. As did his attempt to re-vamp public pensions for law enforcement and firefighters (who, in CA, though not necessarily in other states, currently have rather ridiculous compensation. In case you didn't know).
One might also argue that his support of tougher emissions standards goes against special interests (since those pesky tougher emissions standards tend to be relatively unpopular among the industry folk), but that's not an argument I would be eager to take.
I don't think Arnold is the best. I do think that he's done kinda-sorta-alright, and that sometimes not too bad is an improvement. And reflux, you can believe it or not, but I'll tell you quite honestly that I don't tow any party's line.
BikeMike, you gotta do a little more reading. Ca's budget crisis was a ticking time-bomb for years, it just happened to explode durring Davis' term, and nobody seemed to care at the time. That is untill somebody who wanted to be Govener came along (Ted Costa being the main voice behind the recall) and convinced Californians that they needed a new govener. He assumed that he'd be seen as the saving grace and elected to office, what he diddn't see comming was a 100+ candidate ballot full of celebrities and anybody else who could collect 100 signatures, and quickly had to take a back seat to Arnold. Arnold won a second term because his Democratic oponent was a key figure in the Davis cabinate, and Californians still had a bad taste in their mouth from Davis (though most couldn't tell you why).
He may not have bowed to the wishes of the main special interest groups, but remember there's always a special interest group on the other side of the issue. He's also been largely ineffective at reforming Ca's budget issues, the very issues he was promising to fix, and that got him elected in the first place.
I do agree that he's been a not too terrible govener, but I feel like we'd be in a better state had Davis served out his term.
Now watch as the mods move this to P&WN.
He may not have bowed to the wishes of the main special interest groups, but remember there's always a special interest group on the other side of the issue. He's also been largely ineffective at reforming Ca's budget issues, the very issues he was promising to fix, and that got him elected in the first place.
I do agree that he's been a not too terrible govener, but I feel like we'd be in a better state had Davis served out his term.
Now watch as the mods move this to P&WN.
Max, I agree that CA's budget was in bad trouble already, and Davis didn't singlehandedly drive it into the ground. I also agree that Arnold hasn't been effective in doing much to fix the situation. However, I would argue that Davis's attempt to buy off groups, like the prison guards (part of a chain reaction) with overly generous pension plans, was involved in detonating the proverbial bomb, and that the bomb might have been ever so slightly less severe, and perhaps slightly delayed, if Davis hadn't kowtowed as much as he did.
Also, I understand that there's an interest group on the opposite side of most issues. Perhaps that part of why I don't think that environmental issues make a strong case as a supporting detail in answering the second part of reflux's question above. Still, I found Arnold coming out in support of measures sure to be opposed by the biggest and most powerful groups an impressive stance, since, you know, the "anti-teachers interest" and "anti-law enforcement interest" groups are only really super strong in the antiuniverse.
Also, I understand that there's an interest group on the opposite side of most issues. Perhaps that part of why I don't think that environmental issues make a strong case as a supporting detail in answering the second part of reflux's question above. Still, I found Arnold coming out in support of measures sure to be opposed by the biggest and most powerful groups an impressive stance, since, you know, the "anti-teachers interest" and "anti-law enforcement interest" groups are only really super strong in the antiuniverse.
I used to laugh about this whole situation, now I live in California 