How You Know Arnold Schwarzenegger's a Republican

He subscribes to the real 11th Commandment of the GOP: Do as I say, not as I do.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger demanded Thursday that the 2008 presidential candidates stake out clear positions on domestic issues Californians care about -- such as immigration, climate change and health care -- instead of focusing solely on the Iraq war [...]

It was Schwarzenegger who ran in the 2003 recall race on a campaign of largely broad-stroke ideas, saying he would repair the state budget, ensure that "everyone in California has a fantastic job" and sweep out special interests from the Capitol.

And last year, as he ran for re-election, he pledged to tackle health care reform but offered few specific ideas on what he would propose.

It's very refreshing to see Mark Martin at the Chronicle notice this. Schwarzenegger pretty much INVENTED content-free campaigning. For him to make this kind of speech, petulantly asking Presidential candidates for specifics, is nothing short of deranged. Arnold doesn't even have the courage to get his own health care proposal introduced in the Legislature. Most of the "big ideas" that he's actually managed to pass weren't his, he merely acquiesced to them.

This is as stupid as Newt Gingrich decrying negative campaigning and attack-dog politics. Arnold Schwarzenegger's entire short political career has been devoted to sloganeering and hiding the hidden truth. Now he wants everyone else to be detailed... everyone but himself.