That Guy On The Sunday Talk Shows Sounds Like A Good Governor, We Should Get Someone Like That

When Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't governing by magazine cover, he's governing by Sunday talk show. This is a good venue for him, because nobody asking him questions has any idea what Arnold's actually done to California, and he can spout off one-liners and talk the Beltway language of post-partisanship without rebuttal. These kinds of interviews are never given to reporters in his home state, because they might actually have experience with his tenure and thus would be in position to know a lie when they see one.

For example, the Governor is getting a lot of ink for the line about how he'd be willing to take any stimulus money from any governor in the country who rejects it. Less discussed is the essential falsehood present in this comment:

STEPHANOPOULOS: So when you -- we're looking at a similar budget crisis in the coming years here in the United States. Does the Republican Party have to re-think its absolute opposition to tax increases of any kind?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, no, I think that the Republican Party or any party has to always think, when you make a decision, "Do I want to make a decision that's based -- that's best for the party? Or am I a public servant and have to serve the people, what is best for the people?"

And in this particular case, in order to solve a $42 billion deficit, the only way you can do that is a combination of making severe cuts and also having some revenue increases.

Really? Arnold was "listening to the people" when he helped ram through a massive corporate tax cut, in a time of deficits, for large multinational corporations? Show me the poll where the public was clamoring for a multinational corporate tax cut. How about the poll where the public was desperate for waiving environmental laws regarding public works projects and delaying implementation of laws regulating diesel emissions? Actually, the California public has spoken pretty profoundly that they want a serious reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

I mean please. This is a guy who campaigned almost entirely in 2003 on cutting the vehicle license fee, costing the state almost enough to fill this entire budget gap over 6 years, and now he's raised it after admitting defeat. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a born liar. He has the interests of the California Chamber of Commerce and anything but the people of California. That's why he refuses to engage with them or their elected representatives, preferring to float above it all and run to the national media with false tropes about "serving the people." Forget just apologizing to Gray Davis, he should abdicate to him.

This last but from John Myers was amusing:

And in non-governor news, he confirmed an interest in a cameo appearance in an upcoming Sylvester Stallone flick, picked Mickey Rourke to win an Oscar, and said The Candidate was his favorite political flick. That movie is an interesting choice, given it's about a candidate who's so focused on winning -- rather than governing-- that after his victory famously says: "What do we do now?"

Exactly.