Let’s look at the alternatives:[ul][li] Gray Davis (democrat):[/li]
This guy makes republican fund raisers look like girl scouts selling cookies door to door. You’d have to peel back an inch thick layer of C-notes before anyone could even begin to grease his palm. He has had the nerve to hit up some of the most poorly paid professionals in the entire state (teachers). This hack is so busy endorsing campaign contribution checks, he probably hasn’t signed a bill into law for months. Top everything off with the fact that he has all the charisma of a wilted celery stalk and there’s no way I can possibly vote to retain him in this trainwreck-of-a-state’s highest office.
[li] Arnold Schwarznegger (republican):[/li]
You would think that California had long ago learned its lesson about actors running for office. Alas, this is not so. Tonight’s Leno show will reveal the sordid truth. We can only hope that Arnie will stick with his strong suit, weight lifting. The remaining field of alternatives have all the appeal of moose turd pie. Also ran contender from the previous gubernatorial election, Bill (“flip flop”) Simon has changed positions on important issues quicker than a two bit whore looking at a hundred dollar tip. Besides, I would rather pay double to eat all my meals at M[sup]c[/sup]Donald’s for the rest of my life than vote republican even once.[/ul]
So, what are we left with?[ul] [li] Larry Flynt (smut peddler):[/li]
Does anyone else get the feeling that, just maybe, a pornographer might exhibit a greater sense of morality than today’s current crop of politicians? Sadly, even someone liberated enough to overcome any aversions to the politically seditious nature that photos of naked people represent can still harbor severe conflicts of interest. Here is an excerpt from a recent news article:
"The registered Democrat, civil libertarian and free speech advocate said he’d solve California’s budget woes by expanding slot machine gambling. His holdings include several casinos.
“California is the most progressive state in the union,” said Flynt, 61. “I don’t think anyone here will have a problem with a smut peddler as governor.”
You’ve got to know that I’m overjoyed at the prospect of a governor who wants to promote expansion of gambling when he already has a substantial stake in several casinos. This makes about the same sense as having Pat Robertson determine the separation of church and state.[/ul]
Do any other California voters have some informed opinions? [sigh]
What a terrible time to want the Governors job. 38 billion in the red. How much success are you going to have? Hopefully the choices will grow from your meager list. I guess Bill Lockyer is going to wait until the next regular election to make his run. He would win in a minute. This state is a mess at the moment.
What a terrible time to want the Governors job. 38 billion in the red. How much success are you going to have? Hopefully the choices will grow from your meager list. I guess Bill Lockyer is going to wait until the next regular election to make his run. He would win in a minute. This state is a mess.
At this point, aside from saying (again) that Darryl Issa is a poopy-head, there isn’t much to do, is there? I’d rather the recall not go through at all, but at this point, I’m holding out hope the Dems might run a good candidate for the ballot.
But as Toddly said, who really wants the job at this point?
Ordinarily, I would support either Senator Feinstein or Richard Riordan for the governorship. They’re both extremely capable political leaders, and they seem like decent people to boot. Ironically, though, I don’t want them to win precisely because I like them so much more than most politicians out there: as Toddly and rjung pointed out, anyone who governs California at the moment is just asking to get screwed.
Naturally, then, we should support the candidate who has the most experience in the field of getting screwed. Flynt for Governor!
While being in the red makes the job harder, look on the bright side - whoever wins has a ready made excuse for whatever goes wrong on their watch. Loved Zenster’s appraisal of the candidates though.
A quick question - How can Arnie run? Wasn’t he born in Austria. Or does only the President have to be a native-born American.
The native-born rules only apply to the national executive, kiwiboy.
For the record, Schwarznegger isn’t announcing until Wednesday night’s Leno, unless there is a change I’m unaware of.
Any way you slice it, California is screwed, hard. Whoever runs and wins the office is going to be screwed, hard. However, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that it feels like a great big “you reap what you sow” kind of situation from where I’m sitting.
I feel terrible saying this, but I’m probably not going to vote. I can’t think of a single person who’s running that I would want to be in charge. Buncha maroons.
lightingtool, you aren’t alone. This will be the first time I’ve sat out on an election since I turned 18. I just think there are so many other things all that money could be going toward, (schools spring immediately to mind), and thta this is a horrid, horrid waste of our time and tax dollars. It’s downright depressing. Although, I really liked Ahhnult’s bill. I even voted for it.
I only just heard what’s happening in California. Please somebody explain how in the name of sweet f_ck the governor managed to make that kind of debt out of a budget surplus? It’s simply staggering.
Yes, California is soooooo screwed. In 2000, when Americans were pretty much happy with the way things were going, Enron and other robber barons created an artificial energy shortage in California and high gasoline prices nationwide. It will probably never be possible to prove that all of that was done to elect a Republican president and vice president who came from the Texas oil business. It sure was mighty darned convenient. That’s all I’m saying. It sure was mighty darned convenient.
I’m with RevTim–what the hell is so wrong with pornographers? Granted, I don’t immediately see how working in adult media production prepares one for sound political leadership, but your objections don’t seem to be about his lack of qualifications but rather because “smut-peddling” is inherently awful.
I’m glad we have smut-peddlers. I enjoy some good smut, and so do millions of other degenerates just like me.
In all honesty, I don’t believe it was the governor. It has a lot more to do with the Legislature and, unfortunately, the people.
In 1990, California voters passed Proposition 140, which limited members of the Assembly to three two-year terms and members of the Senate to two four-year terms. The idea was that we’d be represented by citizen-legislators who cared more about representing local constituent interests than about being career politicians. Instead, we’ve been left with one of the most dysfunctional legislatures in the country.
Term-limited legislators lack institutional memory, institutional pride, and all the other fruits of experience reaped by the institutional legislators of the pre-term limits era. Today’s representatives are generally more interested in securing a job after their stint in the Legislature than they are in making the Legislature work. They generally have very little understanding of how the state legislative process works, and very little time in which to learn. Most of them don’t even bother to try; they leave the tough decisions to whichever special interests hold the most power over them. Lobbyists aren’t term-limited, after all.
To make matters worse, the initiative process has interfered with the budget process in other ways. The people have, for example, passed propositions sharply limiting state tax revenue (Proposition 13, 1978), but have also passed others requiring that certain percentages of each budget be devoted to certain pet interests (Proposition 98, 1988;Proposition 49, 2002) . The legislature is surprisingly restricted in its ability to both raise taxes and cut spending, which is obviously going to cause problems in all but the best fiscal environment. There’s simply not enough unappropriated money to go around.
The Legislature must take the blame for the immediate budget crisis, in my opinion. The people, however, share the blame for creating the current dysfunctional legislature, and for interfering far too much in its legislative process with far too little understanding of what the consequences will be.
I’m thinking of voting for Flynt as well. This recall is a joke, and i can’t think of a better fitting punchline than to have Larry Flynt take over, just because the shock would kill thousands of hard core republicans.
And i might be able to score some vagina pictures from the governor if i go to the capital…
Although I assumed I’d never vote anything but Democrat, if there are no credible Democrats on the ticket, I’ll likely vote for Arianna Huffington – she is really quite an impressive political thinker. Check out her columns on Salon.com or other publications…
I’m a Democrat who thinks Davis is a corrupt bastard, but I’m voting against the recall. It sets a very bad precident in my opinion – we just had an election and Davis won. The recall should be used to get people out of office immediately who are caught breaking the law, not as a do-over when your guy doesn’t win the election.
I still get to vote for the replacement, though, so I might vote for Larry Flynt. But only if he promises free issues of Hustler to every registered voter.