I couldn't give a crap if the guy has an 'R' or a 'D' next to his name, as long as he helps turn California around and improves the business climate. Before we critizice him, let us give him a chance to do that.
This is just great. So Arnold is loved in Germany. Now all the wise guys will crawl out of their dark places to compare him to that other Austrian. (And I don't mean Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.)
They certainly do. For every dollar Californians send to the federal government, they only get 77 cents back in benefits. Even Loney can do the math and figure out it's a ripoff. But hey, the Indian Casinos see this and can relate. Topper
Doesn't burn me at all. For one thing, I don't really care what the politicians do in your state. Just as long you schmucks keep sending your money to Texas, I'll be happy. Besides, if the guy is doing what I want, what the hell do I care what label he's got? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight. He's gonna veto them. Suuuuuuuuuuure. I know you Reeps are pretty inexperienced at dealing with this whole "wears your label but supports just about everything from the other party" thing, but take it from me: People who get elected by espousing politically expedient viewpoints don't usually develop backbones once they get into office. Actually 13% of the voters voted Republican and 49% voted for the Republican answer to Bill Clinton. Imagine that. Politicians coming to a new governor with something of a mandate because they think he'll play ball. Wow, that's never happened before. That's unheard of. Next thing you know, you'll be telling me that sportswriters care a little too much about the buffets in the press box. Or that there's no sex in the champagne room. Or that Sigi Schmid like to drink a beer or three. Just as long as he keeps pandering to the energy companies in my state. Remind me again: Which party just prostituted its core beliefs to get a candidate that could win in California? Don't you worry about my dignity. I think my dignity has survived Re-Decision 2003.
Well, there are a couple of factors here which we should consider. 1) Californians tend to be younger than the national average, so we get less medicare and social security, which are included in the equation. 2) Californians tend to make more money than the national average, which is offset by the higher cost of living, but nevertheless means that we pay on average more in taxes than most states. We should also remember that it is congress that makes those decisions, and most people in congress are not Californians. And they will be looking out for the interests of their states. Still, Arnold (and our representatives in congress) should lobby to get more, especially in the areas of immigration, transportation, and national security.
You finally made a good point! Thanks to the Bushies and their Patriot Act, we get robbed by the feds in the whole tax/benefits equation. Oh yeah, we also got robbed by the power companies who turned the generators off to create the false energy crisis. And they knew their paid-off president would never enforce the existing regulations. In turn, Bush knew he wouldn't get the blame because Davis was in charge in CA. What a great racket for them, and what a raping of the great state of California. The silver lining to this dark cloud is that the media and ignorant voters can't blame Davis any more, and if Bush screws with California any more, he will also be screwing with a fellow Repub (Ah-nuld), thus lessening his chances of re-election (California is crucial).
And the poor NoCal liberals contemplated suicide.... FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Actor's Win Vexes Californians in North Mon Oct 13,10:36 AM ET By RACHEL KONRAD, Associated Press Writer SAN FRANCISCO - Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking office with a clear mandate from millions of people in Southern California's suburbs and the state's vast interior, where 70 percent of voters favored recalling Gov. Gray Davis. But liberals are mourning along the state's northern coast, particularly San Francisco, where 80 percent voted against the recall. In the city that nurtured beatniks in the '50s and hippies in the '60s, Schwarzenegger came in a distant second to Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante among the replacement candidates. Some residents joke darkly about forming a separate state, with San Francisco as the capital. Others are surrendering to reality, moving from denial to acceptance of the Republican actor's impending move to Sacramento. Oscar Grande is still "in shock" over the results of Tuesday's recall election, but the environmental activist takes comfort knowing his friends and neighbors feel equally disturbed by the Republican actor's lopsided victory. "This is still San Francisco, and we're like our own little island from the rest of California," said the 30-year-old organizer in the city's Mission district. "The folks in the suburbs and the Central Valley were so pumped about him — it really blew me away." Southern Californians voted overwhelmingly to oust the despised Davis and replace him with Schwarzenegger. Nearly three out of four voters in Orange County supported the recall, and Schwarzenegger received 64 percent of the replacement vote, soundly thumping Bustamante's 17 percent. In San Diego County, home of Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, who spent nearly $2 million to launch the recall, 66 percent of voters favored getting rid of Davis. "I feel upbeat for once," said Oceanside resident Rex Wait, 45, one of the 59 percent of county voters who picked Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger won decisively not only in the Southern California suburbs that gave Richard Nixon his start in politics, but across most of inland California, where the actor spent much of his two-month campaign. The recall had the largest support, 77 percent, in Sutter and Lassen counties northeast of Sacramento, where Schwarzenegger struck a chord with people who wanted to oust the governor. "He just seems like he's genuine, honest and wants to clean it up," said P.J. Wick, a 62-year-old housewife from Yuba City in Sutter county, where she said farmers have struggled with taxes, water problems and higher energy costs. California's interior has been growing more conservative for at least a decade. But Schwarzenegger's support in sparsely populated farming communities provided a stunning example of the long-term geopolitical shift, said John J. Pitney Jr., a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College. Instead of the traditional north-south divide that characterized the Golden State throughout the 20th century, lines are increasingly drawn between older communities along the coast, with expensive housing and environmental activism, and inland communities with vast subdivisions and socially conservative agricultural regions. "The pattern emerging is that the closer you are to salt water, the more likely you are to vote Democratic," Pitney said. "Maybe it has something to do with the ideological values of communities that have popped up along the coast, as well as concern for the environment." The trend may bode well for Republicans in future elections as development comes to California's remaining rural spaces. Placer County, which goes from east of Sacramento to the Nevada line, added more jobs than any county in the nation in 2001, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and it had the fastest-growing county population in California in 2002, according to the U.S. Census. Nearly 72 percent of Placer voters favored the recall, and 63 percent chose Schwarzenegger. The trend troubles David Orleans, a 32-year-old insurance underwriter who moved to San Francisco five years ago in part because of the liberalism championed by Democratic Mayor Willie Brown and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein. "The answer to the current political clash in California is simple," Orleans joked. "Coastal California from L.A. northward should secede from the rest of the state." Nearly seven out of 10 voters opposed the recall in Marin County, across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Bustamante received 48 percent of the vote, compared to 32 percent for Schwarzenegger. Marin County author Anne Lamott, whose novels often depict loss, says she cried herself to sleep after Tuesday night's election. But she woke on Wednesday and renewed her liberal values. "I will keep registering voters and taking care of the poor and sending money to the ACLU, and marching for peace, in the hope and belief that we can get our country back from the rich oil men who have sold our country out," Lamott said. Mark Malone, a computer marketer from Santa Cruz County, where 65 percent of voters opposed the recall, accepted the election and is trying to be optimistic. "Part of me says the old guard isn't having the best go at it, so maybe we should try and get a new perspective on things," Malone said. "I'm totally conflicted on the whole thing." By the way, recent polls show that the voters are even more angry with the legislature than they are with EX-governor Davis. Topper
Re: And the poor NoCal liberals contemplated suicide.... Yeah, it is politically expedient to tap into that middle aged, Protestant, white male, annual income between over $75k, no college degree "anger." Pete Wilson knew this; good thing Arnie picked him up. While your flying your white-rage freak-flag, why are you so much "angrier" than non-white women with a college degree earning less than $75k? It makes no sense. Is your anger rather a reaction to feeling threatened by humans in those other demographics? If so, voting for Arnie would allow you to identify up. And it would also be a fascist impulse. Yeah, I said it. And before you accuse me of engaging in psycho-social babble, you were the one on these boards Tuesday night joyously making ill-considered comments about the state's ethnic composition. I have spoken to dozens of angry, fairly affluent, white males who can't even begin to tell me why Arnold would make a better governor than Mr. T. These are the flakes fitting the "if it feels good, do it" California stereotype.
So to clarify: Arnold stole the liberal agenda and won with it. Wouldn't that a) make Arnold a liberal and b) show that Californians prefer liberal policies? Just wondering.
You can stop wondering. Here is the answer to your riddle. Arnold stole the liberal agenda on social issues, not on economic issues. Most Californians, for better or for worse, prefer liberal policies on social issues, and conservative policies on economic issues.