The Only California Recall Post I Will Lower Myself To Write For The Foreseeable Future

- Arnold Schwarzenegger's win really doesn't mean a whole hell of a lot to me. I know that there are Democrats out there who see this as a major setback, but it's not. The recall has been a circus from start to finish, a freakshow that gave erections to news organizations and disdainful fits of laughter to the rest of us. But it's not indicative of anything. Reynolds is already crowing about how Schwarzenegger and McClintock together pulled in 60% of the vote, and how this is bound to scare the living hell out of Democrats.

Funny, I'm not scared. Why? Because, despite a string of utterly atrocious movies in between True Lies and T3, Arnold is a freaking movie star. Moreover, you couldn't build a movie star more suited to appealing to the Republican base demographic of the white male, particularly the white male who doesn't follow politics. A lot of people who don't pay attention to politics came out for this election and voted for Arnold because they like watching him shoot things. The "R" next to his name didn't do it for him - the diehards to whom that "R" means everything voted for McClintock. His existing celebrity, his apparently liberal stance on social issues, and an incredibly shortened campaign ideal for temporarily shuffling his many major flaws under the rug is what won it for him. It was indeed a winning formula, but it also one that cannot be replicated - not for the GOP, and not, I suspect, for Arnold.

Of course Arnold was going to win. We all knew that as soon as he announced. Sure, a lot of Democrats got their hopes up when Bustamonte started doing well, but hey, as soon as the recall petition hit critical mass, pretty much everyone was sure that Davis was out and a Republican was in. In fact, a lot of people, including myself, saw it as, if not a good thing, at least a thing we could tolerate. Boot a Democrat that makes the party look bad, dump the fiscal disaster in someone else's lap, say hello to Governor Cruz in 2006. The worst case scenario, that of an utter wingnut like Issa winning, has been avoided. So I don't see the point of getting worked up over something we all resigned ourselves to two months ago.

- CalPundit is right, Kos is wrong. Any Democrat who wants to recall Arnold before the 2004 Presidential election is thinking with his balls and not his brain. While I am a big fan of taking the fight to the GOP, another media circus in California drawing attention away from the Presidential race is something that Karl Rove wants so badly he would fund the petition to recall Schwarzenegger himself if he didn't think he'd be caught. Why do you think the plan is to run a lightning two month campaign starting in September? Why do you think Bush has very, very little direct interaction wth the press?

Because the longer you look at Bush, the worse he appears. Rove would give his left nut to have California pull a giant "Hey! Look over there!" on the country at exactly the point when a Presidential incumbant's record is given the most scrutiny.

- While Schwarzenegger may have dodged the bullets that are his personality, his behavior, and a campaign so substance-free it made Libby Dole's look like a theoretical physics dissertation, he will not get a second term - unless the economy rebounds and magically fixes the budget crisis, or he shoots somebody.

- A lot of commentators who dismissed the sexual harrasment allegations against Arnold as an evil plot by Davis should be ashamed of themselves. Yeah, the timing is mighty suspicious, and Davis may very well have played a role in it. I keep hearing about what a bombshell that LA Times article was, but that's crap - a lot of people have known about Arnold's behavior for a long time. It didn't really matter when he was just a movie star, because...well, for whatever reason it is that we allow our celebrities to act appallingly by continuing to support them even after we know what shits they are.

But he's a politician now, a public servant. It's a whole new ballgame, and if anything, it's amazing that that article wasn't written two months ago. If Andrew Sullivan and Glenn Reynolds are right, and Gray Davis did have a hand in delaying that story until just before the election, they should be thanking him, not condemning him. Had the allegations had a month to pick up steam, they might have really hurt him; as it was, they were too little, too late.

The overall point, though, is that all indications point to Arnold being a scumbag, and regardless of the timing of any given article, he should be condemned for the way he treats women.

And, for the record, all of those commentators who have taken the opportunity to defend Arnold's behvior and bash various feminist figures at the same time (you know who they are) are scum.

- I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Mickey Kaus is a cocksucker.

- California will not go to Bush in 2004 no matter who reigns in Sacramento, unless it's part of a Mondale-type landslide, and due to the "no foreigners" clause of the Constitution, Governor is as high as Arnold goes on the totem pole. So who cares? California is largely populated by crazy people, beautiful people, and pussies who are afraid of snow, so I say fuck 'em.

- Arnold Schwarzenegger is the Governor of California. Now that's funny.

Update: Andrew Sullivan's constant referral to Schwarzenegger as "the Eagle" officially makes him, among all the other unkind things I have called him, a huge fucking dork.