Recall of the Wild
Meanwhile, in sunny Caleeforn-eye-yeah...
By Bryan Zepp Jamieson
08/23/03
http://www.zeppscommentaries.com/Politics/recallII.htm
Davis has pulled out of the governor’s race in California.
If you’re wondering why your local rock radio station failed to mention it (even Clear Channel has to occasionally admit that there is news) that’s because this was SCOTT Davis who dropped out. His candidacy was one of the more lightly regarded ones, since he was a nobody whose main claim to fame was the fourth most common surname in the United States. Yes, he has pulled out of the race. Something about some misunderstanding about a murder some years back. This was in Fulton ("Squeeeel like a piggy!") County in Georgia, where misunderstandings about murder among business associates are just one of those things that accountants factor for. The victim’s name was Coffin, which I thought was a nice touch, and for some reason Davis, who saw the charges dropped for lack of evidence, didn’t think anyone would be asking about it. Oh, incidently, Coffin was apparently screwing Davis’ wife. Davis was running on a platform to promote organ donations, which, given his background, is definitely food for thought.
So that leaves just 134 little Injuns in the race.
Among the big names (in this race, anyone with a GQ above 1), there’s signs of several impending implosions among the candidates.
Arianna Huffington has encountered heavy going in her candidacy. Newsmax gleefully reported that the multimillionaire, who favors increasing estate and income taxes, paid only $750 or so in federal income taxes last year. Of course, Newsmax, in their fair and balanced way, forgot to mention what her gross income actually was. She took some business losses on her online projects, hardly a unique situation in California right now. Indeed, next to the flat out theft by the power companies a couple of years back, the main reason for the deficit was the sour economy, resulting in lower tax revenues. It’s why 47 states struggled with deficits this year, and why George’s deficit is bigger than all the states’ combined. Arianna also had her campaign manager up and quit yesterday, which might be a mixed blessing, since this was the same guy who was campaign manager for Jesse Ventura in 1998. Having the man who inflicted "The Body" on the world as her manager doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Incidently, the reason he quit was because it came to light that in the past year, he had worked as a lobbyist for a major tobacco firm (the servile American media didn’t say which one) and this was sort of at odds with Arianna’s strong anti-tobacco stance.
California’s own answer to "The Body," Arnold Schwarzenegger, is flip-flopping all over the place. He picked up some cachet by enticing the highly regarded Warren Buffet to join his campaign staff. But then, when Buffet told the press that California could solve its budget woes by dismantling Prop 13, Arnie backed away from him like a chicken from a cherry bomb. Then Schwarzenegger came out with his economic policy, which turned out to be vacuous puffery. Arnie promises to cut everything except education, and not raise taxes. Apparently he can’t figure out that the only thing more expensive than a well-funded government is a poorly funded government. Better to spend $1,000 for a used car that runs than it is to spend $700 for a used car that comes "engine optional." It turned out that Arnie didn’t have anything beyond the usual empty bumper sticker GOP slogans to offer. One of his own advisors blurted that they couldn’t make sense of the existing budget that just came out of the legislative meat grinder, which was probably the most honest thing said by Arnold’s camp this week.
Outside of Buffet, Arnie’s judgement in picking staffers has turned out to at least as questionable as Arianna’s. He picked Pete Wilson as a high-profile advisor. Poisonous Pete is part of a string of governors who managed to be simultaneously colorless and disagreeable. After two terms as governor, during which his ratings were often nearly as low as Davis’ are now, he decided to run for President. He couldn’t get 20% support in his own state, and abandoned the effort.
And finally, Arnie picked up the staff that worked for former Insurance Commish Quackenbush. The Quackster had to up and quit his job and flee to Hawaii one day, after it came to light that some irregularities – several billion dollars worth – had cropped up in how he managed the state insurance during his tenure. Something about letting the companies shaft Californians, something of a favorite sport among Republicans. He’s still in Hawaii, and doesn’t dare step foot in California. Fortunately for him, he crossed state lines before any warrants were issued.
Arnie thinks hiring the people who helped make Quackenbush the model of probity he was will add gravitas to his campaign. Whatever, Arnie.
Still, having Arnie in the race is wonderful. Right wing group after right wing group is supporting Arnie, and it’s hilarious watching them completely trash their own principles for the sake of the Party. Arnie, of course, is pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro-gay rights, and for separation of church and state. In short, Arnie’s a liberal. Just goes to show that the integrity and honesty of the right wing is mostly just there to hide the rouge, the hotpants, and the sign reading "Half-hour, $20."
Bill Simon is finding it hard to get traction. The most prevalent response to news of his candidacy is, "Oh, Christ, is that idiot running again?"
Cruz Bustamante, the Looey, is catching flak from all sides. Republicans despise him because he stands for a lot of the things Schwarzenegger does, and wants to tax the rich besides. Recall California, Issa’s group, most responsible for inflicting this recall on Californians, is trying to tie him to Davis. They claim that his opposing the recall just goes to show he is for Davis. Ironically, Democrats see him as an opportunist who stabbed his boss in the back. Given that Bustamante, up until two days before the filing deadline, had sworn he wasn’t going to run, a certain amount of contempt is understandable. Bustamante also has to deal with questions about whether he interfered in a perjury and fraud case involving his aunt and uncle, who were accused of cheating the kids at their day care and siphoning off the money for themselves. They copped a plea on the indictments, and the Fresno Bee is now reporting there is evidence that, his claims to the contrary, Cruz Bustamante did intervene in the case on their behalf.
Lastly, the one candidate who is gaining ground is Gray Davis. He has been running on a combination of promises to be more dynamic and involved, and on the claim that the recall is nothing more than another Republican attempt to overthrow a legitimate election. Actually, the term he uses is "Steal another election" which resonates with people. They are already mindful of the Florida fiasco (Kathleen Harris, Database Technologies, Antonin Scalia, all that) and Tom DeLay’s efforts to overthrow the redistricting in Texas in a blatant effort at gerrymandering, so that approach is rapidly gaining traction among voters who are fed up with Republican sour grapes and end runs around the American democratic process.
The result of all this is that support for the recall is dropping like a rock. A poll in today’s Sacramento Bee showed support for the recall had dropped to 50% (it had been as high as 67% just ten days ago) and those opposed were up to 46%. It’s an accelerating trend, and there are still six weeks to go.
Come October 8th, I expect to see that Davis is still governor. And after the backwash from this expensive spectacle, it might be 25 years before we ever see a Republican hold high office in California again.
Of course, that’s assuming that there aren’t any sudden surges by Gary Coleman, Mary Carey, Larry Flynt or Scott Davis.