Pardon Me, California !! But.....

I can't take Arnold seriously.

Please don't get me wrong, he gave a rousing speech last night.
No doubt about it.
What a great cheerleader. He can tell some great stories too.
He had people chanting and clapping their Texas boots off. I found myself captured by the enthusiasm of the moment. I had a smile on my face. I was sitting on the edge of my seat.
I almost forgot that I was listening to a Convention speech.
Hell, I wanted to go to the Country that he was talking about.

As Governor, does "Arnold" still live in Hollywood?
I only ask because he was definitely into his role last night.

As his speech came to a close, I fell back to earth. The reality of the real world descended upon me. The script he used was simply awesome. It had all the ear-marks of a motivational speech.

But "Arnold" is the "Terminator," The real "Action Hero". He's the best, "Special Forces" commando, that the military has ever seen.
Arnold is macho and bravado and he's Da-Man. No one can call him, a "Girlie Man" for sure.
Well ok, maybe Claude van Damm could, or Bruce Lee if he were still alive.

But he's also an actor folks! He can go into any type, character, or role, depending on what the situation calls for.
Over the years, I have enjoyed many of his films. And I must admit, he's a better actor then I ever gave him credit for.
He was simply spectacular last night.

But the movie is over folks. It's time to put our feet back on the ground, pick up our popcorn container and leave the theatre.
13,799 views 22 replies
Reply #1 Top

Insightful, you get an insightful from me! As a native of the Golden State, it is my hope that one day, the voters here, most of whom probably came from other states, will come to the realization that electing actors to public office is not a good idea. The recall and his leadership so far have made me embarrassed to be a Californian. I predict that he will not seek a second term in 2006. Unlike his movie career, he's discovered that he has to go to work everyday year-round, and for much less money. Leave politics to the politicians. You may not like what they do, but they get things done, and know how to work the system.
Reply #2 Top
You may not like what they do, but they get things done, and know how to work the system.


Get things done? You think the California’s Leading Democratic Politicians know what they are doing? Here in Nevada this is what I see. They have worked the system so badly in the past that companies are flooding across the board along with their high paying jobs. One of the biggest industries in my area is building office buildings and homes. When cities like San Francisco has employees handing out $200.00 to each junky or bum on the street the first day of each month, so they can get their fix for a week, there is something wrong. A statements like the "State formerly know as Golden" and the "People Republic of California" are common here and these statements are coming from the "California refugees".

The only hope you got is change. The Democratic Machine in Sacramento has been squeezing companies for years. If a company can not make money then it must either move or close its doors. We are just luck most are moving to Nevada and not overseas. When bills are even considered to force companies to pay for sex change operations, and paid maternity leave for fathers, there is something wrong with the system. Land taxes are so high that some people pay more a month in taxes then they do their mortgage (old mortgages).

The Machine (Grey Davis) was not changing and the voters (it don't sound like you) wanted a change. Give the guy a break; he is trying to change a system that is failing for a generation. From what I hear across the boarder, is that he has at least started with introducing new rules. As for being just and actor, remember he did start a successful multi-million dollar company by himself even before he was an actor. He will know what is needed to keep what's left of job producing companies in California open. California was a sinking ship and heading for Bankruptcy, at least he is trying to stop what happened in Orange County from happening to the Whole State. The Machine before him was not even trying, because they kept thinking the same old thing "The Companies are evil and always have more money." Knock, Knock.... Some times they don't.

Real reason for California's high gas prices is because the eco nuts that are a large part of the machine have made it impossible legally to open any new refineries. As the amount of demand goes up and the level of supply produced does not, then the price will go up too. At least Arnold is trying to find a way for the refinery company to build another and installing a non-fossil fuel infrastructure in California.

PS: Anne could you please take most of those "Native Golden State" people back. We are getting a flood of them here. We would like you to at least keep the Journalist, and gang bangers.
Reply #3 Top

Lee, first & foremost, this reply space is meant for responses to Insightful's blog, but I guess I made myself fair game by responding. Fair enough, I guess. All I know about Nevada is that because of the gaming industry, state taxes and business conditions are different there. Many out of state companies incorportate in your state & Delaware. The only thing I was saying, without putting one party over another, like you did, was to leave politics to the politicians, just as you would leave medicine to doctors, or law enforcement to authorities. Arnold is obviously in over his head. As for any problems we might have in our state, remember that before Gray Davis, California had 16 consectutive years of Republican Governors, and just one year before the recall, Davis won re-election easily.
By the way, Judge & Jury, I do vote. I also pay taxes.
The biggest refinery in Southern California is the Powerine refinery. It's owned by Pat Robertson. That Pat Robertson. Remember that in your prayers. He can prayed to in Virginia.
I don't know about the Journalist, but when out of state developers stop raping open space with assembly line look-alike homes at outrageous prices, or buying older, less expensive apartment buildings, kicking out longtime tenants, tearing them down, and putting expensive condos & apartments in their place, maybe impovershed gang bangers will stay home and do something constructive.
I would love to be able to go to Las Vegas for a weekend without having to bring at least $300 with me.
It stands to reason that you would say all those lovely things about Californians. Your state spent so much time & effort trying to kick out Italians, Blacks & Jews.
Reply #4 Top
I would love to be able to go to Las Vegas for a weekend without having to bring at least $300 with me.


$300? Damn, Anne, you're counting on a whole hell of a lot of comps there.

I wish I could that last line, but I can't.

Anyway, before hijacking further...excellent post, insightful.
Reply #5 Top
Lee, you mis-read my point. You are talking about Democrat & Republican differences. I was talking about the actor, Arnold Schwarzennegger. I mean really, how can anyone take somebody seriously that has lived in a fantasy world for so long and played, make believe?

Arnonld spoke the other night, but he didnt say anything. It was all, "hurrah" for us and "booo!" for the other guys. But he gave no relevent information. He's an, "empty suit", that "pumps iron" three days a week.

Regarding your jab at Anne, I think you might be in over your head there. It sounds to me like, she knows her facts and figures and what time it is.
I don't believe that I would want to get into a "p-----g contest there.

And Anne, I agree with Gideon's thought, "How do you go to Vegas with $300?

Have a nice day everyone.
Reply #6 Top
Sorry if I took it to hard, but I'm just saying that he may be an actor, but give him a chance. Ronald Reagan was an actor, but I think he did a good job. If you really think about it, most of the politicians on both sides are actors. And as I said he does have more experience then just an actor.

I also should not have used Democratic Machine and should have just said Political Machine, but the Democrats have ruled the states houses there for many more years back then just four years.

Your state spent so much time & effort trying to kick out Italians, Blacks & Jews.


Enlighten me please. I don't know about blacks, but I think a few Italian and Jewish mobsters were a good thing.

The biggest refinery in Southern California is the Powerine refinery. It's owned by Pat Robertson. That Pat Robertson.


So? I don't care if it is owned by Teresa Heinz, who by the way has moved more jobs out of the Sacramento Valley to central Mexico then Pat Roberts has employees in California.

I would love to be able to go to Las Vegas for a weekend without having to bring at least $300 with me.


... So would I. I'm from the northern part of the State where a larger part of the economy is industry and business. Next time you’re in town give me a call and I'll dig you up some comps*. * Weekends and special events excluded.

Sorry we don't have the Pirates of the Caribbean here.
Reply #7 Top
Last numbers I saw, the Governator had a nearly 65% approval rating in his state, and the honeymoon is clearly over. Not the first time that some have underestimated a governor. There's far more substance to the guy than his critics realize. He has been widely respected and praised for his business savvy and ethical behavior for a long time now, in a business that can be a bit sleazy, to say the least. And truly decent people with clear principles tend to make more good decisions than bad. Sure he's a showman; doesn't bother me he can give a good speech.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #9 Top
I wonder if Hitler would have made a good actor

BAM!!!
Reply #10 Top

*Insightful, thank you for the nice words! Your blog was also full of good words! Keep it up!

*Gideon, I'm not a wealthy woman, so when I do go to Vegas, I either stay at a motel or with a cousin there. If you knew my cousin, you would understand why I prefer the motel!

*Lee, I didn't turn 21 until the mid-90's, but my parents have long memories. Long story short, they said that LV was much better run before the corportations took over. Prices were reasonable, service was more personal, the town was friendly, & with Italian businessmen having influence, crime was low. No one would dare pull a job in Vegas in those days. Now with the corportations, weekday rates are outrageous, traffic is a nightmare, and remember, I live in Los Angeles, service is snooty on it's best days, it's smoggier than LA, and Vegas has one of the nation's highest crime rates. It still has a positive side to it, and that's why I enjoy going there.
Performers like Sammy Davis Jr. & Pearl Bailey could perform there, but couldn't stay in the same hotels they worked at. Forget about swimming in a hotel pool. Until Frank Sinatra started squawking about the injustices, Nevada was about the same as some southern states. Oh yes, the mascot at UNLV, home of the Runnin' Rebels, was a Confederate soldier!
After Sinatra started squawking about the treatment of black performers, the state Gaming Commission started looking for excuses to take away his gaming license to the Cal-Neva Lodge, in which he had part-ownership.
You may not have Pirates of the Carribean, but you do have Cardboard Pirates at the Mandalay Bay! You also have Circus Circus, the Luxor and all their "authentic" Egyptians, and the rollercoaster on top of the Stratosphere! It's sooo much bigger than Disneyland!
Memorials to Wilbur Clark are everywhere. Not one anywhere, however for the Jewish man who really made Vegas what it became, Moe Greene.
Anything else?

*Muggaz, when it came to being a world statesman, Hitler was a very bad actor!
Reply #11 Top
I wonder if Hitler would have made a good actor


Muggaz -

You can't be serious, and you can't be joking, so you must just be sick. See a doctor, soon.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #12 Top
Until Frank Sinatra started squawking about the injustices, Nevada was about the same as some southern states. Oh yes, the mascot at UNLV, home of the Runnin' Rebels, was a Confederate soldier!


What's interesting is, we were brought into the Union to give Lincoln electoral votes for the 1864 election.

As for the southern state mentality, I've heard more than a few people refer to us as "the Mississippi of the west", referring to the fact that we had miscegenation laws on the books until well into the civil rights movement. (personally, I refer to our community as "someone took Arkansas and moved it to the middle of the desert"...lol)
Reply #13 Top
It was a damn good speech.

The only problem with it is that the Republican party he praised--the party of limited spending, "get the government off my back" libertarianism, pro-immigrant, party of personal responsibility and entrepreneurship bears no relationship to the *actual* budget-busting, holier-than-thou, xenophobic pork-dispenser that is the modern Republican party.
Reply #14 Top
Muggaz -

You can't be serious, and you can't be joking, so you must just be sick. See a doctor, soon.


Oh, I was just using it in the context that Hitler was a very good public speaker - I was joking!

BAM!!!
Reply #15 Top
I think you've all missed something. Arnold made a lot in the film industry, and not just in acting. He is also one of the original founders of the "Hard Rock" line of hotels, resorts, and clubs. He was smart enough to set it up, draw the big initial crowds, then get his profits out before the franchises went bust. He can be very shrewd when it is called for. As to his speech, he probably had darn little to do with it, except for the reading. The Republican party set the theme of the speech within some very tight guidelines, some professional sppech writer fleshed it out, and Arnold presented it. The same is true of all the bigwig speakers. Did you see the thickness of the notebook Bush read from last night?
Reply #16 Top
Muggaz & Daiwa

Being that I seemed to have lost control of this Forum and we've drifted from the subject of "Arnold" to talk of Vegas and Hitler.

Let me go out on a limb here. But first let me clarify that "Hitler" was a very bad man and a criminal of the worst kind.

So that being said,
Hitler had to of been a great, "Actor" and "Public Speaker."
I mean, how else could he have convinced so many people and countries to follow him, with his sadistic idea of the World order?
Reply #17 Top
Well said Insightful!
...and Diawa...also well said. While I am not an Arnold fan, he has performed fairly well so far in a very difficult position - speaches aside. California's problems are not going to be fixed by one man however, and it will definately have to be a collective effort.
Reply #18 Top
Hitler had to of been a great, "Actor" and "Public Speaker."
I mean, how else could he have convinced so many people and countries to follow him, with his sadistic idea of the World order?

Just an F.Y.I.
You know in the Sociology book there was an example of a test a guy did to figure out why so many people went along with Hitler down into the depths a sadistic evil. Basically the guy tested to see how far somebody would go with reassurance and threatening someone's life with the torture. The torture method he used was an electric chair that could send varying amounts of amps/volts/ohms (Electronic Engineers can tell you the specfic on what kills you) that is adminstered by the person being tested, just so they have fear planted into them of the chair, he sat them in the chair and shocked them, than they had the person being tested stand at the control panel as an actor came out and sat in the chair, the actor was supposed to repeat some many words and phrases that the tester said, if he got it wrong he was to be zapped by the testee. This test should that with reassurance and the fear of being zapped, the testees would continue with the test and went to high voltages, of course while the actor acted like he was getting shocked, so his test shows that people will follow authority, of course there were few, but most went along.

Straight Opinion
As for a good public speaker, I guess you can say that about an Presidential Candidate, except Hitler played on the depression, much in the same way FDR did, except Hitler used a scapegoat, the Jewish people and National Pride, while FDR did not he instead used more of a Socialist view of working for the COMMON Good (but don't discount the Nazi Rallies held in the United States by the American Nazi Party during the 1920s-30s, they had quite a healthy following, which is scary)

Reagan was an actor as well, and we all know the outcome it had, so let's hope an amendment gets past so Arnold can run for Presinator for '08, or you could have Jackie Chan, Jean Claude Van Damme (He's Belgian, but I think he does have his US Citzenship), Dave Lister (because Arnie Rimmer is a Smeghead) etc. What about Hulk Hogan or Jesse Ventura?
How about lowering the age limit a bit so we can have hot twenty-something female actresses in the white house as President, oh well I can dream can't I.
Reply #19 Top

Insightful, your points are well-taken by me. In my initial response, I TRIED to stick to the topic of your blog, but someone else wanted to change the topic for God Knows what selfish reason. You deserve better consideration than that.
I hope people keep in mind that in the 30's, conservative politicians in America wanted to embrace Hitler. Charles Lindbergh was a personal friend of his. After the war, you didn't hear much from him or the people who wanted to embrace Adolf.
Finally, I just would like to remind people that it isn't Democrats who put actors or wrestlers into the political spotlight.
Insightful, I'm sorry for straying but I felt those points had to be made.
Keep up the good blogs!
Reply #20 Top
Personally, I think this whole October 2003 recall thing was a joke.

First of all, why does the recall limit have to be set at 1 million signatures in such a big state like California??
And second of all, the Republicans must be stupid to think that they'll get anything passed over the Dems in California. Actually, with Cruz Bustamante still as Lt. Governor, Arnold is stuck in a problem.

And by the way, that stupid comment about Arnold's movie name and how Democrats should've been in that movie---cold---Arnold: you were in that movie. Face the facts.
Reply #22 Top
Charisma and good looks as well as a charming and supportive wife will get you farther than a Harvard Law Degree. Let's also not get into the fact he pushes the envelope with the whole immigrant-to-office thing. It works for some people. Personally? I don't think I've ever seen him talk.