Schwarzenegger

[Undertoad]

He'll win.

"Let me ask you about his, his baggage, if you will. He's admitted smoking marijuana, using steroids during his body-building career. He's the son of a Nazi Party member. He said he was prejudiced before overcoming those feelings by working with the Simon Weisenthal Center in Los Angeles and the Dean of the Center said an investigation of Schwarzenegger's late father, conducted at the actor's request, found no evidence of war crimes. Through his publicist he's denied allegations published in Premiere magazine in March 2001, that he sexually harassed women and committed infidelity. All those things, are they gonna be front and center, Darry, if you, do you think in this campaign?" -- Katie Couric, 8/7/2003

Jesus, think of all the news she could have reported instead of asking that "question". The thing she misses, along with the rest of the stupid sucking media, is that this sort of thing sticks like glue to politicians, because we are desperately seeking reasons NOT to trust them. It never sticks to celebrities, because we treat them exactly the opposite way: we are desperately seeking reasons to trust them.

I don't know why it is that way, but it just is.

Watching Arnie yesterday, he imparts a degree of trust that no politician has ever EVER matched. In his announcement press conference he was asked about environmental concerns, his answer:

"I've always been environment-friendly and I will fight for the environment. Nothing to worry about that."

His political enemies will seek to make hay out of that. But unlike practically every other politician who's made a statement like that, Arnie is different. No politician could just say "Nothing to worry" and expect two-thirds of the audience to respond by not worrying.

I watched Dianne Feinstein doing her best to slyly discredit Arnie. But the language that she uses doesn't work on real people. Like most pols, it's all big words, a furrowed brow, a schoolmarmish attitude: all this stuff is important, it's all best left to us in the ivory tower. Compared to Arnie, her stuff sounded like "blah blah blah blah."

Arnie has found exactly the right notes to start with, too: his initial message was absolutely appealing, a form of semi-liberal populism. It's not identifiable as populism because we are used to populism coming from conservatism. His main message: "I want to make government work so we can afford these important programs." True-blue conservatives, underwhelmed because Arnie isn't running like the Republican he is, rushed hurriedly to their microphones to tell the world Arnie is not one of them... thus making him even more palatable to Californians.

I will be amazed if he doesn't pull this off.