"A Political Shame" - Commentary by Tony Seton

A Political Shame

Arnold Schwarzenegger may be elected governor of California tomorrow, but the Secretary of State, a Democrat, is saying that he doesn’t plan to certify the election for 39 days, the legal limit. That may foretell the flavor of the next three years. The "winner" will face multiple crises and a nasty Democratic legislature. Happy days!

Of course, first the people of The Golden State have to recall -- fire and humiliate -- Gray Davis, and then choose the muscleman from among 135 or so wannabees. Ahnold is in the lead, but he is getting hammered by a series of new stories that say unpleasant things about his character.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Schwarzenegger was accused of inappropriate touching by a half-dozen women for incidents as long ago as the ‘70s and as recently as 2000. The big man apologized, saying what had been an attempt at playfulness was a miscue on his part. Then three more women came forward with similar complaints.

Then came out a story that when asked whom he admired, Schwarzenegger is quoted as saying, "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education up to power. And I admire him for being such a good public speaker." (Sorry about the accent.) The headline writers jumped all over the quote, some of them not recording the next sentence which reads, "But I didn't admire him for what he did with it."

This kind of gutter politics is a disgrace to the very idea of public discourse and the democratic process. If there are issues to be raised, raise them immediately. Holding them until the last few days before the campaign is a treasonous act designed to undermine the election process.

This same timing took out Barbara Boxer’s opponents in her two Senate bids; they were trashed only days before the vote, without time for the whole truth to come out and be digested. Both slime campaigns are likely the work of Bob Mulholland, the California Democratic Party hatchet man, with a reputation lower than snake spit.

Do any of the stories inform as to Schwarzenegger’s ability to govern? If you didn’t realize he was a raucous kind of a guy, you haven’t been paying attention. Not that the worst of the alleged behavior should be countenanced, but considering how many Dems gave the Predator-in-Chief a pass, it’s hard to get overworked about these transgressions.

I sincerely hope that if he wins the governor’s seat that he stands up to the professional pols, reverses all the last-minute appointments of friends to sinecures, garners enough public outrage to set the legislature right, and gets our state back on its leadership track. Also, if you listening, Good Fairy....

And that’s SetonnoteS...I’m Tony Seton.