Schwarzenegger's Attack Ads

Schwarzenegger's attack ads are running almost 24 hours a day now. Why they feel the need to attack an opponent who may be as much as 20+ points down in the polls is beyond me, but these ads are almost as empty and hollow as Angelides' recent pledge to bring home California national guard troops from Iraq. This is, of course, impossible since once federalized, guard troops are under the command of the President, not the Governor (remember the desegregation orders in the South?).

Here is the gist of the ads: Phil Angelides will raise each and every tax you pay.

While not impossible like General Phil bringing the troops home, it would never happen. Why?

Prop 13.

Prop 13, which is almost entirely to blame for the state's consistently late and incoherent budgets, requires a 2/3rds supermajority to raise taxes. The Democrats do not have the seats, and thanks to the incumbent friendly redistricting plan they passed, they won't. The Republicans in the legislature will block any effort to raise taxes in the very, VERY remote posibility Angelides can pull his campaign out of the toilet.

Empty scare tactics at their worst. This campaign reminds me of a particular South Park episode. I'll let you read up on that on your own.

Cut up the credit card?

A long time ago in a galaxy far far away, Arnold Schwarzenegger was attacking Gov. Gray Davis for being a big spender. Seems Gray wanted an $8 billion dollar bond package. Schwarzenegger rode into office on a pledge of cutting up the state's credit card.

Well, after seizing power Schwarzenegger decided to propose another bond, twice as big as Gray Davis. Hardly cutting up the credit card.

Its now re-election time and he's trying to kick the spending spree into high gear. $43 billion in bond debt is on the ballot this year, including $37.3 billion Schwarzenegger himself was instrumental in placing on the ballot.

What happened to pay as you go?

The San Diego Union-Tribune has a nice analysis of where the bond packages stand now.

Arnold, The Bonnie Garcia Minstrel Show, and the Angelides "Strategery"

I've avoided this issue like the plague because its ridiculous, but its reached a level of stupidity now that I can no longer ignore. A tape surfaced of a private meeting between Schwarzenegger and his Chief of Staff where some remarks were made about the crappy Republican leadership in the Assembly and latins being "hot blooded". Dumb and not PC? Sure. A scandal? Not even close.

Enter Bonnie Garcia, Assemblywoman from Palm Desert. Like a good sport, she immediately went into minstrel show mode and played right into it: "Very often I tell him, 'Look, I am a hot-blooded Latina.' I label myself a hot-blooded Latina that is very passionate about the issues..." Whatever Bonnie, you can take the sombrero off and send the mariachis home now. We get it, you're latin.

Oh but it gets dumber! Turns out the Angelides campaign stole and leaked the tape. What the hell are you thinking over there? About the only way Angelides could look more desperate would be if he started offering a cash reward for votes.

There it is. Arnold said something dumb, Bonnie Garcia wore blackface, and Phil Angelides looked like an asshole down by double digits in the campaign grasping for any pathetic piece of dirt he could find.

Dan Walters: Schwarzenegger is Bigger than Jesus

If you've read one Dan Walters collumn you've read them all.

Schwarzenegger is a genius, master politico, and the sexiest man alive. He cures the sick and feeds the poor. Phil Angelides on the other hand (Gray Davis used to fill this role in Walters' collumn) is maniacal and as ultimately ineffective as a James Bond villain. He steals candy from babies and made Bob Cratchet work on Christmas.

Whatever Dan, it looks like you'll have four more years of your lips attached to Schwarzenegger's ass.

If you dig deep enough into his collumns, there are occasionally a couple interesting factoids - which is the case with today's:

- Angelides has only 58% of Democrats behind him and 32% of all voters. Both numbers will rise, but this is beyond dismal.
- The Democratic legislature is helping Schwarzenegger because they don't particularly like Angelides either. They also like the idea of Antonio Villaraigosa running for Governor in 2010 (frankly, so do I).