Scenes From Schwarzenfornia

Matt Welch | October 6, 2003

I spent some time over at Arnold's Santa Monica campaign HQ Saturday, to watch spokesman Sean Walsh perform the gruesome task of questioning the credibility of two gropees, evading several questions about whether Schwarzenegger would confirm or deny pawing women, and changing the subject to the Democrats' "coordinated smear campaign" and the L.A. Times' "irresponsible journalism."

The more entertaining action was taking place outside, where 10 or so pro-Arnold demonstrators shouted across 4th Street to five persistently angry protestors, who were holding signs saying such things as, "Hey Arnie -- This Jew Lives," while shouting "Sex Crime!" and "The Nazis are here!" and "Arnold gropes women!" At one point, an attractive young subcontinental-looking woman walked past the old screaming hippies. "Would you please grab her?" one pro-Arnold man pleaded. "She'd probably like it!"

Some pedestrians walking on the Schwarzenegger side hurled a few obscenities at the people holding "Join Arnold" posters. "Up yours!!" yelled one diminutive recall enthusiast, who couldn't have been older than 12. A middle-aged female reporter for Le Monde chewed the kid out for being "so rude." A European Arnold supporter standing next to the boy cried out, to no one in particular, "She's a socialist! She has no right to provoke!"

A soccer mom in an SUV waiting for the light to change gave the Arnold side a few choice words about groping. A Schwarzensupporter approached the open back-seat window, where an alarmed-looking eight-year-old girl sat. "It's better than having sex in the White House!" he bellowed at the child, before the window was rolled up.

Comments

Brian Hawkins|10.6.03 @ 5:38AM|#

I thought Santa Monica was supposed to be the friendly part of LA...

|10.6.03 @ 5:51AM|#

Unbridled Democracy is a beautiful thing!

My Gov. is smaller than your G|10.6.03 @ 5:51AM|#

I live on the East Coast and have mostly been avoiding the recall news. But wasn't a lot of the whole Schwarzenegger schtick supposed to be about restoring positive values in Sacramento?

Matt Welch|10.6.03 @ 5:54AM|#

My Gov. -- Well, sure. One shouldn't judge a candidate by 10 of his supporters....

Todd Fletcher|10.6.03 @ 6:05AM|#

Is this different from any typical Saturday in Santa Monica? Just wondering...

Andy|10.6.03 @ 6:14AM|#

Check out:
http://www.freeairtimeproject.org/fap_2003.htm

Good resource on most of the fringe candidates. Includes interviews (~30 min each) with a whole bunch of them. Two Libertarian candidates are there, as well as an Objectivist one (Clements) who's running as a Republican for no reason I can discern. Even Camejo's there... but alas, no Coleman.

Joe Dokes|10.6.03 @ 6:15AM|#

I live in Long Beach California and can point to at least one way the electorate has gone nuts. Around town there has been a series of crudely drawn posters. I mean very crudely, the Middle School I teach at just had their yearly popularity contest, errr I mean student council elections and the posters the kids made were far better than these.

They (the posters around town) are were drawn on the back of a cardboard box, they had misspelled several words and used all of Arnold's really bad lines from his movies.

Although the posters on their surface support Arnold, they were so crude, so, dare I say idiotic, that I believe they would in all likelyhood would have the opposite effect.

So the question in my mind is were these posters the work of some misguided Arnold Supporter, or were they work of anti-recall supporters trying to portray those in favor of Arnold as less than intelligent?

As for me I have decided to vote for either Mary Carey or Larry Flynt. Either the one who does porn or makes porn, at least they are honest about their screwing.

Regards

Joe

|10.6.03 @ 6:20AM|#

Matt,
Whatever does an attractive subcontinental woman look like ? Which part of the world are you talking about ?

Matt Welch|10.6.03 @ 6:24AM|#

I mean the Indian subcontinent.

My Gov., etc., etc.|10.6.03 @ 6:36AM|#

My Gov. -- Well, sure. One shouldn't judge a candidate by 10 of his supporters....

Matt, obviously I agree with your point. But he's certainly attracted some supporters who -- far from being concerned about his alleged serial assualts -- actually seem psychologically in tune with that behavior and like it. Schwarzenegger's record is a pefect example of saying one thing ("positive values!") but living another thing (no values), and then reaping the reward (people blogging about the boorishness of your Santa Monica supporters).

Warren|10.6.03 @ 6:55AM|#

Doot doot.... Ahhhhh you know the rest. Geez this show is more predictable that a traffic light.

Anyway, I saw a fellow carrying a sign that read "Groper for Governor" Hey Hey Hey heeeey huh? Awwwww crap.

Bring the clowns back out and cue the music I'll be in my trailer with a bottle of whiskey and this months Circusboy.

Matt Welch|10.6.03 @ 6:59AM|#

Warren -- Apparently on NPR's annoying "Marketplace" show today, they treated the California circus by ... interviewing a bunch of clowns!

Steven Crane|10.6.03 @ 7:15AM|#

which regular commentor was it that made the quote "dut dut doodle doodle doot doot doo doot"?

Warren|10.6.03 @ 7:18AM|#

Hey hey hey heeeeey
I hope your getting my best side.

Huh? What do you mean, radio? What kind of sideshow are you running here. Get my agent on the line! Is this thing on?

"HEY KIDS don't do drugs. And remember Vote Early and Vote Often "

|10.6.03 @ 7:24AM|#

But wasn't a lot of the whole Schwarzenegger schtick supposed to be about restoring positive values in Sacramento?

It's more about restoring positive cash flow in Sacramento. :)

|10.6.03 @ 7:26AM|#

You know what foreigners say about L.A. ? Thats it's like nowhere else in America yet it could be nowhere else but America. I love to visit LA. Griffith Observatory, great Iranian Restaurants, the beaches, wonderful used book stores, the really cute English women in the pubs in Santa Monica, so much more, and NOW a great political brawl. I'm comin out. I can taste Pinks and Johnny Rockets already.
I hope if Arnie wins he can fix things up out there. All the big government has killed off some of the creative California attitude.

|10.6.03 @ 7:35AM|#

But he's certainly attracted some supporters who [yadda yadda yadda]

And? Schwarzenegger attracts "some supporters" who think there's nothing wrong with sexual harassment for the same reason that Bustmante has "some supporters" who favor murdering all border patrol agents and Davis has "some supporters" who think prison rape is a valid form of punishment -- no matter what your political beliefs are, there will be people who agree with you 100%, but who coincidentally happen to be complete assholes.

I'm voting for the one candidate who (a) has a chance of winning, (b) isn't affiliated with loony Christian fundamentalists and (c) won't start spending money like a drunken sailor in a whorehouse the instant he wins the election. That means voting for Scwarzenegger, regardless of whether he's groped every woman between Oregon and Mexico.

Warren|10.6.03 @ 8:11AM|#

Dan,

"won't start spending money like a drunken sailor in a whorehouse the instant he wins the election."

I say you are a total sucker. If Arnie wins I'd bet dollars to donuts he has no fiscal discipline. When people think they should only vote for someone who has a chance of winning they've lost already. 'Winnable' candidates achieve that status by pandering to everyone. In other words, you know they're lying because their lips are moving.

Annoying Old Guy|10.6.03 @ 8:18AM|#

Isn't the only rational response to this election to move out of California?

|10.6.03 @ 8:30AM|#

Personally, I can't agree that groping a woman on a studio set is better than having sex in the White House.

go Arnold|10.6.03 @ 8:43AM|#

I'm more inclined to support Arnie, now that I know he really is more like a Kennedy!

Gene Berkman|10.6.03 @ 8:51AM|#

Schwarzenegger has promised new spending programs, and increases in existing government programs, while promising to cut taxes. His idea to audit the government and get rid of waste, fraud and abuse is generic enough, but actual proposals for cuts in government are non-existant.
Sen. Tom McClintock has a long record of opposition to big government and to the tax and spend policies of Wilson (Republican) and Davis (Democrat)
Look at www.majority.com for more reasons to vote for Tom McClintock.

PapayaSF|10.6.03 @ 8:54AM|#

Dan said things well, and I think Warren is missing some important points. First, any candidate who campaigns as a fiscal conservative is at least more likely to act that way than one who doesn't. Second, a recall of Davis sends a huge, mostly positive message to the professional politicians in Sacramento: screw up badly enough, and the voters may well have a special election to kick you out of office.

Jean Bart|10.6.03 @ 10:22AM|#

Give me one good reason to give a shit about the California recall. :)

|10.6.03 @ 10:32AM|#

Well, JB, you could care about it because Schwarzenegger's election would mark a milestone in the culture of celebrity entitlement, the point at which if one is famous enough one can get away with absolutely anything.

Of course, it may only mean that Californians have a high tolerance for disgusting behavior related to sex and even tend to admire it, in the same way Louisianans are used to corruption and certain urban areas have a permissive attitude toward violent crime. Personally I can barely make it through a news article on the recall without feeling an overwhelming urge to wash my hands.

William Jefferson Clinton|10.6.03 @ 10:34AM|#

I've groped women in the governor's mansion AND had sex in the White House, and believe me, there's no comparison.

|10.7.03 @ 5:03AM|#

I say you are a total sucker. If Arnie wins I'd bet dollars to donuts he has no fiscal discipline

He could pay for a billion dollars' worth of hookers and cocaine each month using state credit cards, and he'd still represent a massive net savings compared to Davis and Bustamante. His plan for balancing the budget isn't as ambitious as McClintock's, but it differs from McClintock's in one important respect: McClintock is living in fantasyland. The state government is controlled by Democratic bureaucrats and legislators. You need a milder plan, pushed by a guy with a lot of popular appeal, to have any chance of getting past that obstacle. Arnie has both those things; McClintock has neither.

McClintock's team also includes people who want to legislate the Bible into law. I don't give a shit if he's a "real fiscal conservative". I'd rather be destitute than ruled by Christian fascists. The fact that he didn't immediately fire the guy in question and publically condemn him is, to me, evidence of far worse character flaws than mere "unwanted groping" and "bad spending habits". I'll tolerate those sorts of associations with Bush for the simple reason that Islamists worry me more than right-wing Christians, but I don't have to tolerate it at the state level.

On a final note, I have to say that I'm incredibly annoyed by McClintock's decision to place his own ego ahead of the need to remove Davis and Bustamante from power. McClintock knows damned well he's got no chance of winning, even if Arnie dropped out of the race. He's staying in just to "send a message". Message received, Tom: you're an asshole.

|10.7.03 @ 9:57AM|#

If only McClintock had his ego in check like Arnie does.

|10.7.03 @ 10:21AM|#

Well arnies is a right-winger after all and they are all nazis. And no the nazis were not Leftists and they were worse than Stalin, Mao and Castro so don't try to bring that up.

|10.7.03 @ 11:43AM|#

I see Anon at 10:21 has triggered Godwin's law. Discussion over. Thank yew and good night!

max power|10.7.03 @ 12:53PM|#

Dan is (as usual) completely right.

McClintock is going to lose, despite claims to the contrary at the ironically named majority.com. And anyone who likens Arnold's prospective spending to Cruz's obviously isn't paying attention. We are talking about a guy with Milton Friedman on his advisory board versus a guy who openly states that cornerstone of his plan to fix CA is raising taxes.

joe|10.8.03 @ 9:38AM|#

I would pretty much buy any product if the tagline was "It's better than having sex in the White House."