Now He Tells Us

Matt Welch | November 10, 2008

Remeber when Arnold Schwarzenegger was a Milton Friedman-quoting fiscal conservative out to clean up the irresponsible budgets of Singapore Gray Davis? Ah, memories:

"I think the important thing for the Republican Party is now to also look at other issues that are very important for this country and not to get stuck in ideology," the governor said in an interview broadcast on CNN. "Let's go and talk about healthcare reform. Let's go and . . . fund programs if they're necessary programs and not get stuck just on the fiscal responsibility."

reason on Schwarzenegger here.

Comments

|11.10.08 @ 4:29PM|#

"'Cause you know, fiscal responsibility is so-o-o 2007".

|11.10.08 @ 4:30PM|#

not get stuck just on the fiscal responsibility

Yes, what a golden age of fiscal responsibility it has been.

Lefiti|11.10.08 @ 4:32PM|#

Schwarzenegger is a fucking apostate!

Hail Market,
Full of grace,
Prosperity is with thee.
Blessed art thou among systems,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Capital.
Holy Market,
Mother of Goods,
pray for us consumers now,
and at the hour of our bankruptcy.
Amen.

|11.10.08 @ 4:33PM|#

It's a pretty tried and true formula for being popular.

Step 1: Find somebody who's popular (in this case, Obama).

Step 2: Do what he does.

Seems simple enough to me...

Dello|11.10.08 @ 4:38PM|#

In the end, every man's wife owns him.

|11.10.08 @ 4:42PM|#

It's an embarrassment that he gave the introductory speech to the first episode of the 1990 edition of the Free to Choose series.

In case anyone's interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKbHA76-Hi0

What a politician.

|11.10.08 @ 4:44PM|#

Anybody think he's actually being reasonable (from a self interest standpoint)? The big winners of the financial and housing crisis were those who behaved most irresponsibly- failed the most spectacularly. I don't see why Obama would let California fail any more than he seems willing to let Ford fail. If Arnold calls for fiscal responsibility, California pays for it alone. If he spends them in to oblivion they get to enjoy all the free giveaways, and when it is time to pay the piper the entire country chips in to help them out.

|11.10.08 @ 4:48PM|#

Goodbye Kalifornia.

|11.10.08 @ 4:49PM|#

oh god we're so fucked

Brownie|11.10.08 @ 4:50PM|#

Ain't that the truth, FatDrunkandStupid. The bailout didn't exactly send a good message about the consequences of irresponsibility.

Chrispy|11.10.08 @ 4:55PM|#

It's an embarrassment that he gave the introductory speech to the first episode of the 1990 edition of the Free to Choose series.

I agree. The series itself is great though. You can watch the whole thing for free at www.ideachannel.tv.

|11.10.08 @ 4:57PM|#

Won't somebody think of ME!?

I mean, what if I'm reduced to sucking Reasonoid dicks for a buck a pop?)

Jerry|11.10.08 @ 5:06PM|#

You can suck dick for more than just a buck a pop in Washington D.C., or so I heard. Republican trickle down economics :)

|11.10.08 @ 5:06PM|#

Reduced, Lefiti? Compared to your present gig of offering BJs to the homeless, three for a dollar, it would seem to be a big step up. Of course Libertarians are a bit more discriminating than your average street person, so the reduced volume may offset the increased price.

Oh well, the market will sort out what hummer business model is most profitable for you.

|11.10.08 @ 5:11PM|#

What is Arnold talking about? The GOP hasn't been about fiscal responsibility since Eisenhower.

24AheadDotCom|11.10.08 @ 5:11PM|#

I stopped supporting Arnold two years ago. Not over Reason's supposed concerns, but because of things like this.

Let me know when Reason comes out against this corrupt Schwarzenegger/Bill Clinton scheme, rather than celebrating it because corrupt businesses will make money.

|11.10.08 @ 5:17PM|#

I've opposed Schwarzenegger since I discovered that he is hording our precious tequila.

Well, I did oppose him earlier when I learned that Conan III was being shelved due to this governor gig, but that's not the same.

Sweatpants|11.10.08 @ 5:29PM|#

But, but, he has a degree in Economics! He must know what he's talking about! Plus he's a Republican so he's fiscally conservative by nature! Maybe you guys would understand if you weren't such liberal coastal elitists.

|11.10.08 @ 5:53PM|#

Let me know when Reason comes out against this corrupt Schwarzenegger/Bill Clinton scheme,

How should I let you know? Do you have a website that I can reach you at? Or maybe I'll videotape a message for you and upload it on youtube?

lunchstealer|11.10.08 @ 5:53PM|#

not get stuck just on the fiscal responsibility

Jah. Vee must not get caught up on treevial details like financial solvency. Zat is for ze gurli-men.

|11.10.08 @ 6:12PM|#

"Let's go and talk about healthcare reform. Let's go and . . . fund programs if they're necessary programs and not get stuck just on the fiscal responsibility."

Like saying: Damned that "living below your means" crap - full speed ahead (towards insolvency)!

Hey, if the same economics illiteracy helped Obama get elected, why not use it?

|11.10.08 @ 6:13PM|#

Anyone notice that Arnie was rarely mentioned, let alone criticized, over the last several years concerning steroid abuse while baseball players were ruthlessly condemned by self appointed moral guardians of the game?

|11.10.08 @ 6:15PM|#

As it has turned out, Arnold is a fraud. Does anybody think that he would have won the Olympia seven times without the assistance of anabolic steroids?

Colonel_Angus|11.10.08 @ 6:31PM|#

Looks like someone changed his name again. (The second post at 5:11)

|11.10.08 @ 6:56PM|#

Yeah, who needs outdated concepts like fiscal reponsibility?
Where'd that ever get us?

Geotpf|11.10.08 @ 6:57PM|#

Hey Arnie-if you really wanted to be on Obama's good side, campaigning (in another state halfway across the country no less) for his opponent a week before the election is not the way to do it! Plus, McCain was clearly going to lose when Arnie went to Ohio, and he must have known that he would have to lick Obama's boots to bail out the state almost immediately after Obama takes office. Arnie is sometimes completely tone deaf in terms of politics.

Mad Max|11.10.08 @ 7:01PM|#

An Austrian-born politician who believes that certain human beings are "lives unworthy of life" - that's a clue right there that he may not be all that "moderate."

Now he expressly repudiates the free-market economic school named after his native country.

Remind me again why we need to amend the Constitution for his benefit? Because the one thing this country needs as head of state is a naturalized Austrian who doesn't believe in the right to life.

|11.10.08 @ 7:26PM|#

Brownie,

Unless you are irresponsible, in which case it sent a quite awesome message.

|11.10.08 @ 7:27PM|#

LibertyMike

As it has turned out, Arnold is a fraud. Does anybody think that he would have won the Olympia seven times without the assistance of anabolic steroids?

I don't believe anyone has a chance of winning the Olympia without anabolic steroids.

|11.10.08 @ 7:33PM|#

Prediction:

Schwarzenegger will convert and declare himself to be a Democrat just in time to take on Boxer for the junior Senate seat in 2010 (and there will at last be peace in the Schwarzenegger/Shriver household).

You heard it here first.

|11.10.08 @ 7:52PM|#

Yes, let's not get stuck on dogmatic ideologial points like responsibility.

Personally, I've had enough of the whole orthodoxy about responsibility being somehow "better".

I think we should give irresponsibility a try.
For starters, we should stop holding our politicians accountable for their policies. Then, we should select policies by rolling a "wheel of fortune" and picking whatever the needle lands on.

|11.10.08 @ 8:12PM|#

Well, Jeez, if people stop lending money recklessly, who will buy California bonds?

|11.10.08 @ 8:33PM|#

I wonder if there's anyone left who was a "Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution"?

MJ|11.10.08 @ 9:12PM|#

Well, if that clause counts for when a state adopts the Constitution, yes. Otherwise, contact Guiness.

Doug|11.10.08 @ 9:36PM|#

Every time I hear a republican comment on the economic downdraft I want to shake my fist in the air and shout "Don't be economic girlie men!"

|11.10.08 @ 10:23PM|#

♪♪Beggar at the feast!
Master of the dance!
Life is easy pickings
If you grab your chance.
Everywhere you go
Law-abiding folk
Doing what is decent
But they're mostly broke!
Singing to the Lord on Sundays
Praying for the gifts He'll send.


But we're the ones who take it
We're the ones who make it in the end!
Watch the buggers dance
Watch 'em till they drop
Keep your wits about you
And you stand on top!
Masters of the land
Always get our share
Clear away the barricades
And we're still there!
We know where the wind is blowing
Money is the stuff we smell.
And when we're rich as Croesus
Jesus! Won't we see you all in hell! ♪♪

The Wine Commonsewer|11.11.08 @ 12:22AM|#

......and not get stuck just on the fiscal responsibility.

Schwarzzengroper wouldn't know fiscal responsibility if it gave him a blow job.

The Wine Commonsewer|11.11.08 @ 12:27AM|#

Schwarzenegger will convert and declare himself to be a Democrat

Warren Beatty's at the Golden Globes, picking up his Cecil B DeMille award. He's a popular guy with that crowd. They're eating it up, smiling, elbows, nodding........

"Truth is, I haven't made a lot of movies, In fact, I think somebody said about me that every single movie that I made from the beginning was a comeback. So, something like this really is enough to make a guy go out and make another movie."

Apparently he can't understand why other old timers like Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman can't just take it a little easier. And then this gem.....

"I don't know why they can't just do what I ask them to do. I asked Arnold (Schwarzenegger) to become a Democrat and he did what I said."

I spared you the gratuitous self-promoting link to TWC so you all owe me a glass of wine.

Pepe|11.11.08 @ 1:31AM|#

"I wonder if there's anyone left who was a "Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution"?"

Now, now, it's not nice to make fun of John McCain now that the election is over.

Pepe|11.11.08 @ 1:43AM|#

"Schwarzenegger will convert and declare himself to be a Democrat just in time to take on Boxer for the junior Senate seat in 2010 (and there will at last be peace in the Schwarzenegger/Shriver household)."


Couldn't he just take her on as the Republican nominee? Makes a bit more sense than trying to oust a three-term incumbent as a carpetbagger in the Democratic primary. Solid Democrats don't like Arnold. He won office by appealing to independents and moderates and carrying the GOP vote by virtue of the R in front of his name.

Rajan Rishyakaran|11.11.08 @ 6:52AM|#

I'm not the biggest fan of Singapore (though I am an unfortunate resident of it), but in what way is Gray Davis' budgetary philosophy anywhere near Singapore's?

|11.11.08 @ 7:14AM|#

I'm concerned about excessive fiscal responsibility. Also, I'm deeply concerned about pigs flying.

|11.11.08 @ 8:45AM|#

Oh please. Arnold rocks. That is all.

e.|11.11.08 @ 10:06AM|#

some of us knew he was a poseur back then and voted mcclintock.

it's hard to be right ALL The time...

|11.11.08 @ 12:46PM|#

Ahnold is right about there being a 'revenue problem'. It's an attribute of the state's heavily progressive taxation and reliance on capital gains. He suggests a [temporary, ha!] increase in the regressive sales tax to fix this - and the liberals will no doubt agree. Amazing how stupid and gullible the voters of California are.

|11.11.08 @ 1:18PM|#

Schwarzenegger is dreaming if he thinks he can beat Boxer. True, Babs is a shrill moonbat of the highest order, but Schwarzenegger's approval rating is in the tank and its only going to get worse from now to 2010. Plus, the Gubenatorial and Senate races will be occurring concurrently and the Republican nominee for Governor (if there is one) will only be able to win if he trashes Arnie's record and promises to do better.

|11.11.08 @ 2:12PM|#

I recall Arnold trying to pass some bills to better control spending and cut the power of the unions. He got crucified in the media for not "working with the Democrats" and by the unions, got little to no support from the Republicans, and his bills went down in flames. It was a pretty clear message to him, California doesn't want to cut spending and he can't depend on the Republicans in his own party. California got what they voted for. Don't go whining now.

|11.11.08 @ 6:33PM|#

jc: What you are referring to isn't the Republicans in the legislature, you're referring to a series of ballot initiatives he put on in 2005 that were defeated by the voters. And, yeah, once he lost that fight he started tacking way left. But I voted for every one of them, so I can go whine all I want, thank you very much.

|11.11.08 @ 8:51PM|#

Gray Davis's fiscal vision is nothing like Singapore's. Matt Welch's (asinine) Singapore fixation has more to do with Davis's enthusiasm for the death penalty - as it is implemented here - than with our budgetary philosophy.

And btw Rajan, feel free to bugger off back to Malaysia if you feel so unfortunate to be here.

|11.11.08 @ 9:01PM|#

What fascinates me is how many generally industrious, not-on-the-dole people flee California to AZ, CO, and ID. They leave CA behind but bring the same policies along, creating the same mess they ran away from (This can be seen on a smaller scale around Chicago and Detroit.). A bankrupt CA would be an attention-getter, but the DNC knows CA is their 'hood, so the Feds will bail out CA no matter what Arnold says or does. That what new and higher debt limits and mints' printing presses are for. When you depend on the state to give you everything, you give the state your vote.

|11.13.08 @ 4:43PM|#

I can't believe I voted for this guy. Let's not get stuck on fiscal responsibility? Are you kidding me? Are there any grownups running this state? Or are they just going to run it into the ground because they can't possibly bear to cut some unnecessary and ineffective and completely useless programs? No, let's just raise taxes.