July 20, 2004

California Politics

So Governator gets into trouble over calling Democratic legislators "girly men." This comes from a dispute over the budget. Political Animal speculates that the Governor Bench Press may be trying to pick a fight to score some seats in November.

And all followed up with his juvenile "girlie men" comments and threats to campaign against any Democrat who doesn't toe the governor's line. It's hard to draw any conclusion except that he wants budget talks to fail and is hoping to use that for partisan gains in November.
Which might very well be the answer. Arnold might be playing a longer and riskier game than anyone thinks, mostly designed to make his future easier - especially since next year's budget is going to make this year's look like a stroll in the park. And by waving a red flag in front of the Democratic bulls, he might be hoping to get them to lose their tempers and seal their own doom.


I think that he may be right about the tactics, but this strategy is sure to fail. The reason: gerrymandering. CA legislator districts are gerrymandering within an inch of their life. This means that almost all incumbents, both D and R are secure. There is not one competitive Federal House race in CA this year. This also means that the Dem majority in the State Assembly and Senate are secure. Governor Biceps can pick all the fights he wants, he is not going to win a thing.

1 comment:

Tyler said...

I'd just like to say something about the "girlie man" man comment itself. Can you believe that people actually called that comment "insulting to women and gays", "misogynist as it is anti-gay." and "blatant homophobia"? I agree with Bill Mahr when he said this type of thing is "fake out rage" (like Fox News vs. Al Franken and Everyone vs. Janet Jackson). You know, their just using an innocent (and funny) comment to promote their own agenda and putt attention on themselves without addressing what he said. IT WAS A REFRENCE TO AN SNL SKIT!!! Relax. Seriously though, who isn't a "girlie man" compared to Gov. Terminator?