Posted on 06/11/2010 11:27:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
KCBS reporter Doug Sovern almost literally ran into gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown while on a jog in Oakland earlier this week, and the chance encounter gives people a glimpse of why Brown earned the sobriquet “Governor Moonbeam” in his previous two terms from 27 years ago. Sovern asked Brown about Meg Whitman’s campaign to best him for his old job, and Brown engaged in a bizarre, hypocritical rant that wound up with Brown comparing Whitman to Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels:
I asked him if he intended to debate Meg Whitman, once she locked up the Republican nomination for governor (which she did Tuesday night, trouncing Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner). He said he’d like to have “many” debates with her – and indeed, he has since formally challenged Whitman to a series of ten town hall-style debates (Whitman dismissed his challenge as “playing political games” and said Brown should lay out some detailed policies so they’ll have something to debate).
I asked him how he could possibly compete with her vast campaign treasury – Whitman spent $71 million of her own money on the primary, and is ready to write checks for $80 million more to crush Brown. She also raised about ten million from donors, and there will be more where that came from, from supporters and from the Republican Party.
Brown boasted about his legendary frugality. “I’ve only spent $200,000 so far. I have 20 million in the bank. I’m saving up for her.” It’s true – his stay-on-the-sidelines, bare-bones primary run cost him almost nothing, at least in California political terms. But he also fretted about the impact of all those eBay dollars in Whitman’s very deep pockets. “You know, by the time she’s done with me, two months from now, I’ll be a child-molesting…” He let the line trail off. “She’ll have people believing whatever she wants about me.” Then he went off on a riff I didn’t expect.
“It’s like Goebbels,” referring to Hitler’s notorious Minister of Propaganda. “Goebbels invented this kind of propaganda. He took control of the whole world. She wants to be president. That’s her ambition, the first woman president. That’s what this is all about.”
I pointed out that most politicians want to be president someday. Gavin Newsom, for example. “Sure, sure he does. But they can’t control it. Look at Barack Obama, he got in and it’s all out of his control. I wanted to be president. I ran for president three times, you know.”
Uh, yeah, we know. No kidding, Jer.
There’s almost too much to deconstruct out of this, but let’s give it a try. On one hand, Brown whines that Whitman’s big war chest will be used to make him look bad by accusing her of wanting to call him a child molester. In the very next breath, Brown says Whitman is like Goebbels, and accused her of wanting to take over the world. It didn’t take long for Brown to call his Republican candidate a Nazi — and for the strangest reasons ever.
And why is Whitman a Nazi? Because she may have ambitions to run for higher office. Brown himself concedes that he used his platform as California governor to make three runs at the White House, each more pathetic than the last. Did that make Brown a Nazi three times over? Is he the equivalent of Rudolf Hess? Of course not. People run for President because they have ambitions for the job, and until now, no one ever compared a candidate to Goebbels for having that ambition.
Let’s not forget that Brown has spent almost his entire adult life either holding or seeking political office. His first successful run for the job he’s seeking now came 36 years ago, and eight years after Ronald Reagan beat his father out of the same job. Brown has been California’s Attorney General and Mayor of Oakland. The only ambitions Brown has are political. What does that say about Brown, using his own standard as applied to Meg Whitman? Brown’s complaint about “they just can’t control” political ambitions sounds an awful lot like projection.
As for Brown’s “frugality,” his terms as Governor should put an end to that myth. The only reason Brown only needed to spend $200,000 in the primaries is because the Democrats pushed Newsom into running for Lieutenant Governor and Brown didn’t face any real competition. He’s running on nostalgia and name identification. That’s not an accomplishment; it’s a fortunate circumstance.
Yesterday, the Brown campaign tried to claim that Sovern took the comment out of context after the Whitman team blasted Brown for “mud-slinging.” They’re not denying Brown made the Nazi comparison, however, but I bet they’re going to try to get their candidate to do his jogging on indoor tracks from now on.
Sounds like the pot calling the kettle black. He's slurring her name and fabricating charges she has not even alleged yet.
Brown is there to appeal to the Pacifica/NPR/granola crowd. The people who think Obama governs too much to the Right.
He’s ranting like a guest star on Star Trek. Just before McCoy gives him “a shot”.
He's been around politics awhile. Fair to say he has been watching.
I am certain I saw Brown out jogging around Lake Merritt in Oakland recently when I was out running. He’s in pretty good shape for an old geezer.
There are a whole lot of people in CA who deserve to be ruled by Jerry Brown.
As for giving as good as we get, the Republicans have been weak in that department. You will get no argument out of me on that.
But, I believe this constant mud throwing is driving people away from the political process. Time to break out of that rut and start articulating a position.
Both Brown and Whitman can start by detailing their positions on border control and how they will deal with 12 million plus illegals in this country.
Wouldn't you rather hear that than just sound bite attacks by the candidates? To me, that sounds like infinitely more useful information.
The "Moonbeam" and Star Trek characterization attacks are childish, school yard level debate. The party needs to articulate how Brown's policies will be bad for California.
Please don't misunderstand this as an assault on you. Please take it as a call to raise the level of debate. These are very serious times and we need candidates positions in dealing with them.
Both Brown and Whitman have said they will fix it. How?
>> “You know, by the time she’s done with me, two months from now, I’ll be a child-molesting” He let the line trail off. <<
No, he finished it. The author just misunderstood what he said, which was: “I’ll be a-child-molesting.”
“Time to break out of that rut and start articulating a position.”
We agree there.
That’s the another place where the current crop of Republicans have been weak. I believe many of them are content to ride into November being the party of “NO”. They’d do much better if they’d unapologetically state what they are FOR.
I want it all. I want Republicans not to back down from attacks. I want them to quit capitulating to the commies in the State Run Media in hopes it will get them favorable coverage, (it won’t). And I want Republicans to state their positions, and solutions, firmly and clearly.
It’s not too much to ask.
>> “You know, by the time she’s done with me, two months from now, I’ll be a child-molesting” He let the line trail off. <<
No, he finished it. The author just misunderstood what he said, which was: “I’ll be a-child-molesting.”
(Hey, the guy was actually a worshipper of Jim Jones, the satanic Stalinist who killed hundreds of people.)
Everyone is starved for the Republicans to actually stand for something other than just holding power.
At the same time... GOVERNOR MOONBEAM is going to make Joe Byden look like a GENIUS!
(firing up the popcorn popper)
Yes, I'd call Oakland an asylum. He's been running for Gov./ President ever since he ran for Oakland Mayor and Attorney General. He's not coming out of nowhere.
Well, the Linda Ronstadt thing was the best thing about Jerry Brown. The young Linda was something indeed.
He was also probably the best mayor Oakland could have elected. The previous one and the current one are both disasters. There are much worse politicians than Jerry Brown.
I’ve got a question for you California and older FREEPers: has that leach Jerry Brown EVER done anything in the private sector? Ever since I can remember, he has been sucking off the TEAT of the taxpayer.
I heard that Brown was a pretty good mayor, like you said. Pot holes and trash pick-up are the perfect challenges for someone with his skills.
dufus
You might already know this, but this is for those on this thread who don’t.... WHY DID JERRY BROWN GET THE MONICKER — Mr. Moonbeam ?
Well, as governor in the 70’s , Brown proposed the establishment of a state space academy and the purchasing of a satellite that would be launched into orbit to provide emergency communications for the state — a proposal similar to one that would indeed eventually be adopted by the state.
In 1978 in a Rolling Stone interview Linda Ronstadt called her then boyfriend, Jerry Brown, her “Little Moonbeam”.
After this an out-of-state columnist, Mike Royko, then at the Chicago Sun-Times, nicknamed Brown “Governor Moonbeam” because of the latter idea.
The name stuck.
See here :
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/weekinreview/07mckinley.html
But I sure remember Mike Royko! He was always a breath of fresh air in the Op-Ed section. Mike was one of the writers who turned me toward Conservatism. And his calling JB 'Governor Moonbeam' was so deadly accurate that it stuck to him like glue.
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