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Posted on 08/08/2003 10:49:26 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
Arnold Schwarzenegger won top billing in U.S. newspaper editorials on Friday that greeted The Terminator's sensational candidacy for California governor as anything from "surprisingly mindless" to "just the man."
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"Muscle Beach Politics," "Conan the Contender," were among the predictable, but irresistible, headlines his candidacy provoked. Others included: "Total Recall," "The Running Man" and "Well, won't this be fun, fellow Americans?"
Republican Schwarzenegger, a muscle-bound action hero best known for his role in "The Terminator" movies, began filing papers on Thursday as a candidate in California's Oct. 7 vote to recall Democratic Gov. Gray Davis (news - web sites) over his handling of the state's economic and energy crises.
His candidacy was unveiled with pure Hollywood flourish: a surprise announcement late Wednesday on "The Tonight Show" that immediately electrified the Californian political landscape.
Like the headlines, editorials were predictably mixed.
"Even in the thought-free environment of late night television, his vague ramblings about pumping up Sacramento and telling the politicians 'Hasta la vista, baby' sounded surprisingly mindless," The New York Times wrote in an editorial that hoped for a better alternative on the ballot.
But at the nation's leading financial paper, Austrian-born Schwarzenegger was welcomed as a successful entrepreneur with a business degree and a serious interest in politics.
"Some will want to dismiss the recall election as a circus, but it has energized politics in the state like nothing in decades," The Wall Street Journal wrote. "Protected by gerrymandering and special-interest cash, the political class has been driving our most important state in the direction of a stagnant, socialist Europe.
"Maybe an immigrant from Europe who made his fortune here is just the man to rescue California from that fate."
INSIDE THE BELTWAY
The Washington Times said it expected the millionaire Schwarzenegger to run a serious campaign, calling him "a well-financed candidate who has unique access to the media and is recognized instantly by almost every voter."
But The Washington Post despaired that no one who cares about U.S. democracy could welcome the spectacle of the California recall which also lists as candidates porn publisher Larry Flynt and former child actor Gary Coleman.
"American voters rightly have tended to be wary of wealthy would-be saviors who claim to be above the fray ... who tout their independence because they can pay for their own campaigns," it said in an apparent reference to Schwarzenegger's claim that he was too rich to be bound by the special interests choking Sacramento.
Closer to home, some leading California newspapers stressed the big picture rather than the star of the moment.
"Carnival? Circus? How about action comics? WHAP! BAM! BIFF! POW! TAKE THAT, CALIFORNIA!" the Los Angeles Times lamented in an editorial titled "A Circus Without Solution."
Whether colorful spectacle or political joust, all eyes promised to linger on the tumultuous recall vote in the nation's most populous -- and possibly most troubled -- state.
"Anarchy with a $38 billion budget deficit, energy problems, a collapsing education system, regulatory strangulation and political gridlock," wrote the Chicago Tribune. "California doesn't need the Terminator -- it needs Superman."
Why does the nations number one fiction bestseller have any say at all, about anything?
You know what, the more it rankles the Dems and the Left, the more I support him. I know he is a RINO and all that, but for me, he has become, the Schadenfreude Candidate (I'll bet he can pronounce that better than most of us too :)
Twins!!
calgov2002:
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"Some will want to dismiss the recall election as a circus, but it has energized politics in the state like nothing in decades," The Wall Street Journal wrote.Once again, the folks at the WSJ nailed it!"Protected by gerrymandering and special-interest cash, the political class has been driving our most important state in the direction of a stagnant, socialist Europe.
This recall is PRECISELY the "Roto-Rooter" that backed-up political commode in Sacramento DESPERATELY needs.
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