Arnold missed the vote on the
budget in the Capitol today, deciding instead to meet with San Diegans
for lunch at a Cheesecake Factory restaurant. An Arnold Watcher informs
us that many of the diners were not actually regular San Diegans but
Republican staffers who have been practicing their hooting and
hollering for the TV cameras (as usual, Arnold had a large media
contingent with him.)
The Gov., apparently not toning down his rhetoric, exhorted the
so-called San Diegans to "Terminate" the legislators on November 2nd if
they don’t pass the budget and added that "they think of the special
interests, I think of the public interests."
So what really is "special" and what is "public" to Arnold?
When he asks HMOs, health care corporations and their CEOs for $1.2
million in campaign contributions is he thinking about the public
interest? When the Gov holds up the budget to please a private school
bus company whose political consultant (Jeff Randle) also happens to be
a close political advisor to the Gov, is that what he calls "standing
up" to the special interests? What can be made of his performance last
Thursday evening, when, immediately after he railed against special
interests at a Sacramento press conference, he flew down to a Beverly
Hills fundraiser to rake in $400K.
Does Arnold really believe that his big business backers aren’t special
interests, or is Governor Manly-Man just acting? One indication that
it’s all theater: Arnold reportedly fell back on old scripts and
Saturday Night Live skits over lunch today when he bellowed "Hasta La
Vista to the special interests. I’m here to pump you up."
