THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA STRIKES A POSE OF QUIET, STATESMAN-LIKE DIGNITY
(WITH HIS COCK OUT)

(Original photo from 'After Dark' magazine, February 1977)

Schwarzenegger is only where he is today because he has extremely dexterous and wealthy handlers behind him. There, but for the grace of God, could have gone any random meathead with populist appeal who was 'connected' to serious wealth and power by way of marriage. I'm getting sick of people who have sat through one of his speeches trying to convince me that he's the new FDR or some such bullshit. Have you watched his dumb movies and old interviews? Are they the works of a renaissance man? The dude is an actor. Should we be surprised that he's capable of memorizing lines and appearing sincere 'on stage'?

But, learning nothing from the whole Reagan experience, the peeps of California thought Arnie was a good guy and voted for him like lemmings. So what if there is absolutely no discernable difference between California's government now and prior to the Schwarzenegger Putsch? Gray Davis just had to go. He was too soft, too boring and distinctly non-Nietzchean. Nein to the Pringle sweater! Ja to the Lederhosen!

But does anyone care that Arnie's got pig valves? Of course, it would be churlish to knock a man for having a dodgy ticker - even if it was probably brought on by his prodigious steroid and cigar intake. But you certainly could knock him for being a hypocrite. Any of us average folk in similarly self-inflicted dire straights would be pretty much screwed when it came to getting six figure offal implants paid for by our insurance companies. And, as Über Mensch in Sacramento, Arnold ain't doing much to fix the rich/average disparity even though he portrays himself as a champion of the common people. I'm not saying he should have refused the pig parts as an expression of solidarity; just that he should quit speaking like he gives a damn when he's just as much the pampered parasite with no thought beyond self-advancement as the next reptilian politico slithering along the corridors of power.

It's also a tad galling for those Californians who don't like breathing the noxious crap that masquerades as air round these parts, to remember that the guy in charge of our air quality also paved the way for the Hummer. How many monkey-see-monkey-do drivers would be clogging the streets with their stupid giant cars today if Arnold had not blazed the trail by buying a Humvee from the military for his own use back in the 90s?

And, of course, where does a guy who did a nude spread for a gay magazine get off calling Democrats 'Girlie Men'? People will forgive a guy Nazi forebears, the occasional ill-advised groping debacle, his canon of pinheaded movies and his drug use, but history will not smile fondly on a hypocrite. Even one that ends up as President (God help us) one day.

Schwarzenegger interviewed: Arnold's views on coming and... err... coming

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