child support is another thing entirely

The same thing crossed my mind. I wonder how many kids there are that we haven't heard about. Not that I care, although I do feel for Maria. I sure haven't missed him as having him as our Governor. It was embarrassing.

please spare us the details of his man-boobs sex life. I can't stand looking at him let alone listen to him talk about his sex life (or more likely, lack thereof).

because it sounds like a celebrity gossip piece, but I have to admit, I like Arnold Schwarzenegger. I haven't lived in CA for almost twenty years so I'm not very aware of how he was as a governor. I do remember he sounded exactly like a Democrat when he was campaigning, to the extent that republicans seemed to have "wtf" balloons over their heads every time Arnold was speaking in public. Arnold's opinions always sound progressive so I'm confused how he thinks of himself as a republican.

This statement he made about taxes deserves to get unbiased public attention. It underscores a cause I know many of us are deeply invested in. I like what he said.

I also really liked it when he said, regarding marijuana laws, "No one cares if you smoke a joint or not".

the budget when he ran for governor? Well, he couldn't find enough to cut to balance the budget so he borrowed money, pushed bonds through to pay for everything. Now we are paying on those bonds. Now we had to raise taxes.

That is a lesson in why you don't want to vote for Republicans. They promise to cut taxes -- but they don't tell you that they are going to borrow the country (or state) into the poor house to make up for the cuts.

...the legislature has a lot to do with it as well. Like it or not, CA is not a dictatorship....and thanks to Norquist, very difficult to raise taxes....even when the majority wants them.

I remember when Chris Matthews was interviewing Jerry Brown on his show and he asked....how is Arnold doing? Jerry replied "very good".

Why would he say that? Easy, Arnold was not falling for the rank and file of the GOP. Sent in a bunch of propositions that would have undermined the GOP. Granted most did not get a pass...but...most those same ideas were..ahem...re-envisioned later and did pass...such as gerrymandering reform...which has led to finally giving democrats super majority. Lets also not forget...he was FOR raising taxes in one referendum...albeit temporary (to get support from enough RePubs).

His personal life...yeah..he's an asshole. But, sometimes I wonder if he went for the job because he didn't want to be screwed by a possible Gov. D Issa. And we all know Issa wants in to the big leagues...So I don't fault him much. I look at him as a gov. who decided, the whako will get in power if I don't block him....I may be a loon, but even a loon knows a loon is better than a whako.

He grew up in Austria with universal access to medicine and a single payer plan and all sorts of other advantages that American children don't enjoy. And he had that thanks to the fact that Austrians were far more to the left than Americans.

And then he became a "fiscal conservative." Baloney. He became rich and wanted to keep his money for himself.

I don't think he has good character in any respect.

he said a lot of things, but they were mostly lies. Total creep.

One of the reasons the state is so difficult to steer in a positive direction is because of the damage done by Reagan. It would never have gotten this bad, same goes for the whole country once Ronnie got to work his evil on a national scale.

Norquist bankrupted California. It takes a super majority to raise taxes...but simple majority to spend. Repubs were happy to spend in their districts...but not willing to raise taxes to pay for it.

I thank Arnold....not because of the job he did...but because I shudder to think if he didn't run...we may have had a Gov Issa who could have been a presidential contender the next election.

he was just another crooked republican politician.

He did bankrupt California. He vetoed a bill put forth by Democrats that would have held off bankruptcy until negotiations with Republicans could be resolved.

Jarvis and Gann bankrupted California.

That was the intent behind Prop 13

CA is an example of how a strong state can be brought down no matter how it's ruled, until that system of revenue goes down. Every state is eligible for the Nordquist technique, pushing privatization, refusing to tax the wealthy, etc.

CA has had its own sort of universal healthcare, Medi-Cal, since 1966. It was a standard that few states were able to meet. As a part of the DHCS, its charter reads in part:

The Department of Health Care Services’ (DHCS) mission is to preserve and improve the health status of all Californians. DHCS works closely with health care professionals, county governments and health plans to provide a health care safety net for California’s low-income and persons with disabilities...

http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/Pages/AboutUs.aspx

There were a slew of such programs as the webpage shows in Texas that were done away with no public call for or debate under the Shrub and those in need were shoved to the curb. CA could have done worse than with Arnold, and Issa wept publicly about not getting the nod to be governor.



If every state had been as progressive as CA once was in the capitol, pre-Reagan, we wouldn't have had this healthcare crisis to begin with, AFAIK. And we are indeed blessed to not have Issa, the professional mischief maker, go any higher.

http://www.democracynow.org/2003/10/6/schwarzenegger_accused_of_involvement_in_9b

A real blast from da past, via Greg Palast.

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The Darrel Issa funded "impeach Grey Davis cuz he fucked up the energy rates in California" meme was hijacked by the Gropenator and his Big Energy handlers, and he fucked the Citizens of California out of 9 BILLION BUCKS - which triggered the onset of the bad CA economy, even before the DubyaCheney/Republican "Great Recession" of 2008.