Was Gray Davis mentioned even once in last night’s California
gubernatorial debate? I didn’t hear his name. As Arnold
Schwarzenegger and Arianna Huffington swapped immature gibes,
viewers of the debate may have wondered: What is this recall about,
again?
Like a forgettable Crossfire episode, the debate
consisted mainly of tedious cross-talk and the usual mindless
slogans. Host Stan Statham, for no apparent reason, gushed at the
end of the debate that all five candidates were “fine people,”
“excellent,” and full of “courage.” Apparently he wasn’t kidding
earlier in the debate when he said, “I’m going to have to lower my
meds…”
A debate dominated by the undignified bickering and grade-school
pot shots of Arianna Huffington and Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t
likely to inspire confidence in Californians that the recall will
remedy the state’s crisis.
Why Schwarzenegger took the unserious Arianna Huffington so
seriously isn’t clear. He certainly didn’t show the gentlemanly
touch of Ronald Reagan, who would never have bothered to descend to
the level of a hideous opportunist like Huffington.
Schwarzenegger’s reliance on canned cheap shots — “I just realized
that I have a perfect part for you in Terminator 4,” he
said to Huffington — led the host to say at one point, “Ladies and
gentlemen, this is not Comedy Central.”
Schwarzenegger enjoyed his juvenile jousting with Huffington
enough to say at a press conference afterwards that he and
Huffington could travel as a “comedy team.” Schwarzenegger has
undeniable comic gifts, as seen when he ends practically every
other sentence with the phrase, “…and all those kind of
things.”
Schwarzenegger’s performance was more superficial than serious.
He never strays too far from his cliches, and when in doubt repeats
a few words he likes over and over again, such as “gone, gone,
gone.” But since he didn’t do anything fatal, his performance will
be rated by establishment Republicans as a stunning success.
Cruz Bustamante was strangely impassive, even when
Schwarzenegger launched into an unprovoked attack upon his
professional career. Schwarzenegger, after bragging about his
business acumen, browbeat Bustamante for having never “run a
business,” for having only signed the back of checks, not the front
of them. When Schwarzenegger attacked Bustamante for not buying
“textbooks” for California schoolchildren — the Republican
candidate apparently doesn’t think the Democrats are spending
enough on public education — Bustamante sarcastically mumbled,
“Yes, Arnold…Yes, Arnold.”
Bustamante referred to the recall as a “terrible idea,” and then
asked for Californians’ votes — yet another jokey message that may
leave Californians too perplexed to eject Davis from office.
The anticipated dispute between Schwarzenegger and Tom
McClintock never materialized. The opportunity never really arose,
since Arianna Huffington was usually hogging the mike.
McClintock was sober and highly knowledgeable. “I agree with
Tom,” was frequently said by almost all of the candidates. But
since he wasn’t in Terminator 3 he can’t be taken
seriously as a potential winner, according to the Republican
establishment. One California GOP activist told me that the state’s
Republican party apparatus is in “freak-out mode” and will do
anything at this point to get a “cheap victory.” “They have refused
to take this seriously,” he said. “They prefer a silly
quick-fix.”
