The Governator

Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California last night. For shame. How can people vote for him when they have no idea what he stands for (politically), when he refuses to debate and take a firm stance on issues.

When he first announced his candidacy he deflected questions regarding specific policies, asking for more time to research and analyze the situation. What the hell was he doing all that time while considering whether to run or not?!? He agreed to participate in only one debate, for which he could prepare his responses to questions ahead of time.

It was in this debate he uttered to Arianna Huffington, "I just realized that I have a perfect part for you in 'Terminator 4.'"

(From Salon, "Although Schwarzenegger later denied it, the comment was plainly a reference to a scene in "Terminator 3" in which Schwarzenegger slammed the head of a female actor into a toilet -- a scene the actor described with unseemly glee in an Entertainment Weekly interview earlier this year.")

Early in the campaign, he proclaimed the fiscal picture too complicated to analyze and said he'd appoint an auditor to figure it all out once he was elected. Well that's a vote-worthy position.

Of course, all voters know him by reputation — by all counts a good businessman (what California needs, but then it's easier to be a good businessman when you have millions to spare), and fairly liberal when it comes to "lifestyle" issues like gay rights, abortion, education. To Democrats, that should sound pretty good.

But the misogyny — that's simply unforgivable and should make him ineligible to run for public office. (I was first clued into his character here.)

Would you let your sister vote for this man? Apparently the Hollywood patriarchy is doing just that, guiding their wives' votes too.

Schwarzenneger admits to "behaving badly" and apologizes. "Where there is smoke, there is fire." (What the hell is that supposed to mean?!) Then he denies some of the allegations. He calls the reports "trash politics." Then he says he would explain the allegations when the election was over.

Comparisons of Arnold's behaviour to Clinton's sexual indiscretions just gall me. Though I don't condone adultery, I firmly believe that whatever transpires between two consenting adults is nobody's business. Arnold's misdeeds run a little deeper. Salon nicely summarized the difference, saying Clinton "sounds like a guy who enjoys having sex with women; Schwarzenegger sounds like a guy who enjoys humiliating them."

It remains to be seen whether the U.S. constitution to allow Schwarzenegger to run for president. The horror.