Schwarzenegger
Posted at 2:00am on Jan. 19, 2008 Arnold Schwarzenegger apologizes for being a Republican
The Risk of a "Glamour Pick" for Office
By Jeff Emanuel
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R? Yes, but apologetically) sat down with the L.A. Times yesterday and apologized -- deeply and from the bottom of his heart -- for being a Republican, citing "political inexperience" as his excuse for having espoused semiconservative ideals and principles during his first campaign and in the early years of his Governorship.
The man who rode into the Governor's mansion four years ago on a wave of dissatisfaction with former Governor Gray Davis and the budget crisis he wrought was, by all accounts, sober in his reflection on the last few years in office, telling Times writers and editors "that he now regrets a number of the policies he championed in his early days in office and acknowledges his own rhetoric was at times overheated and naive."
Now, after enough time as a member of the Establishment, the man who once championed himself as the antidote to the woes brought on California by that Establishment is showing the effects of a hard-earned lesson in politics and governance -- that it's easier to go along and to get along than it is to stick to principle and to fight for change -- and has accordingly dropped almost all of the conservative, change-centered, state-saving rhetoric and stated principle that inspired Californians to twice elect him to the state's highest office.
Please do read on.
Posted in bipartisanship | California | girly man | Republicans | RINOs | Schwarzenegger | Spineless cowards | Trojan Horse — Comments (80)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 8:08pm on Dec. 21, 2007 Take not from Me, but from Thee to pay for that other Thee's health care
By Jeff Emanuel
According to a just-released Field Poll, the proposed $14B California government health insurance expansion, which would be built on the backs of smokers ($1.50 to $2.00 a pack increase), business owners in the state (1% to 6% payroll tax increase), and hospitals ($2.3B in additional state taxes) is overwhelmingly supported by California voters -- including Republicans.
Read on.
Posted in California | Economy | Government-run health care | Health care | Schwarzenegger — Comments (18) / Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 1:07am on Dec. 21, 2007 Bipartisan California health insurance plan would *cause* the state more problems than it would *solve*
By Jeff Emanuel
Last Friday, after nearly a year of tense negotiations, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez (D) jointly announced that they had reached a compromise on a plan to add 3.6 million of California’s 5 million uninsured citizens to the rolls of the insured by 2010. Called “an incredible plan” by Speaker Nunez, the proposal – which, if passed by the State Legislature, will appear on the California ballot in November – includes a mandate requiring that nearly all Californians either acquire private health insurance or enroll in a government program which will be expanded to meet the additional demand. Further, the measure would prohibit insurers from denying coverage to people because of existing medical ailments, and would require them to spend at least 85% of premiums exclusively on medical care
Expected to cost $14 Billion annually, the compromise plan agreed upon by Schwarzenegger and Nunez will, if approved by voters, receive funding from four separate sources: a $2.3 Billion tax on hospitals, a new payroll tax of 1% to 6% on businesses in the state, an additional $1.50 to $2.00 per pack tax on cigarettes sold in the state, and $2.3 Billion more in funding from the federal government.
Read on.
Posted in California | Economy | Government-run health care | Health care | Schwarzenegger — Comments (32) / Email this page » / Read More »
