Marie Cocco -- Californians Want and Get a Brutish Autocrat

[Vitruvius]

So platitudes triumphed over puke politics. Arnold Schwarzenegger now gets to live his dream. The dream is to wield power. That is pretty much all anyone knows about what motivates Schwarzenegger. He's intoxicated by power. Feels entitled to it.

We do not know this from anything he said or did during the extravagant spectacle of the California gubernatorial recall campaign. We know it from how Schwarzenegger treats women. And from how he explains himself on the subject of Adolf Hitler.

Sexual harassment isn't only about sex. It's about power. (SNIP) He groped and grabbed and tried to peel off bathing suits and pinned women against elevator walls. But Schwarzenegger did not choose as his prey lawyers or publicists or big-name actresses or stars of TV journalism. He picked on secretaries and crew members and the helpers who bring morning juice and bagels to the stars on the set.

These women talked about being disgusted. And being scared. And they talked about feeling powerless. "What could you do? He was the highest-paid actor in the world," said one woman. "I was a peon."

California voters chose to ignore this, preferring instead to binge on their anger at Gray Davis. Now, on the morning after, they may wonder just how Schwarzenegger will do with his new authority as governor. A useful primer happens to be found in another campaign controversy, involving Schwarzenegger's views on Hitler. (SNIP) "We can't live without authority," he said in the interviews conducted for "Pumping Iron," the 1977 documentary. "Because I feel there is a certain amount of people who were meant to do this and control, and a large amount - like 95 percent of the people - who we have to tell what to do and how to keep order." (SNIP)

MORE at http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpcoc093487717oct09,0,7597509.column?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines

[Cha]

1. arnie is human scum...and now he has power like another lowlife

in d.c....we'll see what happens...like Bill Press said it ain't over until "swartzen fondles the fat lady".

[S_Kovalevskaia]

2. I don't think most Californians wanted an autocrat -- brutish or otherwise

-- and the Republicans had the cash to buy unlimited ads to present Schwartznegger as if he were a decent human being.

And most people do not or can not make the time to pay much attention to politics, especially with the husband and wife both working one or more jobs each while raising the kids. The Schwartznegger scandals (both the groping and the Enron connection) simply didn't have enough time to sink in with many people.

It is up to CA Democrats to keep the spotlight on Schwartznegger's scandals until they do sink in. When enough people see Schwartznegger for what he is, it will be 'hasta la vista, baby'.