Flush twice... it's a long way to Sally Quinn's place!

Pundit Pap
for August 10, 2003
Silly Season Hits California
by JJ Balzer

August 10, 2003 -- NEW YORK (apj.us) -- There is yet more evidence that key Doofus Administration players lied to America about the threat Iraq actually posed to our interests. Our kids continue to die and get wounded in Iraq as attempts to stabilize the nation stymie an administration that failed to adequately plan for a postwar occupation. A new scandal -- involving Iran-Contra arms dealer Manuchar Ghorbanifar -- is also emerging. And the Texas "Killer D's" are at it again, enjoying asylum in New Mexico and throwing a monkey wrench in the plot to shamelessly redistrict the Lone Smirk State and driving Tom DeLay and his Texas Tory toadie, Governor Rick Perry into spasms of apoplexy.

So what did the Sunday pundits choose to make issue one?

Are you kidding?

Unless you've been socked away in some exotic secluded spot as a contestant on one of the many "reality" series coming this fall, you just knew that the news divisions of our corporate media outlets wouldn't be able to resist playing up the bizarre California recall-and-gubernatorial race, especially given the "surprise" announcement by implausibly popular Austrian bodybuilder and (ahem) actor Arnold Schwarzenegger that he's taking a run at Gray Davis' job.

Let's face it -- the announcement invites the ultimate in infotainment synergy for the ratings-and-money-obsessed media monoliths: a (cough) glamorous (well, at least steroid-virile) celebrity and his glamorous Kennedy clan wife in a story as welcome on PBS News Hour as on Entertainment Tonight, especially given that August is the traditional "off season" for politics.

Even we took it easy, peeking in on two of the Sunday shows. Here's what we saw.

This Week
The Two-Ring Circus Comes to Steph
Players: George Stephanopoulos; California Democratic Party Chairman Art Torres; three California gubernatorial candidates -- Lt. Gov. Cruz M. Bustamante (D), state Sen. Tom McClintock (R) and Arianna Huffington (I); and ex-California governor and Arnie's accomplice Pete Wilson.

Steph, predictably, led with the California mess.

The program's opening actually acknowledged the circus-like situation and atmosphere surrounding the recall effort as well as the fact that voters are angry, and in her opening "setup" piece Judy Muller called the situation a "two-ring circus".

Arnie got prominent mention and video face-time (along with his wife Maria Shriver), with quick clips of some of the remaining credible candidates and Davis' pledge to fight the recall. Muller did emphasize that the race will cost California taxpayers tens of millions.

Steph welcomed his guests, first casting Bustamante as a hypocrite for dissing the recall then entering the race. Bustamante said that Democrats tried to slow the recall and some felt that there was a need for a strong Democrat to throw his hat in the ring -- and he will urge Democrats to vote "No" in column one and "Bustamante" in column two.

Steph then said to Arianna that she had seemed to have shifted from the right to the left; Arianna said that she plans to take the "morality" issue away from hypocrite conservatives, mentioning her focus on rich tax dodgers.

McClintock bragged about his ability to raise and spend campaign dollars and made empty comments about the deficit and public programs. When Steph pressed McClintock about Smirk's apparent endorsement of Arnie, McClintock said it was not an endorsement and talked about his experience (one thing is certain -- McClintock seems to have plenty pf experience at plugging his claim that he has plenty of experience -- which is, when you think about it, a sort of self-fulfilling claim for a politician).

What does Bustamante say to Democrats who might be leaning toward voting for Arnie? Bustamante said that he is the only candidate among the three who has actively worked for reform in California and has demonstrated leadership. Why should voters pick Arianna over Arnie? Arianna blasted the lousy economic record of both Smirk and Davis. Will Bustamante raise taxes? Bustamante said everything is on the table -- and "we will have to take bold, decisive action... in a fair way" (translation: yes, the rich in California will have to pull their fair share of the load). McClintock stupidly said that there is no revenue issue in California (well, gee, then how do you explain that little deficit problem?) -- the problem, he said (like a true conservative) is spending and mismanagement (translation: gut California's education system).

When Steph pointed out that spending on education and the environment is mandated in California, Arianna pitched her web site, ariannaforgov.com; Steph pressed Arianna on her kids allegedly having tried to discourage her from running, and Arianna said that everyone's personal life -- including Arnie's -- will be under the microscope (translation: it's irrelevant that her ex is gay and there's reputedly plenty of dirt on Arnie). Would McClintock consider dropping out of the race to let Simon run? McClintock said he got more votes than Simon in the last election (translation: Simon's a proven loser and the GOP string pullers know it). Would Bustamante step aside if Dianne Feinstein enters as a write-in candidate? Bustamante said that the party has a viable two-prong strategy, repeating his "no" for the recall, "yes" to Bustamante message -- and forecast a strong and favorable strong reaction among California Democrats.

There followed a segment featuring a focus group of 16 California voters conducted by a company called "Global Strategies." Given what was shown of the session, the spin suggested it could just as easily have been conducted by the RNC. First came a torrent of blame aimed at and frustration over Davis -- but not a word about national problems having tanked California's economy! One voter (a GOP plant) suggested that Davis take the blame (for problems foisted on the state by Smirk and Big Energy? yeah, sure). But voters were also tiffed about the money being spent on the recall, and one voter said she thought that Davis will win. The moderator asked how many would vote for Arnie (11 out of 16) and then Davis.

Hey, dipstick -- Davis' name is not on the ballot!

The debate between Torres and Wilson was actually amusing, with Torres popping zingers at Steph and Wilson. Torres dismissed a "mea culpa" strategy, saying that Davis should focus on his achievements, including his efforts to build power plants. Torres also said that Wilson "brought us the energy crisis" and couldn't believe he is working for Arnie. Arnie said that he left the state with a surplus (yeah -- a surplus of profits for big energy) -- and blamed Davis for frittering it away! Then Wilson praised the recall vote petition's success and smeared Davis for any number of "failures" (funny, but we don't hear Wilson blaming Junior for these same things at the national level). Wilson then tried to press the truly silly lie that Democrats are playing the race card on their position on Proposition 187 -- and Steph tried to claim it was a "tough" critique! But Torres turned the tables on Wilson's anti-Latino positions and handcuffed Wilson to Arnie using the proposition.

So when will we see specifics from Arnie? Wilson said that there are seven weeks until the vote, "plenty" of time to address the issues (translation: they have no idea what their positions will be yet, and no doubt will have to accede to non-Californian Republicans at the national level) -- and emphatically said that Arnie "will speak for himself" before turning back defensively to Prop 187 and dissing a "paralyzed" Davis. Torres laughed out loud at Wilson's hysterical ranting.

Poor Wilson sounded as if he'd lost his mind. We changed the channel.

Meet the Bench-Presser
Players: guest host John Siegenthaler; Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA); Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA); Sen. Dick Lugar (R-IN); former senator Sam Nunn (D-GA).

Tim Russert is on vacation; John Siegenthaler was the host.

At the top of the program, Siegenthaler characterized Arnie's entrance as a "gigantic" surprise.

Of course, he -- and, for that matter, nobody in the press -- dared ask about MSNBC's all-day coverage last Thursday of Arnie's pending appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, an appearance that suspiciously morphed from a "plans to bow out" appearance into a "surprise" announcement that he will run after all. MSNBC was the first to "break" the news. Oh, and did we mention that Arnie's wife works for NBC -- or, we should say, worked for NBC but is now on an unpaid leave? The whole thing smacked of a bit too much choreography to be a genuine "surprise" announcement.

Siegenthaler's first guest was Feinstein, who said that the recall should be defeated. Siegenthaler challenged her on rumblings (including her own suggestion to members of the press) that she might mount a write-in campaign; Feinstein gave a "no, but" answer (she's hedging her bet) before mocking the circus that is the recall process and stating that California is in fact "recovering" from hard times. Siegenthaler suggested Feinstein let the Democratic Party down by not running; Feinstein said that's nonsense and there's no reason to recall Davis and then collapsed the GOP's claims that the budget "crisis" was Davis' fault. Feinstein also said that the field is set and Davis can now set his strategy, with the message being that Davis is a problem-solver and the whole recall process is a disruption of the process of getting California back on track. After a video clip of Bustamante making his announcement speech, Feinstein again said that Californians' best vote in this circus is a "no" vote.

When Siegenthaler suggested that Feinstein was saying that Bustamante was becoming part of a process Feinstein derided as a circus, Feinstein said Siegenthaler was putting words in her mouth. You go, girl!

Then Siegenthaler read part of an article in which the California Attorney General "issued a warning" to Democrats not to engage in "trash talk" -- as if said AG were speaking for the whole party. Feinstein was in very qualified agreement, and Siegenthaler had to bring up Davis' having compared Feinstein to Leona Helmsley -- as Siegenthaler asked what would "stop" Davis from "resorting" to "this sort of negative campaigning."

Ah, we see -- when GOPers go negative, NBC never seems to say word one -- but when Davis, a political street fighter, hits and hits hard, it's... it's... it's simply AWFUL! What a NASTY man!

And Feinstein, bless her, did not rise to the bait, instead turning attention back to a recovering California and the recall circus.

Then Siegenthaler welcomed Darrell "Grand Theft Auto" Issa, who managed to maintain a completely goofy, cocked-eyebrow expression through the entire interview. Siegenthaler described at length a press release Issa issued announcing his entry into the circus -- which was followed by a tearful announcement that he would not run some four hours later. Why did he pull out? Issa claimed he thought he would "complicate things" (translation: there's more dirt on Issa than on Arnie, and he was surely pressured to get out by people with way more pull than Issa will ever have). Siegenthaler almost touched on this when he recounted an article that questioned Issa's "electability." Did the GOP ask you to step aside? Issa said he was never stronger or more engaged than he is today before muttering something about "25-year-old allegations" (translation: he won't talk about the fact he has been arrested more than once), then suggested that Arnie was bad-mouthing him (translation: "Bwaaaaaaaaah!").

Naturally, Issa never gave a straight answer -- but the buzz in Sacramento is that Issa was kneecapped by players at the highest levels of the RNC and in the White House.

Siegenthaler suggested that the voters already passed judgment on Davis by reelecting him -- and the best Issa could do was say that this is an effort to "sweep [the state] clean" and "reexamine the budget" -- to which Siegenthaler responded by quoting an LA Times article attacking the recall process as a vehicle to facilitate reckless politicians (read: people like Issa). Issa bragged about getting people to sign petitions before casting Davis as a failure and -- catch this -- quoting Larry Flynt's depiction of Davis as "dead from the neck up."

Siegenthaler also brought up a potential nightmare should a GOPer find himself or herself governor: Democrats in control of the legislature tying up state government. Issa was typically dismissive of this scenario (guess he hasn't been following Texas state politics lately) and said "the Golden state" is the greatest place on the planet or some hooey to that effect (don't get us wrong -- we love California, but Issa's blather had nothing to do with the question).

After the break, we caught a little of about the only real discussion of a serious issue -- Iraq -- with Lugar and Nunn. Lugar's most vehement point is that the war is still under way -- and there is no option but victory. Nunn said in effect that the President is not fully informing the public as to the situation, and called for the Iraqization of Iraq, fresh troops to be rotated in, and a mandate from the UN plus international cooperation - America, he said, has a huge stake in Iraq (i.e. its credibility is on the line and Americans in Iraq must be made secure). Siegenthaler admitted that the killing of Saddam's sons has not secured our troops (but came short of saying that it has inflamed tensions). Lugar said that Iraq is short on military police and infrastructure restorers -- also, "We do need help from other countries" and must convince those nations that they too have a stake in a stable Iraq. Siegenthaler recounted Lugar's comment that postwar planning from the Smirk Clique was "inadequate" and asked Lugar to elaborate. Lugar did -- he blasted the Administration's postwar planners, but did try to throw a bone to Viceroy Paul Bremer; he added that there has to be a review of the planning debacle. Was it a mistake for Smirk to declare combat operations over? Nunn said that the Chimp had declared "major" combat operations over -- and changed the subject to Indonesia and Kazakhstan and a cadre of advisors who are pushing His Fraudulence to in effect lock the UN out. We are "locked into nation building" and need help. Lugar said that Iraqis are still intimidated by Saddam -- and he must be found. Will the US find WMDs? Nunn said he does not know -- and that former chief UN inspector Rolf Ekeus is right: "We should be looking for capacity to rebuild WMD capabilities. Nunn also slammed "à la carte intelligence" in which certain administration members pick pieces of intelligence that fit their doctrine and presuppositions. Lugar said that Saddam's use of chemical weapons against Iraqis was sufficient justification for authorizing Generalissimo W. Doofus to go to war.

Siegenthaler then pulled out the heavy artillery -- John Deutch's opinion that the US went to war based on faulty intelligence that seemed tailored to fit a doctrine. Nunn said that any doctrine of preemption must be based on airtight intelligence and rigorous oversight -- and while he defended Smirk's feud with Saddam, he said that there was too much focus on WMDs and not enough on other issues surrounding Saddam's atrocious and autocratic reign.

Siegenthaler turned the focus to Afghanistan, whose situation is spiraling into anarchy and a haven for terrorists and narcotraffickers. Lugar supports stepped-up aid to Afghanistan -- and a stepped-up international campaign to keep Afghanistan from failing. Nunn said he wants to see America help stabilize Liberia -- but US forces are spread thin.

The segment came as a breath of fresh air -- a key Republican clearly at odds with the Misadministration and a political veteran dispensing sage observations and advice. It would have been a standout even if we weren't being inundated with mostly irritating blather about the California fiasco.