Arnie is Sinking -- and Running from Dubya 
In addition to his criticism of the Bush administration for refusing to declare a preventitive state of emergency on California's fragile levee system, Arnold allowed himself a few more words of dissent from the Party Line on This Week with George Stephanopoulos this morning.
These, unsurprisingly, involved the issues where solidly Blue State California differs dramatically from President Fredo such as the environment and immigration. Arnie allowed himself (gasp) to make the startlingly Reality-Based remark that it may just be hard to deny global warming much longer, and, perhaps, that building a wall along the Mexican border is a bit of a simplistic solution to illegal immigration (you think?).
s both the governor and President Bush experience personal record lows in their approval ratings, Schwarzenegger told Stephanopoulos that he doubts the president would seek his advice. But the red Governor in a decidedly blue state refused to distance himself from the Republican president."He is making decisions based on what he thinks is best for the country," Schwarzenegger said of Bush. "That doesn't mean that it is in sync with my opinion. That doesn't mean it's in sync with your opinion or with someone else's. But I am sure he is doing his best job."
It is no secret that the Soviet-style Party discipline that Rove et. al. demand of the current day GOP means that few, if any public disagreements are tolerated, but apparently Arnold has either been allowed or is allowing himself the liberty of crticiizing Bush over "local" matters, such as the dangerously fragile state of California's levee system. As the San Jose Mercury News suggests,
Yet by bad-mouthing the administration and distancing himself from Bush in the process, Schwarzenegger may score crucial points with Democrats. And if he does secure funding, the governor could harness it as a much-need election-year victory.``Politically, it's exactly the right position for the governor,'' said former White House chief of staff Leon Panetta. ``Underlying all of this is that the governor doesn't want to be seen clasping hands with the president, who is already a liability in terms of the November election.''
Hopefully my fellow California Democrats have awakened from the collective hallucination that sent Arnie to the Governor's mansion and will replace him with either Phil Angelides or Steve Westley, the two chief contenders for the Democratic nomination.
-- Stu
KEYWORDS: Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Governor's Race, Local Republicans
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