The "bulldog" Russert did question Schwarzenegger about his trying to order the Attorney General - who is elected separately and does not report to the governor - to take action. But that old bulldog is mighty tame when he's interviewing Republicans, just as Bob Somerby says. Russert did not question him about whether his meaningless order to the AG represented one more basic misunderstanding about how California state government works.
And the bulldog didn't challenge Schwarzenegger's blatant factual misstatement about "riots."
Schwarznegger's case of the big-head also concerned the editors at the Sacramento Bee - but apparently not his ridiculous "riot" claim.
His real topic [on "Meet the Press"] was one he seems to find endlessly fascinating: himself.
It's too soon to say whether the subject will wear well with Californians, much less with the rest of the nation. But look on the bright side. When Schwarzenegger is talking about himself, at least he's expounding on a topic he knows something about.
But we shouldn't lose sight of what Schwarzenegger did here by lying about riots and speaking in a way that could well be misconstrued by the unstable and fanatical to actually be encouraging violence. This was not Schwarzenegger being a cute Hollywood star. It was not the governor displaying excessive self-absorption, which seemed to be all that worried the Sacramento Bee.
This was Schwarzenegger showing an ugly, mean, demagogical and dishonest side of himself. The political press is not doing the public any favors by continuing to cover him as though they were doing puff pieces for People magazine. The man knows very little about state government. He's arrogant and makes reckless and irresponsible promises.
2 comments:
Great quotes from the Bee on Ah-nold's ego!
Yeah. I criticized the *Bee* for ignoring his "riot" comment in the editorial. But they're right about his egotism. I just wish their reporting, along with the rest of the California press, would start drawing some of the fairly obvious conclusions of that on his official actions. His willingness to participate in the recall under the circumstances he did shows a willingness to put his own ego ahead of the public welfare. - Bruce
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