Hewitt - I spent the lunch hour with Governor Arnold and his advance team in Ontario, California, introducing him to an enthusiastic crowd of many hundreds gathered at a large indoor mall about fifty miles from LA. The Arnold team brought back the Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It" theme song from the recall campaign, and the crowd went wild. Arnold then promised them that November 2 would be "Judgment Day" for the Sacramento insiders and special interests who are blocking the budget deal he has outlined.
He plunged into the crowd after about 20 minutes of patented AS rhetoric --the "girly boys" in Sacramento had better watch out, he warned, because their dysfuntion was well known and he'd been sent as an "outside intervention" by "the people"-- and "the people" loved it. John Burton, the San Francisco ulta-liberal who has led the obstruction in Sacramento is taking his party towards a cliff. I hope Burton digs in because if he does, Arnold will flick him aside like a flea, and not only will the GOP pick up needed muscle in Sacramento, the confrontation will help Bill Jones and of course President Bush.
California's a very long shot for W, of course, but the Arnold effect is real and lasting. The idea to give him a prime time spot was a brilliant stroke as well, and the GOP Convention will go as wild as today's crowd did. I asked him if he'd ever addressed a huge indoor crowd in the tens of thousands. Turns out he has, a crowd of 70,000 at one world sporting event. "You have to slow down," he replied, noting the sound system difficulties of such venues. It will be quite a night in the Garden.
Note to Bush-Cheney: When Arnold slammed the "trial lawyers," the crowd went nuts. Edwards is such a target.
Time Magazine has the story on the 9/11 murderers passing through Iran in the months before their attack. How long until the Kerry-Moore Democrats announce that this is not evidence of al-Qaeda-fanatic-mullah cooperation? Roger L. Simon has wisely described the relationship between al Qaeda and Saddam and presumably Iran, rogue elements of Pakistan's ISI, and the Taliban as the sort of relationship that exists between various crime families of the Mafia. They don't write down their contracts and execute them in triplicate. They have understandings and alliances and joint ventures that are as real as they are difficult to document. But try telling that to Kerry and his ostrich team. Elect the know-nothings and the refuse-to-know-anythings and the threat will grow and grow again --as in the '90s-- because the intelligence will never be firm enough, the ties will always be too murky. Until 3,000 or more people are dead. Then we will have to ask who knew what when. The answer is that some of us knew all along. |
