Saturday, July 10, 2010

California Schemin' - The Rise of The Know Nothings

Yesterday, Chris Matthews talked with California Attorney General Jerry Brown about his opponent, Meg Whitman, and the current Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as the problems the State of California is facing. Brown and Whitman are vying to be California's next Governor, an office Brown has held before. About the 1:50 mark, Matthews asks Brown:

"What is it in the American psyche or character that says, if you don't know anything, you're somehow an average person or average guy and you have horse sense? What is it about people that keep picking people like George W. Bush to be president? And you see these people like Sarah Palin out there with fans. Why would anybody like somebody who the campaign manager for John McCain said, "She doesn`t know anything?" Why is not knowing anything — why does the know-nothing candidate, like Meg Whitman, a person who doesn't have any government experience, have the appeal to be even with you in the polls? The know — the person that doesn`t know anything about government."


Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


It's an interesting interview. Jerry Brown is confident that the voters won't be bamboozled by Meg Whitman's repetitive ads and mailings (she has spent about $100 Million already), that by election day they'll have enough information to pick the best candidate to serve as Governor.

During the interview, Jerry Brown is seated in front of a background picturing U.C. Berkeley's campanile.

8 comments:

Joie Vouet said...

It's said that Meg Whitman didn't vote for about 30 years. She must be a real "outsider."

Joie Vouet said...

Oops! Forgot. Here is California Dreamin', a Mamas & Papas song from 1965.

Why is everyone riffing off song titles? Chris Matthews, Gail Collins ...

lil said...

Meg Whitman is running as a CEO. It is true that a gov. has to have some managerial/organizational skills, but the analogy breaks down once people realize that government is not a business.

If the Assembly Speaker gives her some lip and she threatens to "drop kick him to Mars," well, the Speaker is going to laugh in her face. A gov. doesn't have the sort of dictatorial power that a CEO has. A gov. has to be able work with people, build consensus.

Long story short, Meg doesn't know what she's getting into.

Joie Vouet said...

That's an interesting point, Lil. At one point during the interview, Brown likened the job to "herding cats."

Why does Brown want the job? Is he a Cincinnatus? It may be easier to solve some of the state's problems with Democrats in the legislative and executive branches. Is he banking on that?

nswfm said...

Locally, a termed-out state politician moved to run against another R, and the local county Rs backed the carpet bagger against the long-term R, and the know-nothing carpet bagger lost. She lived in the next town, but still the voters saw through her newly bleached-blond hair.

I'm hoping for the same result for eMeg, the liar. She's been fact checked and has lost. If she looks like she's gaining with Latinos after her primary race stance, I'm using all the PR tools I know of to blow her cover. Calbuzz and Calitics are good blogs for CA politics.

Joie Vouet said...

Thanks, nswfm. Calitics and Calbuzz.

nswfm said...

More on eMeg and Snarly Fiorina, who has been endorsed by the Half-Term Grifter,$P:
http://mobile.latimes.com/inf/infomo;jsessionid=831C2C3E1C161DB379D7.574?view=topstoriesitem&feed:a=latimes_1min&feed:c=topstories&feed:i=54879781

Joie Vouet said...

That's an interesting story, nswfm, about the animosity between Fiorina and Whitman.