The new poll released by the LAT today shows Phil Angelides pulling even with Steve Westly (with Westly “stagnating”) in the race for Democractic nomination for the California governorship. The primary is ten days off. It’s hard to know how these things happen, since as far as I can tell the public is about as interested in this contest as in Ben Affleck’s last movie. 28% of the voters are undecided, I think, because they never heard of either of these guys and could care less. One of the outgrowths of having Reagan, Schwarzenegger and, yes, Jerry Brown in the governorship hereabouts is that we are used to flashy, charismatic figures. (Grey Davis didn’t stand a chance in that crowd.) Anyway this is certainly good news for Schwarzenegger who, the same poll shows, is neck and neck with Angelides but trails Westly by ten points. No surprise there. Angelides is just the kind of tired party hack Arnold will eat for lunch in the general election. Westly, at least, seems awake. As a registered Democrat, maybe I’ll go vote for him, just to keep things interesting. [I better go warn Angelides.-ed. Yes, do that. Who're you going to vote for in the general?-ed. Arnold, probably...not that I think he's done that great a job... but to see the reaction at the LATimes if he gets reelected. I'd vote for Boss Tweed for that.]
Roger L. Simon
Blacklisting Myself Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in the Age of Terror
BUY HERE IN HARDCOVER- BUY HERE ON KINDLE! New radio: Fred Thompson Show, Hugh Hewitt on PJTV (first of five-parter). YouTube version of Roger on BookTV (After Words) with Armstrong Williams - here. Video: Roger on Greg Gutfeld's Red Eye. Reviews so far: Lloyd Billingsley @ FrontPage, Ron Radosh in the National Review, Sonny Bunch in the Washington Times, Andrew Klavan in City Journal, Marty Dodge in Blogcritics, Tod Goldberg in LV City Life, John Hinderaker in Powerline. Lone Star Times, Mark Coffey at Informed Speculation, John Ruberry at Marathon Pundit, Dan Blatt at Gay Patriot. First syndication Commentary. Advance comments from Michael Barone, John Podhoretz and Ron Silver. Podcasts: Milt Rosenberg Show, John J. Miller - National Review, Ed Driscoll - Sirius Radio. Video review by Bernard Chapin. FrontPage Interview w/ Jamie Glazov. Join the Facebook group. BUY HARDCOVER! - BUY KINDLE!
PJM HomeRoger L Simon
The blog of the mystery writer, screenwriter and CEO of Pajamas Media
Just Published
 With gratitude to the readers of this blog without whom my new -- and first non-fiction -- book would likely never have been written.
Simon's first non-fiction book - Blacklisting Myself: Memoir of a Hollywood Apostate in an Age of Terror - Pub. date: February 5, 2009 |
Books
Pajamas Media appreciates your comments that abide by the following guidelines:
1. Avoid profanities or foul language unless it is contained in a necessary quote or is relevant to the comment.
2. Stay on topic.
3. Disagree, but avoid ad hominem attacks.
4. Threats are treated seriously and reported to law enforcement.
5. Spam and advertising are not permitted in the comments area.
The clause regarding "hate speech" has been deleted because readers criticized it as being too loosely defined. We agreed.
These guidelines are very general and cannot cover every possible situation. Please don't assume that Pajamas Media management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment. We reserve the right to filter or delete comments or to deny posting privileges entirely at our discretion. If you feel your comment was filtered inappropriately, please email us at story@pajamasmedia.com.
7 Comments
1. Gerard Van der Leun:Just what was Ben Affleck’s last movie? I think I knew, but I must have forgotten.
May 28, 2006 - 2:56 pm 2. mythusmage:Thus, children, we can see how one man games the system.
When in a primary the man you want in the office faces no real opposition in his party, vote for the man in the other party he’s most likely to beat.
May 28, 2006 - 8:50 pm 3. NahnCee:I’m thinking I’ll vote for Arnold, too, although I hadn’t considered the reaction of the dispeptic LATimes. That would be a plus. I don’t think he’s done anything egregariously bad or outrageous, he seems to be in there working hard and trying and … he’s a Republican. Given the immigation issue heating up, it seems to me that Arnold is less likely to be scammed by the Mexicans’ victim-hood card, too (is Angelides a Hispanic name?).
May 29, 2006 - 8:55 am 4. Foobarista:My rule: figure out who the state worker unions are endorsing and vote the opposite. Angelides is their creature – as are most politicians in Sacramento – and Arnold is generally not. So I’ll vote for Arnold…
May 29, 2006 - 11:59 am 5. Max Rollins:Neither candidate is our “Knight in Shinning Armor”. Personally, ads from both sides disgust me… I was dissappointed in both of them in the debates I saw.. #2 and 3… Alas, this is the kind of political arena we (the voters) provide for them, within which they must “perform.”…
For me, I try and ignore all the ads, campaign ’spin’ etc.. because it helps promote even more in-fighting amongst Dems and Dem-minded voters…
I try to stay focused on what seems the one-and-only ‘real’ goal here, which is selecting (not a governor), but rather the candidate with the best state-wide odds of garnering more votes to take-down Ahnold in November…
There’s no question about it for me… It’s Westly.
Simply stated: I just want us to win, damn-it!
May 29, 2006 - 6:06 pm 6. Anthony (Los Angeles):In my opinion, Arnold’s done a good, but not great job. Reforming Worker’s Comp was a major achievement, and repealing the tripled car tax and opposing driver’s licenses for illegals were good, too. 2005 was a rough year for him, especially in the November special election, where all four of his initiatives lost. (My fault, I voted for them. Then again, every initiative lost.) Still, I rate his administration a positive thing overall.
I was considering Westly, but his support for DLs for illegals is a deal-killer for me. And Angelides is from the Kuehl-Goldberg crowd: pander to the state employees unions and raise taxes.
More interesting is the Lt. Governor’s race. If McClintock is the Republican nominee, I’m voting for him. Though I voted for Arnold, I was impressed with McClintock’s command of state finances and his character. And I think we need a tightwad somewhere high in government.
May 30, 2006 - 12:37 pm 7. Jim,MtnViewCA,USA:Roger said “As a registered Democrat…”
Jun 1, 2006 - 1:53 pmDang! I used to be one of those. I stopped voting for Dems after about Carter though.
Echo the comment on McClintock. He seems smart and honest, we need more like that. “…pander to the state employees union and raise taxes”, we need fewer like that.