A Separate Silly Season!

There’s nothing sillier than Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Japanese commercials…

People run for office and the next thing you know they have created “A Separate Reality!” Fund raisers hash around, political consultants march off in all directions and issues that you might think….before….were non issues suddenly become the “new hot topic of discussion”. Watching the latest episode of the “Real Orange” with a Cutting Edge co-founder Mark Petraca casting pearls before swine as it were with the likes of Rick Reiff and Lincoln Club heavy Mike Capaldi was interesting stuff. “Does Orange County really have a Democrat Party?” “Does the Republican Party of Orange County really have any leadership” – now that Tom Fuentes has left?

It seems that the Obama Presidency has left a bunch of “Twisted Sisters” in its wake. No one either at the State level or the County level seems to have a clue on how to handle the next election cycle. We were thinking: Mike Duvall was  just bored to tears in the California Assembly. He wanted out….and the only thing he could think of….was to create an ethics violation which would allow him to resign. OK, the deals were made and Chris Norby was told that he could jump on board and take a “Special Election Win” in December of 2009. Then he would be well positioned to take the March 2010 Republican Primary and walk into the Assembly for a two-year stint in June of 2010.  Sweet! Hey, in order to make it look good…they could maybe get Linda Ackerman to make a half hearted attempt to challenge……creative huh?

Ok, enough about how stuff works. How about this one: http://www.carlyforcalifornia.com Chuck DeVore is so bummed. Carly has put up this…..no cost/bare bones website….and it’s drawing huge numbers in a non-aggressive bid to challenge both Chuck DeVore and Barbara Boxer in 2010. If she plays her cards right she may have the best chance to beat Boxer – that Republicans have seen in years.  Sort of a George Murphy, or Hiyakawa moment.  This could be a major news story next year. The twisting turn and tide of events may be simply determined by two things:  How things go with Obamacare and how things go with Cap and Trade Taxes. Good luck Carly!…..”she is such a nice girl!”

Then of course, there is the Gubernatorial chaos…..of whose who in the zoo? The Republicans are betting the farm that EBay CEO Meg Whitman, Insurance Commisioner Steve Poizner or a blast from the past Tom Campbell can challenge the likes of Mayor Gavin Newsome or the undeclared candidate “Downtown” Jerry Brown.

So, here is how it goes: Whitman and Poizner ” The Republicans” (secretly supported by the Prision Guard Unions) are calling for none of the hundreds of thousands of prisoners from being released.  Since the recidivism rate for California Prisons is about 70%….there is an argument….to only Early Release the 30% who are not coming back into the system….but how would anyone know?  Whitman and Poizner; are all for “Building More Prisons”……Duhh!!!  “You now have 30 seconds to self-destruct!”

Meanwhile, exploratory candidate Tom Campbell and dedicated Democratic candidate Newsome want “Prison Reform” which would include diverting more inmates into parole programs and keeping “some parole violators” out of prison.  Which ones?  Who knows.  Meanwhile, “Downtown” Jerry Brown has no comment regarding Reform or New Prision Building. Probably the best political position at this time.

So, who will be replacing “The Arnold” in 2010? What will happen in a bid by Carly Fiorina to unseat Senator Barbara Boxer? Ah, the silly season is soon upon us friends and neighbors. We will look back on these times and think how uncomplicated they were. In the meantime, for all these wonderful people running for the highest and most elite offices in our nation: What are you going to do about creating some new jobs in California?  What are you going to do about cutting the deficits and bringing us back to fiscal responsiblity?  What are you going to do about that pesky “Illegal Immigrant problem”?  What are you going to do about dealing with ethics violations both in business and in the political arena?  Why should anyone vote for you when you have no positions on Healthcare or Cap and Trade Taxes, or the Federal Stimulus Packages to both states and individuals? Is small Goverment completely out of the question?

Well, good luck to all. We will take Carly and “Downtown” Jerry Brown as our early picks!  If they happen to make some major faux pax in the process we hold those choices in abeyance.  Then we can look for someone else with two brain cells that might be willing to stand up for the people…for a little while at least.