At Least One Republican Hasn't Lost His Mind...

[PhantomWolf]

... And Democrats probably could do with listening to some of what he has to say and learn something from what he tells them if they want to win over the GOP moderates who are looking for an alternative to Trump in 2020.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

Arnie's not a modern Republican. More hardline conservatives than he have been rejected for being too moderate.

I should add: I like him. His time as governor wasn't perfect, especially in the beginning, but he developed into a damned fine politician. He started with a state congress that was almost as screamy and partisan as we are today, and found a way to get everyone working together, locking the exit doors when necessary.

 

[Stacyhs]

Arnie's not a modern Republican. More hardline conservatives than he have been rejected for being too moderate.

Arnie is old school Republican. He hasn't swung so far right that he's become an idiot.

 

[Beelzebuddy]

Arnie is old school Republican. He hasn't swung so far right that he's become an idiot.

He started out much further to the right, actually. He was basically California's Trump. But a little bit into his governorship he realized he wasn't getting anything done like that, started actually listening to people, and ended up an overnight centrist.

 

[Stacyhs]

He started out much further to the right, actually. He was basically California's Trump. But a little bit into his governorship he realized he wasn't getting anything done like that, started actually listening to people, and ended up an overnight centrist.

You mean he actually learned something unlike Trump?

 

[Tsukasa Buddha]

I didn't like his apologetics in the second half for the erosion of democratic institutions.

His analysis that it is the fault of liberals making large deficits is just not accurate on any level.

 

[ponderingturtle]

You mean he actually learned something unlike Trump?

Well for one thing unlike Trump Arnie is a hell of a businessman.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

Well for one thing unlike Trump Arnie is a hell of a businessman.

And actually a self-made man.

I find it hard to have a rosy view of him given his 12th hour commutation of his political allies son who was involved in a fatal stabbing. The son was lucky to only get 16 years in a plea deal for what was basically a 2nd degree murder plead down to manslaughter, and then gets his sentence commuted. He killed a student when they were denied entry to a frat party.

Last act as governor was to scratch his political ally's back. Gross. Legacy tainted.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/03/local/la-me-arnold-pardons-20110103

 

[Segnosaur]

He started out much further to the right...

Did he? I always thought that while he may be fiscally conservative he was also pro-gay rights and supported basic abortion rights (political stances that would make him either a Libertarian, or at least a moderate.)

 

[PhantomWolf]

I find it hard to have a rosy view of him given his 12th hour commutation of his political allies son who was involved in a fatal stabbing.

It's not really as cut and dried as you make it sound.

The son was lucky to only get 16 years in a plea deal for what was basically a 2nd degree murder plead down to manslaughter, and then gets his sentence commuted.

Well that depends on how you describe lucky, he plead guilty as part of a plea that offered a lighter sentence, and then ended up getting the exact same sentence as the person who actually did the stabbing, is that really "lucky"? Should he have got a longer sentence than the person who actually killed the guy? It seems that he was lead to believe that if he plead guilty he'd get 7-11 years, so really all the Arnie did was commute the sentence to that which was already promised as part of the original deal.

He killed a student when they were denied entry to a frat party.

While involved in the fight, he didn't actually kill anyone.

 

[TurkeysGhost]

It's not really as cut and dried as you make it sound.



Well that depends on how you describe lucky, he plead guilty as part of a plea that offered a lighter sentence, and then ended up getting the exact same sentence as the person who actually did the stabbing, is that really "lucky"? Should he have got a longer sentence than the person who actually killed the guy? It seems that he was lead to believe that if he plead guilty he'd get 7-11 years, so really all the Arnie did was commute the sentence to that which was already promised as part of the original deal.



While involved in the fight, he didn't actually kill anyone.

Yeah, truly a principled stand on criminal justice reform, which is why he signed the commutation two seconds before his governorship ended. No notice was given to the relevant prosecutors or the victim's surviving family.

The fact pattern around his arrest is not unusual. Felony murder is established law. Plenty of folks in prison serving long sentences for the actions of their criminal partners. The one that gets a commutation is the one with a politician for a father.

 

[angrysoba]

I would vote for him if he ran as the Democratic candidate for president.

 

[dudalb]

In many ways I am a Schteaznegger Republican.
I live in Sacramento, and I saw he and his family when he was the Guvanator eating at Leatherby's a very popular ice cream parlor.
I have seen Jerry Brown there a couple of times, and no doubt will dee the next governor.
There Cookie Dough Ice Cream is to die for.

 

[Stacyhs]

I would vote for him if he ran as the Democratic candidate for president.

He doesn't qualify as he was born in Austria.

 

[The Norseman]

He doesn't qualify as he was born in Austria.

This was already hashed out decades ago when there was some push to enact a bill to allow foreign-born to run for pres. Nothing ever came of it.

 

[JoeMorgue]

I kind of feel if a foreign born person were to hypothetically carry a Presidential election that would be all the proof you need that the America is okay with it.

Yeah I know technically you would need to convene a Constitutional Convention to draft and pass an amendment but I've never gotten onboard with any variation on, in a democracy, having to ask the representatives of the people to do something that the people have already decided they want to do.

 

[Babbylonian]

I kind of feel if a foreign born person were to hypothetically carry a Presidential election that would be all the proof you need that the America is okay with it.

Yeah I know technically you would need to convene a Constitutional Convention to draft and pass an amendment but I've never gotten onboard with any variation on, in a democracy, having to ask the representatives of the people to do something that the people have already decided they want to do.

The only problem with your hypothetical is that an election can be won with a a plurality. That's acceptable when following the established rules, but using it to justify allowing a technically ineligible candidate is problematic; it can't be proven that the rest of the votes weren't cast because the winning candidate was ineligible.

 

[dudalb]

This was already hashed out decades ago when there was some push to enact a bill to allow foreign-born to run for pres. Nothing ever came of it.

It would take more then a bill, it would take amending the US Constition...the prohibition spelled out in the Constituion. Not impossible, but very difficult.

 

[Parsman]

It would take more then a bill, it would take amending the US Constition...the prohibition spelled out in the Constituion. Not impossible, but very difficult.

Nah, sure it is like Trump says about Birthright Citizenship, it would be easy to do, no neeed to worry about the Constitution. What? You mean he was lying? Who would believe it?

 

[Segnosaur]

...he plead guilty as part of a plea that offered a lighter sentence, and then ended up getting the exact same sentence as the person who actually did the stabbing, is that really "lucky"? Should he have got a longer sentence than the person who actually killed the guy?

Yeah, truly a principled stand on criminal justice reform, which is why he signed the commutation two seconds before his governorship ended.

Isn't that pretty common? With all sorts of commutations and/or pardons given near the very end of a term?

I can understand why it may be done that way... Yes, it might be nice to take a "principled" stand and issue pardons/commutations earlier. But the circumstances around them can be rather complex (like the one described here), and its understandable that a politician may not want to deal with the fallout from that when they are trying to run a government.

The fact pattern around his arrest is not unusual. Felony murder is established law. Plenty of folks in prison serving long sentences for the actions of their criminal partners. The one that gets a commutation is the one with a politician for a father.

Yes, I'm sure there are other cases where people in jail for felony murder get longer prison terms than the killers themselves. The fact that it happens to other cases doesn't necessarily mean that its wrong to try to fix that fact in one case (even if that case only came to light because of a person's connections.) Yeah, it would be great if EVERYONE could get the attention of a politician the same way, but the reality is people only have so much time and ability to deal with things that happen on a day to day basis.