RateItAll: The Opinion Network

again, people LOVE celebrities more than their own lives, so i'm surprised Arnold won. makes sense.

This list sucks because I am an Arnold sympathizer. LOL

I'm on the complete opposite end of the country and I'll be the first to admit that I know nothing of Arnold's political opinions or what he plans to do for the state of California. But watching T2 on television last night I couldn't help but ask myself how this guy could possibly be a governor!

I'd be concerned if I lived in California and Arnold Schwarzenegger was my governor. You don't just elect people to political office because you've seen all their movies. If he takes little or no action-then his tenure will be harmless. But geez, I used to think California was pretty cool, but no more. What a screwed up state!

As a voter and resident of California, I'm thrilled that he won, and just by looking at the ratings on this list I think most people agree, nothing really disturbs me on this list. He was the best candidate and he won.

I wasn't surprised. I mean did you see who he was up against?

This should be interesting.

Nothing much acutally disturbs me about Arnold winning the election. The only issue I have is with the obsession people in this country seem to have about celebrity. I think that a lot of the voters that turned out for Arnold did so because of who he was rather than for the substantive reasons. I'm not so concerned about the precedent that this will set for recall elections throughout the country. This occured because of Gray Davis's political persona and style that turned off people; he is the utter representative of an obsessive and cautious politician. His campaign slogan was vote for me, the other guy's worse. How much loyalty will that engender? The thing is that people put a high premium on celebrity, more than they should. That could lead to a lot of celebrities and charlatans running and winning office, people who frankly have no qualifications for office. As for Arnold though, he did run a good campaign in terms of how he positioned himself politicially. He seems to me to be a quick learner despite the campaign of one-liners that he ran. Arnold is also surrounding himself with some intelligent people, so odds are he'll perform better than people give him credit for. I'll just say lets wait and see....

His inexperience is an issue, but he is not the first neophyte to be trusted with such a huge responsibility, and he certainly won't be the last. Mostly, I'm concerned about the precedent this special election sets. It is now more likely for California to be put through other recalls whenever the economy tuckers or an elected official's popularity wanes. Wouldn't Arnie himself be vulnerable to a second recall if the media exposes more dirt and perhaps harassment suits proceed? Republicans aren't the only ones capable of pulling a sly election stunt -- I thought Democratic court members exercised poor judgment by attempting to delay the recall for the reason of inferior punchcard technology. Engineered election takeovers appear to be a new trend: neither party seemed to want all of the Florida votes counted in the 2000 Presidential election, with swift pronouncements made by people of influence that seemed indifferent to shortchanging Florida voting counties. Another election coup was the strictly partisan efforts to impeach Bill Clinton, which unlike the CA recall happened to be against the will of the voting public. I don't think Schwarzenegger's governing ability will be quite as bad as some predict. However, there are more capable and experienced Republicans in California. It will take a lot of good press for him to counter a potentially strong backlash. I wish him the best of luck in helping Californians.

I have nothing against Arnold. He is a pretty good actor and works out more than anyone to be in shape. I just don't think celebrities know their politics.

Quoting Twinmom101, BOTH PARTIES DO IT so spare me the partisan crap. YES INDEED! I completely agree! They're ALL making me wish I'd never heard the words political party. The only thing these parties seem to be managing with any real success is to tear the country farther apart. As to Arnold, well regardless of his ability or inability to be governor of California it is just so glaringly obvious to me that he won the election because he has a world famous name, bucks out the wazoo and most ridiculous of all - has been a movie star/action hero for almost three decades. Im sure most people would never admit the later had anything to do with the way they cast their vote. But, think about it - there really ARE thousands of people who actually buy the Enquirer and some who even believe what they read in it. To me this whole recall election was a theater of the absurd and has turned out to be yet another testament to the growing inability or desire of people to separate fact from fiction.

Way to go Arnold ! I hope Arnold does a great job running the state of California.

Not that he won, but that this entire recall actually happened. What disturbs me the most is the nasty polarization that is going on in politics in this country. I'm so goddamn sick and tired of liberals and conservatives both playing dirty to get what they want. BOTH PARTIES DO IT so spare me the partisan crap. Arnold does not have an easy task before him as California is like a big open and infected wound. There are some very, very hard feelings and it's gonna take more than some slick movie one-liners to get moving in the right direction. This recall (and the presidential campaign and the CIA/Whitehouse leak) has really turned me off from politics. Who needs to get involved with such mudslinging and juvenile behavior? I'm completely fed up with both parties.

Yes, this one is disturbing. I tried to view all of the candidates with an open mind, and I was actually fairly receptive to Arnold - I liked his self made success story, and I felt that his charisma could count for something. However, I thought he was a buffoon during his campaign. Even more shocking is that he was able to decimate Bustamante, even with the Republican vote split between himself and the very credible Tom McClintock. I am amazed, and now understand the power of being electable (big name, big money).