Beatty for Governor? He unloads on Arnold today at Berkeley
by tmo
Sat May 21, 2005 at 09:24:49 PM PDT
From a story on the SF Chronicle website, which is slated to appear on the front page of tomorrow's newspaper:
- tmo's diary :: ::
Warren Beatty apparently gave a commencement speech at UC Berkeley today, ripping Gov. Schwarzenegger a new one for his stupid attacks on teachers and nurses, and "threatening" to run for governor if Schwarzenegger goes through with this special election this fall. I read the whole story twice and I'm still not sure if he's serious, so take it for what you will.
Academy Award-winning actor-director Warren Beatty delivered a devastating critique of Arnold Schwarzenegger at a UC Berkeley commencement Saturday, and refused to rule out a Democratic run for governor -- saying that he would "think about it" if Schwarzenegger continues to endorse "a totally unnecessary special election."
During his speech, Beatty lambasted the GOP governor for "bullying labor and the little guys'' such as California nurses and teachers while embracing "the reactionary right wing'' in pursuit of his agenda.
Beatty told 80 graduates, their families, and hundreds of others who gathered on the campus lawn to hear him, that while he "didn't want to'' run for governor, "I'd do a hell of a lot better job than he's done.''
Beatty, who has starred in and/or directed such films as "Reds," "Bulworth" and "Shampoo," publicly chastised Schwarzenegger for choosing "bombastic marketing'' over serious public policy, saying the former actor has tacked so far to the right, he no longer resembles the man who ran for the office in the first place.
"We are not the governor's dumbbells," Beatty said to applause and laughter. "It's not fooling anybody for him to be running around raising money ... from rich Republicans all over the country who hope that they can get this reactionary stuff started in California."
He then asked why the state needs "a totally unnecessary $70 million extra election in November, when we're going to have another one anyway in June. That's nothing but a strategy to distract attention from the failure to deal honestly with the budget."
While the governor's office dismissed Beatty, Michael Nacht, the dean of the influential public policy school [UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy], said the actor was chosen for the honor of the address because of his credentials, which included being a founding member of the Progressive Majority and the Center for National Policy, a board member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a longtime activist in Democratic politics who has worked on every presidential campaign since Robert Kennedy's.
The tough words from Beatty come as the governor is outside the state -- this weekend in Florida, Texas and Illinois -- attempting to raise millions from GOP loyalists like Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens for a special election which looks increasingly likely in November.
Beatty commented on the two Democrats who have already jumped into the governor's race, saying, "I think [State Treasurer] Phil [Angelides] is terrific, I think [State Controller] Steve [Westly] is terrific," and added that there are "quite a number" of Democrats who would improve on Schwarzenegger's record.
"I don't think Democrats are going to need a famous movie actor," he said.
But on Saturday, asked what he would do if party leaders pressed him to run, Beatty smiled and said:
"I would think about it."
Go read the whole story, it's quite interesting. I had no idea he'd been involved in politics to such a serious degree. I really don't like the idea of celebrity politics, but seeing as how that's where the game is now, maybe we'd be stupid not to get him in there. My husband's more cynical about politics than I am, but interestingly his opinion about Beatty running: "Great! He'd be better than Schwarzie." And yeah, he would be.
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