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[Celicar]

Arnold rocks. I hope this amendment comes to fruition. He deserves to be president. His body of work is phenomenal.

 

[Mermandala]

I'm for this. Why not? To be fair though they should pass an amendment allowing a black woman to be president so that Oprah can run.

 

[Mandark]

I'm curious as to why 2 years experience prior to basically announcing your candidacy doesn't worry you.

Because I think that the job of the presidency is so peculiar, and the requirements so differenty from year to year, that experience is not as important as it would be for other professions.

If a candidate can demonstrate understanding of an issue, can explain their position, and offer good ideas, that is important. Managerial skills are also important, though they don't seem to reliably transfer from other positions (governor, general, etc.) to the presidency.

Time spent engaged in learning/thinking about politics and policies is more important than time actually spent holding office. However, time spent holding office is very useful for indicating actual positions on issues.

He's a strong person, always about the people, and has achieved success in everything he's done.

In general, your post was just too stupid to parse.

 

[J2 Cool]

In general, your post was just too stupid to parse.

Or was it too deep to parse that you couldn't grasp your mind around my very point of the post? Or was it that?

 

[demon]

Arnold rocks. I hope this amendment comes to fruition. He deserves to be president. His body is phenomenal.

Knew it. :-/

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I think its ridiculous that I have to be a citizen of a state for 'n' number of years before I can run for election in that state. If I live in a state that doesn't suck, why should I penalized for wanting to bring some of that experience to a state that does?

That's quite the slippery slope argument. Equating giving a naturalized citizen the ability to run with the ability to run immediately, or even from afar.

 

[Loki]

Because I think that the job of the presidency is so peculiar, and the requirements so differenty from year to year, that experience is not as important as it would be for other professions.

If a candidate can demonstrate understanding of an issue, can explain their position, and offer good ideas, that is important. Managerial skills are also important, though they don't seem to reliably transfer from other positions (governor, general, etc.) to the presidency.

Time spent engaged in learning/thinking about politics and policies is more important than time actually spent holding office. However, time spent holding office is very useful for indicating actual positions on issues.

Yeah, I see what you're saying, but how has Arnold proven that he's "spent time engaged in learning/thinking about politics"? My point is that he hasn't. He may well have been a closet political scientist all these years while filming T3 and True Lies, but there's nothing to indicate that that was the case. Further, if you assert that managerial skills are important (which I agree with), how are people to have any insight as to whether he possesses said managerial skills if not through time in office, or at least time in the public political eye where people can see how he deals with various situations and people? I dunno...the whole situation just seems crazy to me, for the reasons I've mentioned in the other posts; the whole fiasco strikes me as a bit too self-serving on everyone's part.


Like I said, though, if this amendment somehow gets proposed and gets passed, Arnold (imo) will be a lock for the RNC nomination in the next election. And that-- in light of his paucity of experience and lack of political acumen-- would be a tragic situation, since there are enough dumb fucks in this country that'll vote for him simply due to his status and not his substance. It's bad enough that half the voters already make up their minds based on sound bites and a candidate's meticulously crafted "image"-- let's not give them a reason to show us even further idiocy in the next election by voting for a candidate who wholly does not deserve to be there.


Propose and pass the amendment if you like, but delay its implementation for a decade or so. I just can't get over the fact that a man with ZERO experience, who only won the governorship due to his celebrity, has the audacity to push for a Contitutional amendment so that he can run for president this soon. It's just an outrageous situation imo.


Also, however, I don't see how "being a good statesman" can be considered a "quality that varies so much from year to year"-- those are the sorts of people we should be looking for first and foremost. Not overhyped and flimsy candidates like the Governator.

 

[Heezzi]

Knew it. :-/

You must be forgeting where you are at.

 

[Phoenix]

That's quite the slippery slope argument. Equating giving a naturalized citizen the ability to run with the ability to run immediately, or even from afar.

Its not a slippery slope argument. One side wants to ammend the constitution to suit their wishes, I want to ammend state constitutions to suit mine. If one isn't ridiculous, then the other one shouldn't be either.

 

[Fragamemnon]

I hope they get that amendment passed and Ahnold makes a run for the Presidency. He'll never make it past the primaries, and even if he does he'll just usher in a Democratic president.

In case you didn't get the memo, Ahnold = pro-choice and believes in embryonic stem cells. Straight or gay? He doesn't care. There is no GOP majority without the evangelicals. The fundamentalists would run their own, well-funded, 3rd party candidate and you'd have 1992 all over again, but probably even worse for the GOP.

Speaking as shillest of liberals, please push through this amendment and get Arnold thinking about running in the primaries. Anything to accelerate the fracture of the party's moderate, sensible base (which we need working again in our democracy) and the fundamentalist nutjobs (who pose a clear and present danger to our republic) is a good thing.

 

[MIMIC]

I'm for this. Why not? To be fair though they should pass an amendment allowing a black woman to be president so that Oprah can run.

This is sarcasm, right?

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

Its not a slippery slope argument. One side wants to ammend the constitution to suit their wishes, I want to ammend state constitutions to suit mine. If one isn't ridiculous, then the other one shouldn't be either.

OK, perhaps not a slippery slope argument; just a bad one. Two different things both being wishes doesn't mean their ridiculous factor is equal. I think the current state system that allows people to move to the area and then become eligible for office there seems fair, and would like to see things on the federal level become closer to that.

 

[Mandark]

Loki: Spy Magazine reported in 1992 that Schwarzenegger wanted to run for governor of California. He actively campaigned for the first president Bush in 1988. He's had about a decade and a half at least to build capital and make connections in the political arena.

He obviously knows what he believes in. I think his beliefs are shallow, selfish, and not in the public's best interest, but I don't think they'd be improved by more time in office. There are plenty of senators and representatives that seem just as ignorant, despite years of holding office.

The presidency requires different skills at different times because the state of the nation changes, as does the political climate. A great statesman is a wonderful and utterly vague thing to be. Also, I already told you why I don't think experience is necessary to demonstrate managerial skills: "they don't seem to reliably transfer from other positions (governor, general, etc.) to the presidency."

Arnold would have a very tough time winning the nomination. It might even lead to a long battle which wasn't decided in the first three weekends of primaries. But he'd probably be hard to beat in the general election. The GOP might need evangelicals (and be sure they'd work hard to keep them voting), but the Democratic party needs California. Like I said before, I'd expect the Democratic candidate to try to run right of him on cultural issues.

It would be pretty interesting, but I'd rather it stayed hypothetical.

 

[Loki]

Loki: Spy Magazine reported in 1992 that Schwarzenegger wanted to run for governor of California. He actively campaigned for the first president Bush in 1988. He's had about a decade and a half at least to build capital and make connections in the political arena.

I had no idea about that, and I'd wager most other people didn't either. Interesting. I also happen to not feel that the concept of a "good statesman" is as vague or irrelevant as you're making it sound.


I'd respond more substantially, but it's back to wretched Grignard Synthesis for me. T-minus 8 hours til test time. : /

 

[xexex]

now here's a real site

http://arnoldexposed.com/

The son of an SS nazi officer, Schwarzenegger has publicly stated that he has dreamed of being a dictator and that he admires Hitler. He campaigned for war criminal Kurt Waldhiem after it had been made public that he was a top nazi.

The stories of Arnold's barbaric harrassment of women are legendary. He publicly admits to steroid and marajuana use.

He supported Enron chief, Ken Lay during the California energy crisis and now his political operatives have launched a blitzkrieg promoting him for President and seeking to end the Constitutional bar against him holding that office.

Americans Against Arnold has launched defensive measures against Arnold Schwarzenegger's bliztkrieg attack on the Constitution because we love America and believe that the Founding Fathers were right: only someone born in America should be able to be President.

Just as important, we are dedicated to exposing the individual, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is totally unfit to be Governor of California, much less President of the United States. Arnold Exposed.com will serve as a meticulously documented encyclopedia of Arnold's sinister, grotestque and even barbaric activites, from his nazi links to illegal drug use and sexual harrassment. More...

 

[Tenguman]

I believe immigrants should be allowed to run for president...after all our country was founded by immigrants. However, there should be a clause saying that you have to be a citizen and have lived here for ~30 years

 

[Xenon]

I believe immigrants should be allowed to run for president...after all our country was founded by immigrants. However, there should be a clause saying that you have to be a citizen and have lived here for ~30 years

Exclude Canadians and I could live with that.