Download | Play    Download | Play (h/t Heather)

For his many faults, you gotta love the politician in California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that admits that essentially, the majority of Americans want the government to focus on Democratic Party platforms, not the rigid ideology of the current Republican Party of cutting taxes above all else.

I think you can also make it very simple, and that is, you know, that Republicans have not provided for what the people need. And I think that's why Jindal is partially right on that, or he's right on that, because, you know, it is all about what the people of America need right now, and have we provided that as a party? [..]

Let me tell you something. When it comes to building roads and people driving on the roads -- it's Democrats, Republicans, independents, decline to state -- everyone wants to use those roads.
Everyone's kids -- Republicans' kids, Democrats' kids -- everyone is in the school. They want to have great education. When it comes to clean air and protecting our environment and fighting global warming, everyone in America wants to be part of that.

They absolutely do. Americans want to know that levees will not fail and force them out of their homes, bridges will not collapse during rush hour and that we're providing our children with the most opportunity to succeed for the future, not to mention a non-polluted world to live in. And as is patently obvious, that won't come from Republican governance. Even the Governator know that the Republican Party has lost their way:

Remember that so many times there's dialogue about, you know, we have to go back to our core values. What is that? What is core? How far does core go back in history in America, the word core? Does it go back 30 years? Does it go back 50 years? Because we know that Teddy Roosevelt talked about universal health care. So they're off the core for a long time ago already. He has talked about protecting our environment. So they've been off for a long time on that. I mean, let's be honest. Ronald Reagan -- let's go to Eisenhower, for instance. Eisenhower has built the highway system in America and he's poured billions of dollars into infrastructure. Where Republicans today say, well, that's spending. We shouldn't spend. That's not spending. That's investing in the future of America.

So there's a lot of things that they have been off on, if they want to go and talk about the core values. But maybe their definition of core values is maybe different. But I mean, so I think it's all nonsense talk. I think if they just talk about one thing, what do we need now? Now, America needs to be rebuilt, because we haven't really rebuilt America for decades. So we need to rebuild America, fix the bridges, fix the highways, fix the buildings, tunnels and all of those kind of things we need to do. And then we have to go and create great relationships with our partners overseas, with the world, and to build those relationships again. And we have to take care of health care. We have to take care of our environment. And we have to build an energy future. Those are the things that people want right now. And I know in the poll numbers in America -- I mean in California, that's what the people want.

See? Like Arnold says, the people don't want today's Republican Party.

Shorter Arnold: Help Me!

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in a letter Thursday night to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said that with credit markets essentially frozen, the state, like a slew of others and local governments nationwide, had no access to the short-term financing that normally support day-to-day operations.

"California and other states may be unable to obtain the necessary level of financing to maintain government operations and may be forced to turn to the Federal treasury for short-term financing," Mr. Schwarzenegger said in the letter, which was first reported by The Los Angeles Times.

Treasury officials said they were reviewing the letter.

As the nation's most populous state, California's precarious finances underscore the depths of the financial crisis. The emergency handout, the equivalent of $192 for each resident, would rival the federal government's bailout of New York City in 1975 as it teetered on bankruptcy.

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
announced last night that he will sign an Executive Order on Monday slashing the wages of over 200,000 state employees to the bare minimum.

Not California's minimum wage of $8 per hour. The federal minimum wage of $6.55. Six dollars and fifty-five cents an hour.

Imagine trying to pay your bills on $6.55 an hour. Now imagine what will happen to thousands of vital service workers like the people who make sure that child abusers don't teach in schools, those who take care of the developmentally disabled, laundry workers who take care of our vets, or license inspectors for foster homes, all forced to live on poverty-level wages. A nauseating irony: many state employees may need to seek aid from the very state services that employ them.

The Governor's plan, rather than fixing California's massive $15 billion budget deficit, will instead make our budget crisis worse while delivering a serious blow to our struggling economy. As the recession deepens, gas prices skyrocket, stores close, and home foreclosures surge, the governor's wage cuts will force many working families over the financial edge.

This is absolutely outrageous. And the only way we can stop Arnold is by raising our voices as loud as possible in protest before 9 a.m. on Monday.

Please join thousands of people in signing the Courage Campaign's petition to Governor Schwarzenegger. On Monday morning, I will personally deliver your signatures to the governor's office in the State Capitol.

Download | play Download | play

Props to the Governator for just coming right out and saying that the real reason Republicans deny Global Climate Change so hotly is that they're beholden to big business.

Kilmeade: But here’s the thing, Governor: A lot of people, a lot of Republicans in particular don’t believe there is Global Warming, there is Climate Change. They don’t believe the green technology and we talk to a lot of them on an every day basis. You’re a Republican, what do you know that they don’t?

Schwarzenegger: Well, I think they know the reality. I think they’re just trying to protect business. And in the end, they’re hurting business. Because we’ve proven in California that you can do both, that you can protect the environment and protect business. Even though in 2003, when I ran and I said that, people didn’t believe it but then we started building the ‘Hydrogen Highway’ and passed the Green Building Initiative and the Million Solar Roof Initiative and the Ocean Action Plan and AB32 to make a commitment to roll back our greenhouse gas emissions and the low carbon fuel standards, all of those things that got world recognition, I think people realize now, ‘wait, this does not hurt our economy, this is actually a big plus' because we’re creating jobs through green, clean technology.

This being Fox though, they had to end a rather lengthy interview on a more cheerful note, with Fox & Friends' Brian Kilmeade looking for some body-building tips. Arnold called him "without a doubt the most muscular television host," whereupon Kilmeade positively swooned.

BERLIN (AP):

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested in a German newspaper interview published Saturday that the Republican Party should move "a little to the left," a shift that he said would allow it to pick up new voters. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has taken an unorthodox approach since winning office last year -- standing by a promise to toe a conservative line of fiscal matters while veering left on social issues such as gay rights and the environment. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested in a German newspaper interview published Saturday that the Republican Party should move "a little to the left," a shift that he said would allow it to pick up new voters. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has taken an unorthodox approach since winning office last year -- standing by a promise to toe a conservative line of fiscal matters while veering left on social issues such as gay rights and the environment.

Dobson and Falwell have yet to respond!