Schwarzenegger Dismisses Tea Party Movement: ‘Not Going Anywhere’

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by Colby Hall | 7:33 pm, February 21st, 2010

» 9 comments

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was on ABC’s “This Week” hosted by Terry Moran and dismissed the Tea Party movement. “The Tea Party is not going to go anywhere,” Schwarzenegger told Moran. “I think the Tea Party is all about just an expression of anger and dissatisfaction.”

Transcript provided by ABCnews.com:

MORAN: Governor Schwarzenegger, is the Republican Party, your party, the party of no right now?

SCHWARZENEGGER: Well, you know, they have the big opposite position. I mean, because first when it come to the party itself, they have to do everything they can in order to win in November. So they’re going to say no to everything, they’re going to say it is not good but Obama is –

MORAN: So they are the party of no.

SCHWARZENEGGER: They’re the party of no, and at the same time, I think that there are a lot of people that are disenchanted and dissatisfied and they’re angry and this is why you have the Tea Party and all of those things. The Tea Party is not going to go anywhere. I think the Tea Party is all about just an expression of anger and dissatisfaction and I see it in California when people come up to me and says, you know I’m angry that you guys don’t get along in Sacramento. I’m angry that they’re not getting along in Washington. I’m angry that nothing gets done. I’m angry that I’m unemployed. I’m angry that people are losing homes. I’m angry that businesses are losing their businesses and all of those kind of things. And the economy is down.

But that’s only the case in California. That’s not only the case in America. That’s the case all over the world. If you read six newspapers from different parts of the world, you will see the headlines are pretty much the same. They’re all angry at their leaders because the economy is down and the world basically has one-third less wealth right now. And so that makes people angry.

abc, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tea Party, Terry Moran, This Week

Moderate

“a lot of people that are disenchanted and dissatisfied and they’re angry and this is why you have the Tea Party”

Like New Jersey and Massachusetts, throw the bums out. That is the only objective.
MichelleF

Arnold, just become a Democrat.. You know you want to. We’ll let you go without a fight.
sueNaustin

I would like for Arnold to become a Democrat, but if he hasn’t yet with the family he married into after all these years, then what are the chances now? Hopefully the Obama administration will ask him to join in a useful position.
Azarkhan

Only on Mediaite would something this inconsequential be “news”.
writer

While Arnold was speaking, Maria’s lips didn’t move once.
The Real Royal King

Arnold has proven his credentials far more effectively than the Drop Out Governor of Alaska. And, he is far brighter, far more politically astute than she would ever hope to be with her constant mouth running. Whether you think the (White) Tea Party politically correct or not, it is showing itself, thankfully, to be a passing fad. Just like people ask, “Who was that little man with the big ears and squeaky voice who give Bush I such fits?,” people in the next decade will be asking, “Who were all those angry white people who gave the Republicans such fits?”.
Azarkhan

Now for real news (pay attention Mediaite):

Maybe there really is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, at least if you are one of the nearly 10,000 retired California public sector employees pulling down tax-paid pensions of $100,000 or more.

A total of 6,133 of the members of the “$100,000 Pension Club” are covered by the infamous CALpers system that critics often cite as among the most politicized and mis-managed public retirement programs in the country.
Then there is CalSTRS for retired public school teachers, which features 3,090 pensioners drawing $100,000 or more.
(link for both- http://www.californiapensionreform.com/)

For more examples of the financial havoc public sector unions are wreaking on state and local government, check out Doug Ross’s excellent blog post entitled “Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror: How the Teachers Unions are Destroying California’s Economy.”
(http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2010/02/bloodcurdling-tales-of-horror-how.html)

And for those who think that’s just California’s problem, check out the latest report from the Pew Center on the States about the $1.5 trillion unfunded public sector pension liability staring in the faces of state and local taxpayers in every state of the union. As California goes under now, so goes virtually every other state if fundamental reforms aren’t enacted immediately.
(http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/report_detail.aspx?id=56695)

Mark Tapscott, The Washington Examiner
writer

Again with pointing out the (White) race of the tea partiers, that dangerous bunch who raise their walkers and shake them in defiance, until losing their balance and falling over. They’re much more dangerous than the El Rukn criminal organization and its leader, Jeff Fort, who is now doing life in a super max with no human contact. And who was Jeff’s best friend? Jesse Jackson. But it’s odd. When I see Jesse on TV talking with lefties such as Bill Maher, the subject is never brought up. Indeed, Bill kisses Jesse’s ass all over the place. The left can never point out bad behavior if it’s coming from a (Black) man because that would be politically incorrect. What an irony that Bill’s old show went by that name, since political correctness is the left’s bible.
J Baustian

Arnold is not just a lame-duck governor, he’s also a lame-duck Republican. It was George H.W. Bush, more than Ronald Reagan, who brought Schwartzenegger into the Republican Party. Arnold and Bush 41 are now both totally irrelevant.