Terminator vs Braveheart: Is there a bigger bunch of hapless fools than the folks who run the California Republican Party? They’re angry at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger because he hired an openly gay Democrat as his chief of staff, and now they’re threatening to run Mel Gibson against him next year.
Why Gibson? Because he produced “The Passions of the Christ,” the blockbuster homage to S&M tarted up as a passion play:
There is even a movement to draft Mel Gibson, the actor and director, to run against Schwarzenegger in the Republican primary next year — in part because the success of Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of the Christ,” could help his chances among religious conservatives. Raised in Australia, Gibson was born in New York and is a U.S. citizen, although he has not expressed an interest in elected politics.
“We need to have a good backup,” said Mike Spence, president of the California Republican Assembly, a grass-roots organization that is separate from the state party. Spence’s group has set up the website, http://www.melgibsonforgovernor.com . “He seems to be more consistent with the Republican message” than the governor is, Spence said.
Let’s do the numbers. As of 2004, 35 percent of California voters were registered Republicans. Let’s say half are American-Talibanis – meaning about 18 percent of voters might reflexively vote for Mel Gibson because of his extreme religious views.
Bring it on.
Sure, there are star-struck voters who might vote for Gibson just because he’s famous. However, during the election to recall of Gov. Gray Davis, many independents and even some Democrats voted for Schwarzenegger essentially because they thought it would be “funny” to have the Terminator as governor. Believe me, they’re not laughing now.
It’s hard to imagine that Californians will elect any movie star – Democrat or Republican – anytime soon. And there’s even less likelihood it would be a light-weight like Mel Gibson.
