Anyone expect this to calm down anytime soon? Already, this clip has 25,000+ views and in additional to the phone calls to all KSFO advertisers, people write letters.

Here is a what a blog swarm looks like, this is the spike in blog posts tracked by technorati:

The above video is just one effort against Disney and ABC, and check out it’s current Youtube honors:

#28 – Most Viewed (This Week) – News & Blogs – All
#34 – Top Rated (This Week) – All
#5 – Top Rated (This Week) – News & Blogs – All
#33 – Top Rated (This Week) – English
#5 – Top Rated (This Week) – News & Blogs – English
#28 – Top Rated (This Month) – News & Blogs – All
#28 – Top Rated (This Month) – News & Blogs – English
#16 – Most Discussed (This Week) – News & Blogs – All
#14 – Top Favorites (This Week) – News & Blogs – All
#14 – Top Favorites (This Week) – News & Blogs – English
#70 – Top Favorites (This Month) – News & Blogs – All

Of course, the idiots who got themselves into this mess have no clue how to undo the damage to Disney’s Brand caused by the wingnuts at KSFO, here’s what they told Mike Stark:

“Oh, OK… well, that’s… uh… that’s… that’s good to hear.  Uhm, well I wanted to let you know that if you did want to have any kind of conversation with us at any time…  I’ve kinda coordinated this action.  So I wanted to give you my contact information and let you know that if Disney ever did want to start a dialogue with their customers – if there ever was a time in which Disney decided to care enough about the people that are concerned about Disney’s brand and the idea of the Little Mermaid and Mickey Mouse condoning torture and you know, blowing up mosques…

Disney:  Well, yeah, I, uh, I think I understand where you are going.  In any case we are not commenting.

The former Mickey:  Right, I know you’re not commenting right now, but…

Disney:  (with emphasis) OK?  So I think that’s it…

No, I don’t think that will be it.

(Welcome to the post-honeymoon era. – promoted by blogswarm)

What’s going on here? I thought that Ahhnuld wanted to provide health care to poor children…
But now, he wants to cut welfare aid to these same kids. So they can go to the doctor for a check-up, but they can’t eat and they can’t have a roof over their heads? I really don’t get this. If this is “post-partisan cooperation”, then I’m not particularly impressed.

More after the jump…

So what’s going on here? I opened the LA Times this morning to find this:

The proposed $465-million reduction in California’s welfare budget came two days after the governor promised that his second term would feature “post-partisan” cooperation.

It was met immediately with resistance from Democrats, who expressed bewilderment that the governor would attempt to cut welfare aid to children in the same week his administration is expected to move forward with a plan to expand health insurance to many of the same children.

Wow, so much for a Governor with even an ounce of compassion for poor children! I guess he doesn’t really care about “post-partisan cooperation”, either! Why target poor kids like this? Sorry. but I don’t get it…
And neither do I get this:

“It’s ironic that the governor is proposing healthcare for poor kids while taking away their breakfasts,” state Senate leader Don Perata (D-Oakland) said of the cuts, which would affect more than 40,000 families. “Even Republican Gov. [Pete] Wilson, at the time he negotiated welfare reform, agreed that children should not suffer for the behavior of their parents.”

The plan alarmed advocates for the poor, who predicted that eliminating the cash payments of several hundred dollars a month would substantially increase the risk of homelessness for those families.

Schwarzenegger’s proposal also would eliminate this year’s cost-of-living increase for welfare recipients.

HUH??!! WTF??!! So it’s OK for poor kids to have health care, but not a place to live and food to eat. Again, I don’t get Ahhnuld’s “logic” here. Either we care about the well-being of these at-risk kids, or we don’t. Yes, yes, I understand that this could be Ahhnuld’s way of offering an olive branch to the wingnut GOPers in the Legislature…
But why sacrifice the needs of poor children, just so that there’s less “welfare spending” in the budget, just so that the wingnuts can be a little happier with this?

If this is what Ahhnuld meant when he talked about being “bipartisan”, then I don’t want any of this…
And I don’t think that all the California families living in poverty want it either.

(As always, this is cross-posted at my blog.)

(cross-posted from Ruck Pad

We live in a highly partisan political era and the person most responsible for that is President Bush.  He has set the tone with his divisive language.  The Republican Congress, when it was in the majority, reinforced it with their dismissive treatment of the minority party.  Some politicians are attempting to transcend the partisanship like Obama and now Schwarzenegger with his inaugural speech.

That speech, with the now infamous phrase phrase “post-partisanship” was written by a former Reagan speechwriter, Landon Parvin.  I would have expected a Democrat to have penned that speech, for the Republicans in California have the most to lose from a governor of their own party dropping his party affiliation.  It automatically ensures a move to the left.  The Republicans have so carefully crafted their governing philosophy that removing that label means he has disavowed those principles.  Needless to say, the Republicans are not happy.  Here is Fleischman:

When I reflect on the speech, I think I was insulted by it. And let me quickly add that it may not have been the Governor’s intention, but his speech was basically dismissive of conservatives. I came away thinking that the Governor doesn’t feel that it is a valid point of view to feel that state government is too expansive, taxes too much, and regulates too much.

I was quite unnerved by the Governor’s comment that we are entering a “Post-Partisan Era” (as referred to by my cabbie) – as that kind of simplistic theme seems to discount that, frankly, both of the major political parties are founded around some basic core beliefs about how government should work.

Arnold Schwarzenegger cannot single-handedly move this country into a “post-partisan era”.  While the Democrats will be thrilled to have a governor who does not stick to a limited government philosophy, the Republicans will not go quietly into the night.  For that would make them irrelevant and they will fight tooth and nail for their own existence.

You can see this play out in Jason Kinney’s post.  He contends that the first battle will take place over health care for all children.  Assembly Minority Leader Mike Villines is drawing a line in the sand.  Arnold and the Democrats will be on one side, along with most of the voting public and the Republican activists and legislators on the other.  In order to enter into a post-partisan era, Arnold will have to win this first battle and many others.