Posted on 07/28/2004 3:26:18 PM PDT by UCSC Republican
Sunday night, Gray Davis was at the Boston Zoo, signing autographs. Later, he went to a party and bumped into Maria Shriver, whose celebrity husband took away Davis' job nine months ago.
Monday, when the Democratic convention opened and the speeches started, the former Democratic governor was seated in the front row of the California delegation, chanting and clapping like a regular guy.
``I'm having a ball,'' Davis said in the hallway of the FleetCenter, where he breezed through as people called out encouraging words, such as ``I wish you were still governor!''
It's been a long fall from grace for Davis. Four years ago, he was hosting his party's convention in Los Angeles; last year, he became the first California governor to be unseated through a recall. Today, as his Republican successor, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, basks in the glow of favorable publicity, Davis has yet to forge a new role for himself,
``It's very, very tough to go back to doing just regular things,'' said Willie Brown, the former San Francisco mayor who left office in January after almost 40 years in politics. He said that while in power he and Davis had ``multiple lunches'' and ``multiple cocktail parties'' every day. But after they left their positions of power, the invitations dried up.
``That's cold turkey, man. And very few people get off the dope cold,'' said Brown, also a delegate.
Davis' longtime colleagues were reluctant to muse about what drew him to Boston, a setting that for him is so different from the one he lorded over in 2000. Still untarnished by the electricity crisis that -- fairly or not -- began his slide in popularity, Davis was then fielding questions about whether he would run for president in 2004 if Al Gore failed to defeat George Bush.
Back then, Davis threw a party for the state and national media at the hillside mansion of Norman Pattiz, a big Democratic donor and head of Westwood One radio network. But this year, it is Davis who is trolling for invitations and giving his two cents to John Kerry's campaign.
At a briefing by Kerry strategist Tad Devine, he offered suggestions for how to keep California Democrats interested in the election, although the state is safely in the Democratic column. Davis suggested Californians be enlisted to help out in competitive states, such as registering new voters.
``This is rejuvenating for him,'' said Susan Kennedy, his former Cabinet secretary. ``This is the place that people come up to him and say, `Sorry this happened, but you did great things.' ''
Lately, Davis said he has been traveling and teaching, at Stanford -- which has asked for his papers -- at the University of Southern California and in Taiwan. He insists he's happy being on the periphery in Boston, and life in general.
``Being a host governor is countless responsibilities that you have to attend to,'' he said. ``Now, I just enjoy it, which is my philosophy these days: Just let life come to me.''
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Jeez, is there any failed polititician the Democrats DON'T embrace like he is a deity? You don't see us Republicans worshiping Bob Dole or Gerald Ford.
Obviously.
I'm not a Californian, but it seems to me that Davis was gracious in defeat, and maybe not as bad as a guy, personally, as I thought he was. Tell me I'm crazy.
Right, but after he was recalled, he had about a month in office, sort of a lame duck time. That was when he signed a whole slew of bills that were probably too liberal for the Green Party, and some of them have been major roadblocks for Schwarzenneger. Publicly, he was gracious. Politically, it was a disaster.
Just the sort of thing a no-talent liberal, unaccustomed to work, would say.
Get a job, you putz!
He does seem to have clamed up, but then again, he practically destroyed his party in the state. I mean he got folks to threaten retaliation against any name democrat who put their name on the ballot and got Feinstein/Boxer/Union backing for reprisals and then quitely folded when the polls showed he was going to loose.
Had he not been so obviously corrupt about campaign fund raising....Oracle software scandal, prison guards union, Indian gambling, his actions might have earned him some honor. NOT!
How would they know the difference?????
"Smokin' cigarettes and watchin' Captain (beat) Kangaroo..."
consider yourself certified.
Not disagreeing when it comes to his disastrous policies. Note that I specified that "personally" he didn't seem as bad as I thought. I grant that as a resident and taxpayer, the fact that he might not be an awful human being would be of no consolation to you.
He knows where the bodies are buried. Thats why they gave him a pass for the show.
OK, OK, I'm crazy.
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