By Jackson Thoreau

Forget for a moment that Arnold Schwarzenegger has pretty much gotten a free ride from the mainstream and scandal-sheet media, who have largely refused to investigate numerous reports of the Terminator cheating on his wife in recent years and even sexually assaulting women.

Forget that if Schwarzenegger was running as a Democrat, you wouldn’t see all of the national and Californian Republican hypocrites genuflecting before him as if he was a god – they’d be labeling him a liar and cheater and worse names.

If you don’t care about how Schwarzenegger cheated on his wife and lied about it many more times than President Clinton, consider the following lies made by Schwarzenegger:

* Schwarzenegger said in his announcement on Jay Leno’s show that he would not accept special interest money and would be beholden to no one but “the people.” Then he turned around and raised millions from special business interests for his campaign, including from at least one company that violated environmental laws. He used the money to campaign through ads, as he has shunned most debates and questions about what he would actually do as governor.

* Schwarzenegger painted himself as an outsider, but then he surrounded himself with insiders like Pete Wilson operatives. He said the White House did not influence his decision, then it came out that he met with head nasty Bush campaigner Karl Rove back in April.

* Schwarzenegger went on Oprah to appeal to women and said he would be open to females, but he didn't include a single woman on his team of economic advisors.

It’s clear that Schwarzenegger is just another lying, hypocritical Republican. It’s clear that Republicans are on the verge of stealing yet another election.

Gov. Gray Davis may not be as competent as some people like and is a convenient scapegoat for those mad about amazingly-high utility bills, which are mostly caused by greedy private companies. But Davis did receive more than 50 percent of the vote last year.

Schwarzenegger could get in the governor’s mansion with 20 percent or even less. Californians will not see their utility bills substantially change under Schwarzenegger and will see crime, pollution [he has said he would dismantle the state environmental protection agency], political scandals, Hollywood buffoonery, and lies escalate.

Don’t let Republicans steal another election. If you live in California, vote no on the recall. If you don’t, forward this to someone who does and urge them to vote no on the recall.

And if Schwarzenegger does win on Oct. 7, go to http://www.ca-dem.org/contact_us.php and urge the California State Democratic Party to IMMEDIATELY launch a recall campaign of Schwarzenegger. More than 800 people have signed an online petition I started to do just that at http://www.petitiononline.com/schwarze/petition.html, but I could now write a much better one. Besides, I don’t live in California, and this effort needs to be done by Californians. But my petition can be a starting point. Republicans stole the White House in 2000 and stole Congressional seats in Colorado this year. They are on the verge of pilfering more Congressional seats in Texas, where a weak Democratic link named John Whitmire broke a lengthy boycott in New Mexico and went home. And Republicans are on the verge of stealing the governorship of the most populous state in the country.

More Democratic politicians and state leaders have to find their backbones and employ the same tactics that Republicans leaders are using to steal elections. They must work to recall Republican governors in states that allow that and redistrict Congressional districts to get more Democrats elected to Congress.

These efforts must be supported by the Democratic politicians and state leaders, not just grassroots activists, in order to be most effective. Even if such recall and redistricting efforts fail, they will bring new voters into the party and energize many Democratic activists, who are clamoring for someone besides Howard Dean and Al Franken and a few others to fight back.

Democratic leaders must put these Republican tactics back in their faces. That’s the only way to stand up to these bullies.

Anything less, and we all might as well move to Canada. Because if Schwarzenegger takes California and Democratic leaders take only symbolic, ineffective reactions, it becomes that much harder to oust Bush in 2004.

Jackson Thoreau is an American writer and co-author of We Will Not Get Over It: Restoring a Legitimate White House. The updated, 120,000-word electronic book can be downloaded on his Internet site at http://www.geocities.com/jacksonthor/ebook.html. Citizens for Legitimate Government has the earlier version at http://www.legitgov.org/we_will_not_get_over_it.html. He can be emailed at jacksonthor@yahoo.com or jacksonthor@justice.com.