Yesterday my friend Mike reminded me, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was coming to town (Cozy Diner, 9 a.m.) to pitch his Propositions. So this morning, my daughter, Mike and myself went out for an early breakfast and hopefully to find some good seats at the diner. But, by the time we arrived the place was nearly full. In fact there were probably about 100 people outside trying to get in, but couldn’t.
We were fortunately recognized by one of the officials for the governor and we were whisked inside just as the last seats were being filled. It was still nearly an hour before the Gov. was scheduled to arrive and this place, including the parking lot was packed.
The rally was closed to the general public, which surprised and disappointed many people who came just to see Arnold, however closing such events is a fairly common practice for security and to prevent protesters from causing disruptions. The GOP was paying the bill and this gave them the right to invite or to exclude, whoever they wanted. One protester managed to slip in, despite the security, and upon the Gov’s arrival he shouted out his message and was quickly removed by security.
Arnold made a quick trip through the restaurant, glad-handing his enthusiastic supporters, but there was no speech on the Proposition. Although, he did pause briefly to meet with local reporters and he presumably said something about them for the media. The whole thing was over in about 15 minutes and Arnie was off to his next town.
As Arnold moved ever closer to the exit door, my friend Mike yelled out to him, “Thank you Mr. Governor for having the courage to do this for us!” Referring to Arnold’s slate of propositions. The crowd broke out in cheers as Arnie waved and then he was out the door and gone. A great Hollywood style exit!
When we tried to pay for our meals, we found out Arnie had picked up the check! Don’t worry, this wasn’t from your tax dollars. It was out of his own pocket. Heck, if I had known he was going to do that, I might have ordered the steak and eggs!