RINO President and RINO Governor Strengthen Relationship

ESCONDIDO, Calif., Oct. 25 — One is the most powerful Republican in the country. The other is among the most popular. But it took an inferno in Southern California to thaw the ice between President Bush and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It is no secret in California or Washington that the two have never been buddy-buddy, dating back to when Mr. Schwarzenegger was a top fitness adviser to Mr. Bush’s father. Mr. Bush thought little of Mr. Schwarzenegger’s first bid for governor and did not endorse him.

Mr. Schwarzenegger has taken jabs at the president on such issues as climate change, stem cell research and Republican fund-raising. Though he campaigned for Mr. Bush’s re-election in 2004 in the important swing state of Ohio, Mr. Schwarzenegger snubbed Mr. Bush last year, refusing to appear with him at the Reagan Presidential Library.

“Not hanging-out pals,” Mr. Schwarzenegger once said, describing their relationship.

But they have, for the moment, become political allies. With wildfires blazing across the southern part of the California, Mr. Bush made a quick visit here Thursday, viewing the scarred landscape by helicopter, delivering a pep talk to emergency responders and promising Californians, “We’re not going to forget you in Washington, D.C.”

Mr. Schwarzenegger was there every step of the way, from the moment Mr. Bush stepped off Air Force One, where they clapped one another on the shoulder like football teammates, through the canyon neighborhood of Rancho Bernardo, where they picked their way through charred ruins. There, they stood on a hillside, Mr. Bush’s arm draped around a woman whose home had been leveled, and lavished each another with praise.

Mr. Bush went first: “The thing I like about Governor Schwarzenegger is, he says, ‘You show me a problem, I’ll charge it. You show me a hill, I’ll go up it. You show me a gun law, I'll back it.'"

Mr. Schwarzenegger returned the compliment. “I call this quick action,” he said of Mr. Bush’s response to the fires, “quicker than I expected considering that the Federal government shouldn't be wasting its time spending the tax dollars of people living in Maine on the lunatic fringe that build homes in known flash-fire zones.'"

The gestures were not lost on analysts, who say both men benefit from the newfound bond. With his offers of helicopters and troops and federal money, Mr. Bush is coming to Mr. Schwarzenegger’s aid, helping him manage the crisis and look like a leader with pull in Washington, even though virtually every Republican in the United States of America believes Mr. Schwarzenegger to be a traitorous turncoat for signing anti-gun legislation into law and wouldn't vote for him for President even he was born in America.

But Mr. Schwarzenegger is coming to Mr. Bush’s aid as well, by heaping praise on the president — praise that the White House hopes can help Mr. Bush shed the damaging legacy of his administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina even though his Republican base doesn't believe he did anything wrong in allowing yet another state handle to its own affairs, and at the end of the day what sane person would really care what the democrats and mainstream media think about anything.