You’ve had your fun, now get out

It's time for all the peripheral, celebrity, vanity and joke candidates to accept reality and do the right thing.

According to the latest CNN poll, a majority of Californians intend to vote "yes" on the recall, with action movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger leading with a purality of scab candidates.

If this poll is accurate, and if nothing changes during the next week (both of which are big "ifs"), then Arnold Schwarzenegger will be governor of California on Oct. 8. This is not a joke. It is not a circus. It is the leadership of one of the world's largest economies — a position that can affect the fate of millions of Americans.

It would be foolish and self-destructive for Californians to allow an ignorant minority to appoint a cad and an empty suit — yes, I mean Schwarzenegger — to steer that state. He has not offered any reasonable proposals for balancing the state's budget, which — like most states in the union — faces a serious fiscal crisis. He has, in fact, made contradictory pledges and promises that will prevent him from balancing the budget, and from fulfilling those contradictory promises. He is an irresponsible candidate and an irresponsible man. Electing such a person at a national level has done grievous harm to America, why repeat this foolishness in California?

So get out. Now.

Gary Coleman, this is your real chance to do something for your country and to be something other than a punchline to other peoples' joke: Call a press conference. Tell people that your candidacy was a joke, but that Schwarzenegger's is an even bigger, and more bitter, joke. Tell people to vote no on the recall, yes on Bustamante, and get out. Such a statement, such an act, would have far more impact on the race than whatever diminutive share of the vote you might capture from the jaded and unserious.

Mary Carey — you want respect? This is your chance to earn it. Call a press conference and get out now.

Arianna Huffington and Peter Camejo: the same thing goes for you, a fortiori.

America is not a joke. Stop treating it like one and do the right thing.