One of the most conspicuous recent examples of big time mainstream media coddling with a super rich infusion of double standard hypocrisy involves Arnold Schwarzenegger.  A steroid-pumped man-child with a preoccupation with ceremony and himself was plucked from the ranks of movie action heroes to reign as California's governor.  

If California were a nation rather than America's most populous state it would be the world's sixth largest.  When opportunity came Arnold's way, after he thrilled to the election of independent Jesse Ventura, a fellow bodybuilder and former football player, as Minnesota's chief executive the former Mister Olympia hoped that one day a comparable destiny awaited him.

After Gray Davis was reelected as California's governor in 2002 Republican strategy guru Karl Rove saw vulnerability.  Corporate predator Enron applied the squeeze to the state's economy, which it ripped off with gluttonous results, generating staggering utility rises.  Rove saw a way to capitalize on the surging unpopularity of Davis, who was compelled to deal with the situation.

While Dick Cheney ignored Enron's cutthroat tactics and proclaimed that the tragedy demonstrated the necessity for more offshore drilling to increase America's energy supply, Davis was the unlucky figure to be standing in the wake of a falling giant oak.