On foreign policy:

We ought to realize that without substantial military strength, we're obviously jeopardizing our security...I get the impression that we're being pushed around a lot and that America has become a big sap for the rest of the countries. And I don't like it. We should have a lot of strength, so I don't see why we should have guilt feelings and act like we're always the fall guy.

On press disclosures:

I have very mixed feelings. There've been abuses; these agencies have gotten out of control...But in the process we may end up throwing out the baby with the bath water...the constant harping on things that have gone on in this government-I really wonder if they're that different from what'd gone on in other governments...

On gun control:

I wonder if the cure would be better than the disease. We kill over 50,000 people a year in cars, yet I don't hear anybody talking about confiscating them.

Still the Governor retains his liberal image, and there's no sign the jig is up. Those years in the seminary may have provided extra protection for him-Scheer says that the guys up the street at his liquor store think the Playboy interview was highly beneficial to Brown.

"He's just got a great ear," says Scheer. "I don't believe he believed all that stuff he said in the interview about foreign policy. But he liked the ring of it. And after he repeated it a couple of times, it was part of him. He gets people sold on him that way. Passing off conservative politics and with that quiet voice and the mystic stuff. You know what it is?" He waits for an answer. "It's the ultimate betrayal of the Zen Revolution, the God that failed. He's exploiting his spiritual training.

"Like with Jimmy Carter, he says Jesus gives him new spirit. In California, all the most hustling businessmen do 15 minutes a day. Why? Because it makes them more efficient. It's the same with Jerry. His Zen makes him more efficient, only in a different way."

But not efficient enough to feel effective. The most popular governor in the history of California takes the fatalistic line. "This is where we are in 1976. The press is playing its role, the politicians are playing their role and the Greek chorus is out there watching it all. That's just the way it is. I don't think I can do anything about it, but it doesn't stop me from wishing it were better." It's news to nobody that California is the place for lowered expectations-the end of the continent. Even Zen Jesuits can't walk out onto the Pacific.