A Question About Arnold

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[ambrose]

Thursday, August 7, 2003

A Question About Arnold  07:06 PM

Here's a question that I'd like to hear put to prominent Republicans who are backing Arnold S. for governor. This is not intended as a "gotcha" question or an attempt to provoke a slap-fight or anything. I promise you, I'm genuinely interested in hearing a civil, honest answer to this...

We have here a candidate who describes himself as "very liberal" on social issues. He favors gay adoption and certain other gay rights. He favors legalized abortion and some forms of gun control. He opposed the impeachment of Bill Clinton and said he was "ashamed of his party" for its actions in that regard.

He's not only used marijuana, he smoked it on-screen in the documentary, Pumping Iron. There are more than a few reports of him using illegal steroids and of committing sexual harrassment against women, even after he got married. He has also obviously been a leading force in the creation of violent movies in recent years and there are full frontal nude photos of him around. (They're probably being scanned and uploaded even as we speak.) Now, I am absolutely not condemning him for all or most of this. I don't know about some of the morals charges and I'm with him on most of the political positions...

...but I'd like to see his Republican backers asked, "If he were exactly the same candidate but a Democrat, would you even think of backing him?"

It seems to me that some of the above facts are not only things that Republicans abhor in a politician but that they cite as indicative of serious moral and character defects. When Clinton was running, we were told that pot-smoking, even way in the past, and messing around on your wife made you such a bad person that you should be disqualified from public office. Often, from people who will probably vote for Arnold, we hear that to not be "pro-life" makes you a baby-killer.

Is it that these things never really mattered? Or that they don't matter if the Republicans have a chance to win the governor's chair? Or that they matter a lot and you're going to vote for Bill Simon, even though he won't win? Or what?

This intrigues me because I think reflex partisanship -- especially along the Democrat/Republican divide -- is one of the more pernicious elements of our public discourse. Today on MSNBC, I saw Republican Congressman Dana Rohrbacher, who seems to be Arnold's political opposite, enthusiastically endorse the guy as just the kind of man we need in office. (And Loretta Sanchez, a Democrat, came out against the Republican. In both cases, they acted like it meant something that they had come to these views of Mr. Schwarzenegger. How often do politicians not endorse and support along party lines? The candidate in question has to be either going to prison or a former Ku Klux Klan leader.)

So that's my question to devout Republicans who intend to vote for Arnold or would if they lived in California: Would you even think of supporting him if he had a "D" after his name? If anyone wants to answer this question to be posted here (serious answers, only) send your replies to arnoldvoter@povonline.com. I'll post the most interesting ones when I get around to it.

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[ambrose]

ping

[ambrose]

ping

[Jay D. Dyson]

BTTT! Thanks!

[ambrose]

"If he were exactly the same candidate but a Democrat, would you even think of backing him?"

[honeygrl]

For some reason, I thought you might be interested in this thread. Don't ask me why, I don't even know.

[bootyist-monk]

And if my Grandmother was my Grandfather, she'd have balls.

[kellynla]

Well Ambrose everybody knows who I am supporting. There is only one person who has a solution to budget mess and will balance the budget without raising taxes and/or fees. And that person is Tom "Veto Pen" McClintock! McClintock also pledges to reverse the triple car tax, void the 42 billion dollar electrical contracts signed by the Dimwit Davis and cut workers compentsation by 2/3's. McClintock is sharp as a tack, clean as a whistle and absolutely no baggage. We need a conservative Republican to turn this state around. A liberal will not get it done! Only 61 days 'til we DUMP DAVIS! VOTE 4 MCCLINTOCK! http://www.tommcclintock.com

[Malesherbes]

I was born in California but no longer live - or vote - there (tho' the standards for voting seem to be quite liberal, a Mexican "matricula" might do). If Arnold were running in my state, I would certainly not vote for him, but I have viable conservative choices. In California, the viable choices are limited, and so Arnold might look good by comparison.

[ambrose]

Just made a donate to his campaign.

Folks... McClintock is not a rich man, so every little bit will help.

[kellynla]

Mega dittos! We got the recall done, we can get Mac elected!

[mongrel]

"How often do politicians not endorse and support along party lines? The candidate in question has to be either going to prison or a former Ku Klux Klan leader."

Unless the candidate in question's name is Robert Byrd.

[Ford Fairlane]

Well, I would never support Arnold for anything other than Leading man in a Movie, but there are some here (the usual bush-bot republican party first crowd)who will say I am not a good republican because Arnold will get George W the Kalifornia electoral votes (which he wont, but they cant see that, because the party has told them otherwise)

Oh well, we all cant have brains & think for ourselves...

Besides, Gentlemen (of any political persuasion) stand on their principles, everyone else is just gutter trash

[ex-Texan]

Arnold sounds like a winner in Californicated. He owns a huge amount of real estate, at least two restaurants and has a real MBA from the University of Southern California. USC has tremendous political clout in SoCal. Issa has dropped out.

Not a conservative. But he has a real chance.

[Consort]

"If he were exactly the same candidate but a Democrat, would you even think of backing him?"

Never back a Democrat, even if it was Reagan. The party is bigger than one person.

[swilhelm73]

I'm not from CA so I don't have to make the choice here.

However, I think it is a fairly tough choice to make.

AS is certainly leftist on social issues. However, even with the recall the odds of getting a social conservative elected in CA are not great.

So the question really comes down to just how conservative AS is on the economic side, and how much pull he can have for conservative Reps in statewide and national elections versus the realistic chances of a real conservative getting elected.

Were I a voter in CA, I would wait to hear more from AS and see some of the more reliable polling numbers. However, I would be leaning towards not voting for AS at this point.

[ambrose]

oh, you are a bad person. remember, you're either with Bush or you're against him like all the terrorists < / sarcasm>

[ScrtAccess]

I don't care if a person is democrat or republican, I want to know where they stand on issues, and I'm going to vote for the person that most represents my interests. I also don't particularly care about their past, unless it is criminal. People live everday, they make mistakes, they learn from them. If they made the mistake, sure I'd like to know they learned from it, and if they did, why hold it against them. Will I know that? Maybe, maybe not, all goes into the decision of who to vote for. Also need to consider the support they give to other people that hold differing values.

[E=MC²]

oh, you are a bad person. remember, you're either with Bush or you're against him like all the terrorists

Oh, I don't know about that...it seems like bashing and bashing Bush over and over are rather the "in thing" to do nowdays.

[lonewacko_dot_com]

Can we start calling the CA Repubs the Masada Party yet?