Schwarzenegger hypocrisy (repuke)

[historian]

http://slate.msn.com/id/2096338/
Arnold's Contraband
If the Governator doesn't countenance civil disobedience, what's with the Cuban cigars?
By Timothy Noah
Posted Friday, Feb. 27, 2004, at 3:40 PM PT


"I believe very strongly in domestic partnership rights," California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Feb. 22 on Meet the Press.

I was all for—all throughout my campaign, I spoke out for it, but at the same time, we have also a law that says that we do not accept, you know, same-sex marriages which was passed by the people, Proposition 22, and so that is the law. So we cannot have, all of a sudden now, mayors go and hand out licenses for various different things. If it is—you know, in San Francisco, it's the license for marriage of same-sex. … There's a state law that says specific things, and if you want to challenge those laws, then you can go to the court and you can either challenge it there and let this neutral party, someone that can interpret the law, if there's a dispute of it, make the decision.

In sum, Gov. Schwarzenegger stated that he could not countenance civil disobedience against the California state law prohibiting gay marriage. We may not agree with the law—indeed, Schwarzenegger, a longtime supporter of gay rights, very likely voted against Proposition 22—but it is, well, the law. It must therefore be obeyed.

But Schwarzenegger does not reject civil disobedience in all conceivable situations. When something really important is at stake, the Governator will defy the law to heed the dictates of his conscience. He will render unto Caesar the things that be Caesar's, but he will withhold that which Caesar demands but is not, nor ever can be, rightfully Caesar's. We speak here of Schwarzenegger's private stash of Cuban cigars.

It's long been known that Schwarzenegger is a connoisseur of Cuban tobacco leaf. But Chatterbox figured that when Schwarzenegger entered government, he gave up his Havanas. They are, after all, illegal to purchase or own in the United States (with one exception that almost certainly does not apply to Schwarzenegger). "Making a difference beyond the mirror—that's my measure of greatness today," Schwarzenegger said in a campaign speech this past September. "It's what makes me feel good about myself … way better than being able to buy a $20 cigar."

[opiate69]

1. It's always pissed me off...

that I could go to just about any politician's office in D.C., and have a very, very good chance of finding a humidor filled with top-notch Havana Puros on his desk, but if I go up to Vancouver and pick up a couple, I gotta hide 'em coming back across the border as if I was smuggling kilos of coke...