Only one politician in America today could survive...

[kentuck]

a story from six women....of sexual assault over the last 3 decades. Most would have the sense and decency to get out of the race. Not this one politician? He apologizes and goes forward as if nothing ever happened. And we're not talking about consensual sex.

We're talking about a "groper", a la Strom Thurmond in his younger days, like when he was eighty. One can harken back to Gary Hart when he was running for President and had a photo of Ms Donna Rice sitting on his lap on the Monkey Business...

This is so soon after the last President was impeached for sex in the WH...technically, it was lying about sex in the WH. But,it was consensual. No one actually expected them to actually ask questions about Bill Clinton's personal sex life, but they did. It happened in "their House". Remember?

Now they are like teenagers at a rock concert - rushing to get to the front to touch or speak to their idol. Forget about the drugs or the group sex. Forget about the sexual harassment. They are enjoying the party. Hopefully, they will sober up before the election.

[eleny]

1. All this is totaly beyond me anymore

I just don't get Californians and how they can support Arnold. Watching his flip-flop in the same speech - It wasn't true/ I apologize - and then all the cheering. None of it computes.

I keep thinking that in the end, the recall will be a flop. It's the only thing that makes sense. After all, look what's happened to Rush. One can only hope.

[The White Rose]

8. Ahem. Not ALL Californians support Arnold.

Just the retarded ones...

[StClone]

2. Party of Party Animals

Why does it appear that Republicans like a good lie. They lust for a good power grab and money scams as if it were all a big party and the hangover will never come.

[barbaraann]

3. Assholes are always perverts.

And most (not all) Republicans are assholes.

[denverbill]

4. It's a bit early to say he survived.

The story just broke this morning. Yes there had been many rumors before now, but until today it was just unnamed accusers. Now, not only do they have names and faces, but Arnold is admitting so at least some of the stuff. And the stuff he is accused of isn't some sort of almost benign workplace sexual harassment (lewd jokes, unwanted advances, etc), it's actual sexual assault.

Clinton had some baggage with affairs, but they were all with consenting partners.

Only time will tell I guess. I sure as hell hope you are wrong.

[Padraig18]

5. With any luck

This will divide the RW vote, because the real fundy types are liable to see this as 'the last straw'. I've had some fundy customers today call these latest revelations 'sickening', and I suspect that many of their brethren in CA feel the same way.

[Eloriel]

10. MoveOn is seriously after him on this

And that's good news.

Eloriel

Help us fund an emergency campaign ad to stop Arnold Schwarzenegger:

Please forward this email!

Dear MoveOn members,
This is a real emergency. The polls in California show Schwarzenegger pulling ahead, while the truth about his character is only now starting to get out. We have just a few days to make sure everyone in California knows who this man is. Today we ask you to do two things: (1) contribute to a TV ad that we will run across the state of California on Sunday and Monday and (2) send this message on to friends, so they know the details that are only just now getting into the press.

Please contribute to the ad at:

http://www.moveonpac.org/

We need to raise $500,000, by the end of day today.

This morning the Los Angeles Times published the stories of six women who say they were physically abused by Arnold Schwarzenegger as recently as three years ago. We've included excerpts from the article at the bottom of this email. The stories are shocking, but they fit a pattern of previous reports.

We're launching a television ad devoted to putting Arnold's problem with women into the public eye. We feel that this is a critical step that absolutely must be taken, but we need $500,000 to make this happen. Please help us fund the ad campaign by clicking here:

http://www.moveonpac.org/

Then join us for these last few days of our campaign to defeat the recall. There's a lot you can do to make a difference. Sign up to help by going here:

http://moveon.org/pac/recall/

The stories published in the LA Times today are consistent with statements Schwarzenegger has made and incidents he's been involved in throughout his entire career.

If you think his personal views and behavior can be separated from his new career as a politician, think again: Schwarzenegger has not included a single woman on his economic council. In a state where there are tens of thousands of women in positions of power, there was not even one he respected enough add to his team.

Schwarzenegger has a serious problem with women, reflected in both his actions and his words. His own statements -- even just months ago -- paint a clear picture of a man who has absolutely no respect for women:

"How many times do you get away with this--to take a woman, grab her upside down, and bury her face in a toilet bowl?"
July, 2003 Entertainment Weekly interview, speaking about a scene from his latest film.

"When you see a blonde with great tits and a great ass, you say to yourself, 'Hey, she must be stupid or must have nothing else to offer', which maybe is the case many times."
July, 2003 Esquire Magazine interview.

"Girls became sex objects. I saw the other bodybuilders using them in this way and I thought it was all right...Whatever I thought might hold me back, I avoided. I crossed girls off my list -- except as tools for my sexual needs." 1977 Memoir, Arnold: the Education of a Bodybuilder

The stories revealed in the LA Times are consistent with many other cases which have been reported. Three years ago Arnold made headlines in the U.K. after a string of sexually abusive groping incidents -- one of which took place in an on camera interview. During the on-camera incident Schwarzenegger explained, "If my wife saw this I'd be in trouble, I'd have to tell her it was a stunt double."

Premiere, a respected film industry magazine, interviewed the women involved -- all reporters:

Anna Richardson of Big Screen claims that after the cameras stopped rolling for her interview segment, Schwarzenegger, apparently attempting to ascertain whether Richardson's breasts were real, tweaked her nipple and then laughed at her objections. "I left the room quite shaken," she says. "What was more upsetting was that his people rushed to protect him and scapegoated me, and not one person came to apologize afterward."


Apparently Schwarzenegger's behavior is an open secret in Hollywood. The same article quoted Hollywood insiders and Schwarzenegger colleagues saying that is typical behavior for the actor:

"You don't get it," said a producer who's worked with Schwarzenegger. "That's the way Arnold always behaves. For some reason, the studio or the publicists couldn't put enough pressure on the women to kill the story."

Arnold's problem with women is not a case of insensitive comments or inappropriate actions. It's an appalling record of disrespect and abuse of women. It would be a disgrace to women and a disgrace to all the people of California if Schwarzenegger became Governor.

The once-confusing recall election is now dramatically simple: if you don't vote against the recall, Schwarzenegger will become governor. Join us in these last few days we have to defeat the recall. Sign up here:

http://moveon.org/pac/recall/

Sincerely,

-- Carrie, Eli, James, Joan, Noah, Peter, Wes, and Zack
The MoveOn Team
October 2, 20003


Excerpts from today's LA Times article:
(click here for the full story)

Women Say Schwarzenegger Groped, Humiliated Them
By Gary Cohn, Carla Hall and Robert W. Welkos, Times Staff Writers


"Did he rape me? No," said one woman, who described a 1980 encounter in which she said Schwarzenegger touched her breast. "Did he humiliate me? You bet he did."...

In interviews with The Times, three of the women described their surprise and discomfort when Schwarzenegger grabbed their breasts. A fourth said he reached under her skirt and gripped her buttocks. A fifth woman said Schwarzenegger groped her and tried to remove her bathing suit in a hotel elevator. A sixth said Schwarzenegger pulled her onto his lap and asked whether a certain sexual act had ever been performed on her....

One of the women in the 2001 Premiere article was British television host Anna Richardson, who accused Schwarzenegger of touching her breast. In an interview with The Times, she reiterated that account... "He kept looking at my breasts, kept asking if I worked out," she said. "I went to shake his hand and he grabbed me onto his knee and he said, 'Before you go, I want to know if your breasts are real.'" She said she looked around for help from other people in the room, but nobody came to her assistance. At that point, "he circled my left nipple with his finger and he said, 'Yes, they are real.'" She said he then let her go....


The secretary, then in her 30s, said she sat on a couch opposite Schwarzenegger while the actor and her supervisor talked. When the conversation ended, the secretary said she approached Schwarzenegger to shake his hand and say goodbye. He remained seated, she said, and he slipped his left hand under her skirt and grabbed her right buttock. "He just held on. He held on and said, 'You have a very nice ass.' He said, 'I'd love to work you out.'"....

Another woman, now a wife and mother in her 30s, said she also fell in Schwarzenegger's "sight lines" while working as a crew member on 'Terminator 2' in Fontana. "I was walking on the set and Arnold called out, 'Come here, you sexy devil,' and reached out and pulled me on to his lap," the woman recalled. She said he then whispered in her ear: "Have you ever had a man slide his tongue in your ?" "I didn't know how to react," the woman said. "It was bizarre. What he said was so specifically sexual, it was bizarre..." After the incident, she said, she continued on her way. "I didn't fall apart," she said, but added: "It's embarrassing and degrading when you're doing a job."

_______

Excerpt from the July 2003 Entertainment Weekly magazine story (not available on the web):

But nothing in T3 bears Schwarzenegger's creative stamp more than his epic tussle with the Terminatrix, a battle that begins in a bathroom. The sequence was made longer and more elaborate thanks to the actor's largess--and his singular imagination.

"As we were rehearsing, I saw this toilet bowl," says Schwarzenegger, an impish smile crossing his face. "How many times do you get away with this--to take a woman, grab her upside down, and bury her face in a toilet bowl? I wanted to have something floating in there," he adds. Apparently, he was vetoed. "They thought it was my typical Schwarzenegger overboard," he says. "The thing is, you can do it, because in the end, I didn't do it to a woman--she's a machine! We could get away with it without being crucified by who-knows-what group." (Note to California's Democratic strategists: The soccer-mom set is now yours for the taking!)
_______

Excerpt from the March 2001 Premiere Magazine story on Arnold Schwarzenegger
"Arnold the Barbarian"
By John Connolly

Once, he was a box office terminator. But now that Arnold Schwarzenegger has lost some of his muscle in Hollywood, stories of his boorish behavior can no longer be routinely erased. Then again, he'd make a helluva politician. The tabloid press got a nice Christmas present late last year when Arnold Schwarzenegger tore through a day of publicity work in London, promoting his latest film, The 6th Day, which had just opened there. In less than 24 hours, the star was said to have attempted to, as high school boys used to say, cop a little feel from three different female talk-show hosts. The level of consternation expressed by those who received this hands-on treatment from the hulking, Austrian-born international superstar ranged from none whatsoever (Denise Van Outen of The Big Breakfast invites her guests to lie on a bed with her and, hence, probably has a rather elastic definition of what constitutes inappropriate behavior) to irked (on tape, Celebrity interviewer Melanie Sykes looks a little thrown off after Arnold gives her a very definite squeeze on the rib cage, directly under her right breast) to, finally, righteously indignant. Anna Richardson of Big Screen claims that after the cameras stopped rolling for her interview segment, Schwarzenegger, apparently attempting to ascertain whether Richardson's breasts were real, tweaked her nipple and then laughed at her objections. "I left the room quite shaken," she says. "What was more upsetting was that his people rushed to protect him and scapegoated me, and not one person came to apologize afterward."

No apologies, indeed: A subsequent statement from Schwarzenegger attorney Martin Singer characterized Richardson as someone trying to get her "15 minutes of fame." After all, why else would she create such an "outrageous fabrication" (Singer's phrase) against a married man—Schwarzenegger has been wed to NBC's Maria Shriver since 1986—a father of four, someone who ceaselessly espouses family values in the press? On the other hand, the stills of Schwarzenegger grinning as he pats Van Outen's hip or of his give-me-some-sugar-baby expression as he tries to draw Sykes close to him are a little unsettling. Was Arnold jet-lagged? Going through a midlife crisis?

"You don't get it," says a producer who's worked with Schwarzenegger. "That's the way Arnold always behaves. For some reason, the studio or the publicists couldn't put enough pressure on the women to kill the story." Terminating bad press was once relatively easy for Schwarzenegger, who for much of the '80s and a good part of the '90s was a veritable money-making machine for the studios. And while some of his most recent films have enjoyed less-than-stellar box office performances, he is still a very huge star and one of the highest-paid actors in the world: He reportedly received $25 million for his work in the 1999 disappointment End of Days. Accordingly, Schwarzenegger films are always big-budget affairs; as such, they provide lots of jobs to lots of people and generate lots of money to lots of studio suits and other peripheral players. Arnold is not just a rich movie star; he's the straw that stirs the drinks. The sort of person, in other words, who tends to get indulged. A lot."

"The second I walked into the room," Anna Richardson says, several weeks after the incident, "he was like a dog in heat." Other stories about Schwarzenegger tend to fit her simile. During the production of the 1991 mega-blockbuster Terminator 2: Judgment Day, a producer on that film recalls Arnold's emerging from his trailer one day and noticing a fortyish female crew member, who was wearing a silk blouse. Arnold went up to the woman, put his hands inside her blouse, and proceeded to pull her breasts out of her bra. Another observer says, "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. This woman's nipples were exposed, and here's Arnold and a few of his clones laughing. I went after the woman, who had run to the shelter of a nearby trailer. She was hysterical but refused to press charges for fear of losing her job. It was disgusting."

The full Premiere article is reprinted on the web here:
http://www.slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/archives/000300.html
_______

Reuters story citing Schwarzenegger's books:

http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=politicsNews&storyID=3394868

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[newyawker99]

14. Hi joyautumn!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[barbaraann]

6. MISDEMEANOR SEXUAL ASSAULT

According to Cruz Bustamente that is how what Arnold did is according to California law.

Arnold thinks he is above the law, just like the rest of the BFEE.

[kentuck]

7. California is the first state to declare anarchy as the law of the land..

There is no law...Everything is a facade, a game, a merry go round.

[Gin]

9. if he wins...all you california girls better protect your private parts..

he is all about female genitalia.

[Democat]

11. If Arnold steals this, he must be recalled

Hopefully every one of these women will sue him, he will have to testify under oath, and we can find out the truth.

Maybe he will be charges with some criminal offenses as well.

No matter what, this is part of the foundation of the Recall Arnold movement if he steals this.

[kentuck]

12. Interesting proposal.....

If Arnold wins, must he be recalled?

[joyautumn]

15. Clinton Apologists Created Arnold - Censored Version

My original version of this posting was removed, presumably because in it I "personally attacked" (a la Huffington versus Schwarzenegger in the Sep. 24 debate) another poster with my almost benign name-calling ("you idiot") and attacking the messenger instead of the message by calling the messenger a sexist rather than calling the message sexist. I have corrected these out-of-bounds references in the self-censored version of my posting below. I apologize, and I want to say that I intend from here on in to be the champion of sexists and idiots. And I am being satirical here, and mean no disrespect whatsoever towards the moderators, since that is also not allowed by the rules -- I fully understand that the moderators are enforcing standards that they believe are helpful to constructive discussion on DU. I do believe that my posting being deleted, but sexist postings like the one I was responding to being welcome to remain, points out a fundamental problem in the censorship rules in force here, but perhaps it is simply an unavoidable unfairness in this case. I leave that question open. I certainly wouldn' want sexist comments deleted, wouldn't want the sexism covered up like that.

Since I first posted this, Camejo has spoken out publicly against Arnie's sexism, so I guess he'll get my vote after all:

"These are allegations that can't be dismissed. It's not some accidental thing that happened when he was 18 years old and he outgrew a disrespect for women. This is an attitude of abusiveness toward women. This is a pattern that is unacceptable for a person who wants to be governor of California. People should think twice before voting for him."
* Green Party candidate Peter Camejo.

And Davis?

"It's not something that we are talking about. It's something for voters to decide."
* Peter Ragone, spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis.

okay, here's the legal replay:

***someone in a posting just said, and therefore apparently believes*** lewd jokes and unwanted advances in the workplace are "almost benign workplace sexual harassment"? where in ***anyone's*** left-liberal Dean-supporting vocabulary ***does someone*** ever come up with the term "almost benign sexual harassment"? sexual harassment is a civil rights violation, *****! you believe there is a class of civil rights violations that are "almost benign"? How dare ***anyone say that***! How about some mild racial harassment? I'm a Chinese-American. ***Anyone*** care to rib me a little with some almost benign comments about my yellowness or my slanty eyes? care to ask me whether i'd like to do your dry cleaning or, maybe you'd like to come up to me and do some fake kung-fu moves and say, "hyawwwww" and playfully say, "Huh, I guess I better not mess with you, you'll make chop suey out of me!" -- yeah, just some benign workplace racial harassment that anyone in this day and age would just roll their eyes and make some witty comeback to defuse, right?

And what's this baloney about all the allegations against Clinton being about consensual sex? Denial leads to amnesia, I guess. He was accused very credibly of sexual assault by Kathleen Willey, and rape by Juanita Broderick. I have worked at a sexual assault crisis center, and I can assure you their accounts are very credible. This is just evidence that those of us who demanded Clinton's resignation over his history of sexual harassment and sexual assault were right in warning that allowing him to get away with it would create a hostile environment for women throughout the country, and particularly in Democrat circles. There is nothing benign about targeting someone at work, where they cannot escape because they must make their living there, for treatment that enforces historic subordination by sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, etc. I cannot believe that ***any*** self-styled liberal Democrat would need this pointed out, but apparently, thanks to so many Democrats' codependent allegiance to compulsive liar and abuser Bill Clinton, it does.

***What you said*** sounds like ***what*** the Republicans ***said when they*** went after Clinton while making excuses for Newt Gingrich, who was reported in a 1966 article in Vanity Fair as having told a campaign volunteer he was using for sex that he only wanted her to suck his cock, because then he could legally claim that he did not have sex with her. These people are all part of a sexist elite subculture that most men do not belong to but perhaps secretly admire, the subculture including politicians and celebrities who believe their status rightly gives them unfettered access to the use of women as sexual paraphernalia, along with other luxuries like cool cars, cocaine and caviar. To them, it is just a perk of their status that they have the right to rape without impunity, and with the luxury of choosing whether or not to experience the rape as rape, depending on what turns them on (and never having to be confronted with how the woman or man or boy or girl they are raping might be experiencing it, one way or the other).

maybe *** some people *** call "lewd jokes, unwanted advances" "benign workplace sexual harassment" because *** they *** are comparing it to the extravagant luxuries that men in the power subculture enjoy. it's like comparing a toyota with a porsche for *** them ***, right? why should the poor common man be denied at least his little 4-cylinder toyota, and his occasional almost benign workplace sexual harassment?

Meanwhile, I'd like someone to explain to me exactly how Schwarzenegger's political agenda differs so greatly from Bill Clinton's. His treatment of women is exactly the same as Bill Clinton's, and Newt Gingrich's. If you voted for Bill Clinton, you might as well vote for Schwarzenegger -- and I think that's precisely why so many Clinton Democrats and Clinton independents will be voting for Clinton-clone Schwarzenegger next Tuesday. 40% of voters in the latest poll say they will vote Arnie, and 15% of Democrats. 15% will vote McClintock, 3% Camejo, 32% Bustamante. 49% of California voters chose Clinton/Gore in 1996. Only 35% of Californians are registered Republicans. Do the math. I personally know Clinton/Gore voters who are all thumbs up on Arnie.

Weeks ago when Gloria Allred and Laurie Fink (in the LA Weekly) first raised the issue of Arnie's sexism in the press, Bustamante came out immediately to publicly declare that Arnie's treatment of women was his private business and was irrelevant to the campaign, no doubt hoping in exchange he'd continue to be excused for using the "N" word about blacks a few weeks ago. I guess he considers his racism a private matter as well. He doesn't care about Arnie's treatment of women, or about civil rights, obviously. Yet 32% of voters and 66% of Democrats still say they'll vote for him, and there's been no outcry from any part of the Democratic party for him to take a stand against Arnie's sexism. The Democratic Party, obviously, does not care about civil rights -- why wasn't Bustamante forced to resign as Lt. Governor for calling blacks niggers, but Rush Limbaugh has to resign for his much more subtle (but equally racist) slur? How long are we going to have a double-standard that allows Democrats to get away with blatantly racist and sexist, often illegal, conduct, just because they vote and speechify for civil rights when it's convenient for them to do so politically?

Gray Davis has done nothing today but scramble to broadcast everywhere that he's had nothing to do with the LA Times article about Arnie's sexism. No comment from his camp to the effect that women should not be treated this way -- no, no he wouldn't want to be seen as hitting below the belt, even if it turns out to be a rapists' belt. Arnie is the only one so far who's said anything to the effect that women should not be treated that way. If that remains the case, why shouldn't I change my vote from Camejo to Arnie? If he's the only one actually willing to say that his treatment of women is wrong, even if he won't admit it's sexual harassment (perhaps he thinks it's just the benign kind), then isn't he the least of all the evils running?

15% of Democrats say they'll vote for Arnie, 42% of moderates, 11% of liberals. If Clinton had done the right thing and admitted that he had acted in an illegal sex-discriminatory manner by granting an intern access to the President during working hours, and purportedly for official government business, on the basis of her willingness to gratify him sexually rather than for any legitimate business reason, and resigned his position as he should have for that illegal act, we would not have Arnie polling so well today. Democrats could speak out against him more strongly without being hypocrites. Clinton and his apologists have rendered the Democratic Party completely impotent to promote civil rights.

This is the Republican revenge for Clinton's hypocrisy, to say that if Democrats can get away with sexism, so can Republicans. Idiot Clinton supporters, including the National Organization for Women, were too stupid to realize that the whole impeachment movement was not aimed at Clinton himself or the Democratic Party, but at civil rights in general, especially women's rights. They recklessly, uncaringly and stupidly fell for the trick. If both parties are so intent on proving how little regard they need to pay to women's rights, they should both be abandoned immediately by all people who believe in civil rights, equality, or democracy.

So how about this -- will your Presidential candidate come out and denounce both Clinton and Schwarzenegger for their sexual harassment and sexual assault? If not, you have no business supporting them and calling yourself a liberal, or a Democrat, or anything better than a closet Rush Limbaugh.


joe

[Catherine Vincent]

16. You are completely wrong.

Former President Clinton is no where the same as Arnold. The only woman that claimed Clinton groped her was that Kathleen woman and according to Linda Tripp, she was bragging about being Clinton's girlfriend.

Your post is bs.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

17. "Clinton apologists...

created Arnold" ....ummm hmmmm....

And I have monkies flying out of my ass, too.

I don't even know where to BEGIN with that regurgitation.