From the Politics of Personal Destruction Department:



Comes the follwing story:

In a front-page story, the Los Angeles Times, California's largest newspaper, quoted six women who claim Schwarzenegger groped or made sexually offensive remarks to them. One woman told ABCNEWS she encountered Schwarzenegger in the 1970s when he was a bodybuilder.

"The gym was quite full and Arnold was there and I remember him passing by me and groping my breast," Elaine Stockon told ABCNEWS. "And I was just in sheer shock."

Of the six women who spoke to the newspaper, four would not give their names. One claimed that 20 years ago, Schwarzenegger "grabbed and squeezed" her left breast. She told the Los Angeles Times she "just started crying and crying." She said he did not rape her, but he humiliated her.

The Los Angeles Times also quoted a woman, who asked not to be named, who worked on the movie Terminator 2 and claimed Schwarzenegger "would pin me against the corner of the elevator" and try to pull off the straps of her bathing suit.

The story broke just as Schwarzenegger was kicking off his bus tour of California — an event that was supposed to be the crescendo of his campaign.

He confronted the allegations directly today. At first he appeared to deny them: "A lot of those what you see the story, is not true." But he then added, "I have done things that at the time I thought then was playful but now I recognize that I have offended people. And those people that I have offended, I want to say to them I am deeply sorry about that and I apologize."

Even if those allegations are true, so what? Let's put them in context, folks. First off the breast grabbing incident: It allegedly happened over 20 years ago, during the 'sexual revolution', Arnold was in his mid-20's at that time, he was single, he wasn't in public office, and he wasn't even running for public office. Does that honestly speak to the man's character, today? Perhaps, perhaps not, however the Left jumped all over conservatives for bringing up Clinton's past sexual transgressions, which went beyond sheer allegations and into the realm of fact. And now they are attacking Arnold for not even the same thing, can we say "double standard"? I knew that we could. However, I would be remiss to not mention that the "breast grabbing" incident woman is not even mentioned by name nor in any way, shape, or form even identified. Jennifer Flowers and Paula Jones did come forward to make themselves known, which to me speaks volumes about their creditability.

As to the Terminator 2 claim. Once again, just who is this woman, that Arnold "pinned against the wall of the elevator and tried to pull off the straps of her bathing suit"? Alas we don't know who she is either. Also, and I am really racking my memory here, but just how many women appeared in Terminator 2 with a bathing suit? Memory serves that were actually no scenes calling for a woman in a bathing suit in the entire movie. I am not saying the event didn't happen, but c'mon; wearing a bathing suit for a movie that didn't call for a bathing suit to be worn? That's seriously reaching. But we cannot always depend on The LA Times to actually challenge an accuser of a Republican can we? No, that's always reserved for those women who challenge Democrats.

These comments, from the same site, are a little more disturbing:

'I Admired Hitler'

Yet even as he tried to put out that fire, another broke out.

ABCNEWS obtained a copy of an unpublished book proposal with quotes from a verbatim transcript of an interview Schwarzenegger gave in 1975 while making the film Pumping Iron.

Asked who his heroes are, he answered, "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power. I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it."

He is quoted as saying he wished he could have an experience, "like Hitler in the Nuremberg stadium. And have all those people scream at you and just being total agreement whatever you say."

The author of the book proposal, Pumping Iron's director, George Butler, told ABCNEWS today that the quotes needed to be seen in context, and that Arnold never said anything anti-Semitic.

"I cannot remember any of these," Schwarzenegger told ABCNEWS. "All I can tell you is that I despise everything Hitler stood for. I despise everything the Nazis stood for, everything the Third Reich stood for."

In the final days of his campaign, Schwarzenegger may be battling yet another opponent: his own past.

Okay, 'seen in context'. Just what does that mean? Well, honestly, I believe it means that Arnold hasn't said anything about Hitler that other historians haven't already said. A number of historians (reputable, not those Hate Site Historians) have actually praised Hitler for his organizational ability and his revival of the German economy, post WWI but pre WWII. However, there is now some doubt as to Hitler's revival of the German economy, as a few historians actually believe Hitler just took credit for something that was already underway. However, if Arnold did in fact 'praise' Hitler in that context, then he isn't doing anything that others haven't done before him. It speaks to how naive he actually was in the mid-70's when he was in his mid-20's, and who in their mid-20's isn't naive? And he has come out and said repeatedly that he has despises Hitler and everything the Nazi's stood for. This is a man who gives millions to the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the very same center that cleared Arnold's father of any war crimes, and hasn't said anything even remotely anti-Semitic.

This is a smear campaign pure and simple. Arnold is now the definitive front-runner in the recall to replace Gray Davis, and with recent reports that Bustamante maybe dropping out, the Leftists of California are getting extremely desperate to hold onto the governor's mansion. And they will use any tactic to do so. I am not faulting the Dems for doing this, no far from it. They view campaigns as all out war, were everything is fair game, and it is high time that the GOP recognize that fact, and begin to fight accordingly. And do not give me any of that nonsense of sinking to their level, for in the War of Ideas, everything is fair game.