"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 also said 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."
-- Arnold Schwarzenegger, 1975, quoted from a verbatim interview transcript in a proposal for an unpublished book done in conjunction with the film "Pumping Iron"
Arnold on Hitler now …
"I cannot remember any of this, all I can tell you is that I despise anything that Hitler stood for," he said. "I despise anything what the Nazis stood for ... anything that the Third Reich stood for. Anything that they've done, the atrocities that they've created ... and this is why for many many years I've been fighting against prejudice."
-- Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday
How much weirder can it get?
This guy has zero credibility – but he’s looking more and more like California’s next governor.
This leads my Seattle Times colleague David Haakenson to wonder: How weird is it when a guy:
-- Admits having engaged in group sex,
-- Smoked marijuana,
-- Gratuitously squeezes women’s breasts and buttocks,
-- Expressed admiration for Hitler,
-- Is a Republican,
-- And appears likely to win an election!
What a Great American. On the other hand, when the major choice is this, it makes me grateful I’m here, not there.
Interestingly, women's advocate Susan Estrich is furious at the L.A. Times
"As a professor of sex discrimination law for two decades and an expert on sexual harassment, I certainly don't condone the unwanted touching of women that was apparently involved here" Estrich writes. "But these acts do not appear to constitute any crime, such as rape or sodomy or even assault or battery. As for civil law, sexual harassment requires more than a single case of unwelcome touching; there must be either a threat or promise of sex in exchange for a job benefit or demotion, or the hostile environment must be severe and pervasive.
"But none of these women, as The Times emphasizes, ever came forward to complain. The newspaper went looking for them, and then waited until five days before the election to tell the fragments of the story."
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