Hit Me With Your Best Shot

The Los Angeles Times finally unloads its best dirt on Arnold, under the headline "Women Say Schwarzenegger Groped, Humiliated Them." Opening paragraph:

Six women who came into contact with Arnold Schwarzenegger on movie sets, in studio offices and in other settings over the last three decades say he touched them in a sexual manner without their consent.

Comments

[Anonymous]

Clinton was accused -- often credibly -- of groping women at official functions, whipping out his junk and waving it in a woman's face, even rape. That doesn't make what Arnold allegedly did OK, but it does make a nice frame of reference for how people react to the Arnold allegations.

[Anon]

thoreau asked:

"What if the liberal corporate media is out to get all candidates and all candidates are sexist pigs with no family values?"

Actually, in my work as a political consultant, I see almost all points of that statement to be 100 percent accurate. There are exceptions, but it's a pretty good picture of reality in most cases, whether the candidate is my client or on the other side.

[Anonymous]

SacBee's Dan Weintraub (http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/insider/) reports that Arnold has responded with a broad apology and acknowledgement that "Where there is smoke there is fire. I have sometimes behaved badly."

[nm156]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm . . . what to think of all of this?

[Matt Welch]

I'll PayPal $10 to the first person to produce a techno single around Arnold's "Where there is smoke there is fire," quote. I can't stop saying it....

[Raymond]

He also squeezed and pulled and hurt my neck, in 1988.

[Joe Majsterski]

Wow. That's desperation for you. I wonder how many percentage points that'll be worth.

[Trumpet]

Please.

Please.

Please.

No more posts about the California recall election. The only thing even vaguely intriguing about this topic is its remarkable ability to induce sheer boredom.*

Seriously. Has anybody noticed that Nick Gillespie doesn't sit around posting day and night about Ohio? But ever since Matt Welch got let in the door here, we've been bombarded with California crud. (Now, Matt Welch's getting let in the door here is a fascinating topic -- is there some valid reason he gets to play on a libertarian blog, or is he just a pal of Tim Cavanaugh?)

*This is the part where somebody responds by saying, "If you don't like this subject, ignore it and move on to something else." The person who writes this will do so without realizing he or she is engaging in illogical thinking and initiating a circular argument. Because, of course, the next response could be, "If you don't like Trumpet's post, ignore it and move on to something else." Ad nauseam.

[Joe Majsterski]

Trumpet, if you don't like illogical thinking and circular arguments, ignore them and move on.

[Dibble]

I actually predicted over a month ago that on the Thursday or Friday before the election there would be one final, very damaging (and probably true) story released about Arnold. Like clockwork, here it is. I just wonder how long the L.A. Times has been sitting on the story.

[amr]

Trumpet,
If you don't like this subject, ignore it and move on to something else.

[Douglas Fletcher]

Two weeks, according to Andrew Sullivan.

[Andy]

I'm sick and tired of all this complaining of subjects people don't like... come on people, just ignore posts that you don't find interesting.

And Amr, if you don't like it when people complain that the recall is a boring subject, ignore their posts.

Can't you people just get over it and move on!! It's the easiest thing in the world to just not respond!! Damnit!

[nm156]

So, any concrete evidence beyond, "He did such and such," as corroborated (used loosely) by the friend who says, "Yeah, that's what she told me." Yawn. I think Arnie's head would have to do a 360 on his shoulders followed by a lunch time buffet of BBQ'd poodle while viewing kiddie porn for him to lose now. Still we are talking about CA, so . . . could happen.

[HH]

Three reporters worked for weeks and weeks on this gift-wrapped present to the DNC.

Paging Eric Alterman...

[Gene]

He was threatened with this kind of stuff by several people in his industry if he chose to run for the office. They have followed up with the help of the news media in LA.

Did he do the "groping"?? Of-course he did but does that make him unfit for office??? Not when you consider the field that is in office.

[Jon H]

I think the damaging revelation won't be the harassment, but rather the implication that he likes to stick his tongue in a woman's ass.

I mean, Republicans got all bent out of shape over the sodomy ruling, and this must seem 10 times worse.

[WoR]

Matt, you insensitive pig!

[Tselin]

Well, this should help his rating with democrats...it will remind them of Clinton

[Ray]

God I hope no one ever holds me accountable for actions years past. I've thought about that kind of thing before, for whatever reason if I were ever famous, the ex-girlfriends and toking buddies and so on that would come out of the wood work.

This is a typcial Democratic tactic however. As the WSJ put it today, it's something of a late hit. They wait until there's hardly any time left before the election so the news can circulate but the candidate won't have enough time to thoroughly refute nor the electorate to full become numb to the news. The Times is bascially in the employ then of the DNC.

[Blow it out yer flugelhorn]

Welch's crud is the only reason I visit this screechy "libertarian" web page.

Although perhaps you have a point. Call a halt to this charade and be done with it. Dump Welch with extreme prejudice, rename the blog "SEEN WHAT THAT A$$CROFT DOPE DONE TODAY?!!" and les' just narrow the bright spotlight of our attention onto the weighty "libertarian" subjects

[Franklin Harris]

But what does any of this have to do with children and working families? Get over it people. Move on!

[dhex]

how the hell do you lick someone's ass without their consent?

[me]

There are ways.

[erf]

I guess he's a real asshole, then. Shocking.

[Madog]

Technically, if you're eating your girlfriend and you give her a rim job without asking, you're licking someone's ass without consent. Of course, there's a german insult, Du kanst mien arsch lecken, that could be mistaken as consent, so who knows.

[Jason Ligon]

dhex:

Pretty stealthy for a big guy ...

[G. Coleman]

So wait, you're telling me that Arnie is an ass licker?

How un-macho! I'm voting for the chick with the mega mammaries!

[Anonymous]

Per NOW, I thought it was established in the 90s that you were allowed one free grope per woman. So, if he groped/licked/etc each woman once, there should be no problem, right?

[Rick Barton]

Yep, desperation for sure. Not unlike the the last ditch attempts to derail the Clarence Thomas
nomination.

[dhex]

i'm in tears right now trying to imagine how ahnuld would pronounce "analingus."

anahleengus?

[joe]

Ah-nul-ling-us?

[Robert Tagorda]

As insensitive as it might seem for me to say it, but the story's so similar to other past allegations that it'll have little, if any, effect. Credit Arnold's brilliant strategizing.

[Best Dirt?]

The groping story is old old old! This is the best dirt LAT could find?

[thoreau]

I suspect that out among the usual left/right crowd (as opposed to a libertarian crowd that doesn't really fit either left or right) this will provoke the usual responses:

News reports of sexual indiscretions by "the other side" are obviously true reports indicating that "the other guy" is either devoid of family values (if "the other guy" is a Democrat) or has no respect for women (if "the other side" is a Repblican).

News reports of sexual indiscretions by "our side" (some of the posts suggest GOP sympathies) are just proof that the "liberal media" (if "our side" is a Republican) or the "corporate media" (if "our side" is a Democrat) is out to get "our guy."

So Democrats will claim that these reports MUST be true and Arnold is a sexist, while Republicans will claim that this is a lie spread by the liberal media.

And if papers report some sort of last-minute sexual allegations against Bustamante, Democrats will claim the corporate media is out to get him while Republicans will claim that Bustamante has no sense of values.

What if the liberal corporate media is out to get all candidates and all candidates are sexist pigs with no family values?

[ed]

To whoever asked what this has to do with working families and children, I'd say everything. Horrible example for children. Potentially damaging to working families (what if he groped someone's wife. "The governor ruined my marriage!"). Similarly to Clinton, it will keep the focus on his libido and not the business of the governor. This guy's just kind of sad actually. He's become a joke. Even the pro Arnold headlines portray him as a caricature, and his campaign actually plays it up. I somewhat pity him, but no way in hell would I vote for him.

[HH]

Buried way, way, way deep in the story is testimony that Arnold's sleazy ways are over and done with, there were no incidents on his last few films, etc. The most recent incident was basically refuted. The LAT went after this stuff like they were on Grayout's payroll. Utterly pathetic.

[joe]

For those making Clinton comparisons, it's worth remembering that, in the six years prior to the Lewinsky scandal, Clinton has been accused of murder, rape, cocaine trafficing, spying for the Soviets, spying for the Chinese, and (of greatest relevancy) other sexual improprieties which had been debunked. During the same period, his wife was accused of nymphomania, lesbianism, spousal abuse, pedophilia, insider trading, and not knowing how to bake cookies. Most of these charges were drummed up by "journalists" and investigators on the payroll of his political opponents. So the universal eye rolling among most of the public at yet another set of accusations is better put down to crying wolf than partisan politics.

[ed]

Just to be clear, my Clinton comparison was a joke, as were my other points. Except claiming that Arnold was a joke in and of himself. Because that's true. He's become his a cartoon.

[Anonymous]

Wouldn't you *want* to be groped by Arnold Shwarzenegger?

[nm156]

No, but Maria can fondle whatever she wants.