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Arnold, Bush, and Baghdad

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY

"Bring them on."
GEORGE W. BUSH (AP) JULY 1, 2003:

Just days later….

"You guys are the true terminators"
Speaking to US soldiers on a visit Baghdad.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
-- (AP) JULY 4, 2003

"I think he'd be a good governor." President George W. Bush said on Friday.
-- (REUTERS) 8/8/03

"‘That would be nice,’ Mr. Rove said of the prospect of a Governor Schwarzenegger. ‘That would be really nice. That would be really, really nice.’"
- New York Times 4/15/01

Schwarzenegger met in April with Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser. White House officials said at the time that Schwarzenegger simply dropped by to talk about an after-school program that California voters approved last year and to see what he could do to support U.S. troops overseas.
-- The Guardian UK 8/8/03

* "This is really wild driving around here (Iraq). I mean the poverty. And you see there is no money. Disastrous financially. Then there is a leadership vacuum. Pretty much like in California right now," Schwarzenegger said.
-- Reuters 7/4/03

* The advantages of Hollywood's Terminator suggest an unanticipated windfall for George W. Bush…. George W. Bush welcomes anybody invigorating a comatose California GOP.
-- Robert Novak townhall.com 8/14/03

* The California governorship would also give Bush a key organizational base for fundraising and campaign activity in 2004. If Schwarzenegger sweeps into office, bringing a wave of new voters with him - and if the state's budget situation improves as a result of either new policies or external forces - it could reap dividends for the president.
-- Christian Science Monitor 8/14/03

* More from Schwarzenegger speaking to troops in Baghdad:
" First of all congratulations for saying hasta la vista (goodbye) baby to Saddam Hussein. I came here from the United States because I wanted to pump you all up," he said... Schwarzenegger said he could not believe how he was frisked on airplanes on his way to Iraq. "I got frisked so many times that I feel like the movie 'Freddy Got Fingered'," he said to roars of laughter. "I tell you oil wells all around. I have not seen that much oil since the last time I oiled up for the Mr Universe contest." The Austrian-born actor told U.S. soldiers "I'll be back," a phrase he uses in movies to rattle his enemies.
-- Reuters 7/4/03

*The California recall and Arnold Schwarzenegger's candidacy have been a boon to President Bush, pushing questions about Iraq ..out of the nightly newscasts. "Arnold has become the weapon of mass distraction, taking the heat off the Bush White House," Mr. Felling said… "Karl Rove must be the luckiest man on the planet. The phrase 'yellowcake uranium' has completely disappeared from the public lexicon," said Martin Kaplan, associate dean of the University of Southern California Annenberg School for Communication and director of the Norman Lear Center.
-- The Washington Times 8/13/03

"Lay met secretly with California Republicans at the Beverly Hills Hotel and pushed a plan that called for ratepayers to pay the billions in debt racked up by the state's public utilities. The plan contended that federal investigations of price gouging are hindering the situation."
-- AP 6/21/01

* During a stop at a Los Angeles middle school, Schwarzenegger said he didn't recall the meeting with Ken Lay. "I can't remember every meeting I've had over the last 10 years," he said.
-- CNN 8/14/03

* I don't know who Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, had in mind, but in early July he introduced the "Equal Opportunity to Govern'' Amendment, which, according to the Senator, would "amend the Constitution to permit any person who has been a United States citizen for at least 20 years to be eligible for the Office of President." The bill has been referred to the Judiciary Committee.
-- WorkingForChange 9/4/03

* During the run-up to George Bush's invasion of Iraq, right-wing commentators, political pundits and Republican Party faithful blasted the so-called Hollywood elite for speaking out against the administration's hunger for war. Fox's fair and balanced Bill O'Reilly called them "pinheads." Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and others -- found their own demeaning terms. A deck of anti-Hollywood playing cards was created, and the Boycott Hollywood Web site went online with a banner reading "Hey Hollywood....listen up!! You do not speak for me!!" But now that many of these same pundits, columnists, radio and television talk show hosts and GOP apparatchiks have latched onto to their very own La La Land hunk, the anti-Hollywood silence is deafening.
-- WorkingForChange 9/4/03

President Bush is supporting Arnold, but a lot of Republicans are not, because he is actually quite liberal. Karl Rove said if his father wasn't a Nazi, he wouldn't have any credibility with conservatives at all.
-- Bill Maher

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY