Mr. Schwarzenegger Gets a Pass

New York Times ^ | October 5, 2003 | KATHA POLLITT

[calcowgirl]

On Thursday, The Los Angeles Times published a 3,700-word front-page article in which six women accused Arnold Schwarzenegger of humiliating them with crude pawings and taunts. At the last minute, will the Barbarian be turned back at the gates? Don't bet on it.

For the charges to sway the recall at this late date, it will take more than the ad campaign being mounted by women's groups. Politicians and the press would have to treat the story as a major scandal with potentially devastating consequences for California, the nation, morality and Western civilization. One wonders what would happen if even a fraction of the energy expended on Bill Clinton's sex scandals was applied to Mr. Schwarzenegger.

Instead, reaction as been strangely subdued. Thursday night's "Hardball" was typical. Chris Matthews, who chose the curiously sweet, rather affectionate word "fondling" to describe Mr. Schwarzenegger's behavior, seemed mostly interested in getting Senator Dianne Feinstein to compare the actor's grotesqueries to Mr. Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. The senator was so intent on being statesmanlike that she didn't even point out that Ms. Lewinsky — unlike the the women in The Los Angeles Times article — volunteered herself.

At a campaign stop just after the story broke, Lt. Gov. Cruz M. Bustamante did point out that touching someone's private parts against his or her will is a crime of misdemeanor sexual battery. Unfortunately, he sounded about as animated as a traffic cop handing out a ticket. Republican women, so appalled by Mr. Clinton's infidelities, have rallied around their man. Even Susan Estrich, the Democratic feminist commentator, says The Los Angeles Times has gone overboard.

It's been that way with Mr. Schwarzenegger and the press from the start. Neanderthal, callous behavior with women? Hey, we were all young once! Boasting of pushing Kristanna Loken's head in a toilet bowl in "Terminator 3?" It was just a joke, man. The stories fail to build, because they're reported in a way that minimizes them. A crowd of bodybuilders piling on a single woman is described as "group sex"; 25-year-old accusations are chewed over while fresh ones are ignored; crudely sexist treatment of women is dismissed as normal for movie stars, and therefore irrelevant to Mr. Schwarzenegger's political career — even though his celebrity is the basis of his political career. Or maybe the story just doesn't get picked up: The Wall Street Journal wonders why no one has made anything of the curious fact that the candidate hired a consultant whose two former wives testified that he beat them.

What's going on here? If Arnold Schwarzenegger were a Democrat, the right-wing news media — the tabloids, the shock jocks, the Bill O'Reillys and the Rush Limbaughs — would have sent him back to Austria long ago. (If he were a woman, needless to say, he could never have gotten into politics in the first place.) But the so-called liberal (actually centrist) news media is either too squeamish to paint Mr. Schwarzenegger's behavior in all its glory or too blasé and faux hip to care.

Why is it so hard for commentators to come right out and say: here is a man who seems to have a long history of contempt for women, who uses his celebrity to get away with sexual humiliation — why does he belong in public life? Would that sound too square, too P.C., too, um, feminist? From the newsstand crammed with leering lad magazines like Maxim to all-male, all-the-time talk radio to the self-congratulatory misogyny of "The Man Show," aggressive male chauvinism is back in style, and Mr. Schwarzenegger is its standard-bearer.

What's next, Howard Stern for mayor of Los Angeles? After Tuesday, that might not sound so funny.

[martin_fierro]

Why is it so hard for commentators to come right out and say: here is a man who seems to have a long history of contempt for women, who uses his celebrity to get away with sexual humiliation ? why does he belong in public life?

Funny, Juanita was just wondering that.

[martin_fierro]

Why is it so hard for commentators to come right out and say: here is a man who seems to have a long history of contempt for women, who uses his celebrity to get away with sexual humiliation ? why does he belong in public life?

Funny, Juanita was just wondering that.

[Support Free Republic]

Aww man! Enough of the fundraiser posts!!!

Only YOU can make fundraiser posts go away. Please contribute!

[martin_fierro]

Bah -- server fart.

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

"here is a man who seems to have a long history of contempt for women, ..."

I think I'm developing a short history of contempt for Katha Pollitt.

[DoctorZIn]

Join Us…Your One Thread To All The California Recall News Threads!

Want on our daily or major news ping lists? Freepmail DoctorZin

[goldstategop]

Katha Pollitt was one of those Clinton butt-kissing gals who told us a lifetime ago the charges against her Boy were all about sex and we needed to move on. Now that Arnold's running, he's suddenly a danger to Western civilization and we do need to dwell on all this groping stuff ad nauseum til the recall fails. At least that's what the Democrats are counting on.

[dighton]

You're reaching awfully low.

Katha Pollitt.

[kingu]

What's going on here? If Arnold Schwarzenegger were a Democrat, the right-wing news media — the tabloids, the shock jocks, the Bill O'Reillys and the Rush Limbaughs — would have sent him back to Austria long ago.

Ahh, yes, see the right wing media can read minds and come up with information decades before it appears in liberal publications. It is all just a conspiracy, you see - the right wing media is picking on the liberal media because the liberal media has a learning deficency.

Is today's NY Times just one huge attack on Schwarzenegger and conservatives, or is there something other printed in there?

[FRgal4u]

another clear sign arnold will terminate all these dims..

la-crimes, ny-slimes are in panick mode - go get the barbarian is their charge..but that's a bit too late for that..

i heard from my cali friends that arhold's bus tour drawn huge crowds, by the thousands, along the way

whereas, davis with the help of di-fi, pelosi and boxer, in an union hall setting drew only hundreds...

now - if this is not a sign of things to come, then, i don't know what is..
i bet davis will get recall by 55% of voters, arnold will win by 40-42% next tuesday..

[Timesink]

This is the Mainstream Media Shenanigans ping list. Please freepmail me to be added or dropped.
Please note this is a medium- to high-volume list.
Please feel free to ping me if you come across a thread you would think worthy of this ping list. I can't catch them all!

[ladyinred]

Okay, I am not a feminist, so maybe I don't get it. It appears to me if anything, Arnold likes women!
Clinton using his office to carry on affairs and even rape is another story, plus he lied!
Let's reverse this quote while we are at it.

"If this were a democrat, the liberal media would be covering this up, or saying it is just about sex and has nothing to do with his ability to serve in office. Besides, if it doesn't bother Maria, it shouldn't bother us."

And,"He can't help it if all of these women fall all over him! They are stalkers you know!"

[Roscoe Karns]

Sorry, but your gang changed the rules in 1998.

[CFC__VRWC]

Katha Pollitt was one of those Clinton butt-kissing gals who told us a lifetime ago the charges against her Boy were all about sex and we needed to move on.

IIRC, she's also one of those that was saying America had it coming on 9/11 before the dust had even settled at the WTC.

[Roscoe Karns]

She was HORRORFIED when her daughter wanted to raise a flag in front of their home after 911. (She wrote a column about it.)

[KellyAdmirer]

I guess what goes around comes around, eh liberals? You didn't care what Clinton did, we don't care what Arnold did. Fair is fair, eh? LOL

[Bonaparte]

"I can prove it."

LOL! Seriously, it wouldn't matter if you had a video of the crime and a signed, witnessed confession. Wouldn't matter if Davis himself slammed his fist down on the NYT editor's desk and demanded that they print the story. It would be spiked, softpeddled, minimized.

[thoughtomator]

ACtually that's the very definition of hypocrisy. Either it's ok when both do it, or ok for neither.