What follows "mea culpa"? (Arnold the Law Breaker)

Riverside Press Enterprise ^ | August 22, 2003 | Dan Bernstein

[ElkGroveDan]

[excerpt]

Q. Now that the campaign is under way, will Schwarzenegger visit the Inland Empire?

A. Yes, if he can overcome unpleasant memories.

Shortly after midnight on Dec. 28, 1983, Arnie, then 36, and his 36-year-old friend, Maria Shriver, were slightly injured when their eastbound Jeep exited I-10 near Cabazon. A fatigued Schwarzenegger told a CHP officer he was pulling off the road to let Maria drive and thought there was a lane to his right. (Twenty years later, there is a lane to his right. But if he tried to pull over, he'd crash into Bill Simon and Tom McClintock.)

Arnie was cited for driving without a valid license and driving on the wrong side of the road (this was his "Conan, the Barbarian" period). He failed to appear in Banning traffic court, the case was moved to muni court and despite assurances that he would voluntarily appear, Schwarzenegger was a no-show again! In May '84, Schwarzie's lawyer came to Banning and entered two nolo contendre pleas. The judge fined Arnold $192.

If Schwarzenegger returns to RivCo, some fear he'll suffer a Jeep/Cabazon flashback. Others downplay chances of post-trauma episodes, noting that Arnie now drives a Hummer.

"But he's still honked about that $192 fine," said one aide. "We're taking up a collection, and Warren Buffet says he's in."

[ElkGroveDan]

Can you imagine if some conservative like George W. Bush or Bill Simon had something like this in their past? There would be front page headlines in the LA Times for two weeks.

Only liberals like Arnold can get away with this kind of thing, and have their spokesmen joke about it.

[Diddle E. Squat]

No evidence of drugs or alcohol being involved, so the main complaint seems to be that he didn't show up in traffic court. In the end he paid his fines.

This is Breaking News? It sounds like you are just a petty crybaby making mountains out of molehills. And you got to be kidding implying that Arnold is getting a pass from the media.

Your doing a great job of making the McClintock and Simon supporters like idiots(which we are not). Grow up.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Your=You are

[Paradox]

Can you imagine if some conservative like George W. Bush or Bill Simon had something like this in their past? There would be front page headlines in the LA Times for two weeks.

Just wait. I have a feeling the Democrats are amassing a mountain of unseemly details about Arnold's life, which they will release with one week to go until the elections (ala the drunk driving story about GWB).

[Hodar]

What, a traffic violation 20 years ago; and he's not sitting in the electric chair??? C'mon, this is nothing but digging up old dirt. Now, if this had happened a month or two ago; or even within the past couple of years... but 20 years ago? Who cares?

[dirtboy]

He is a pragmatic moderate Conservative that doesn't scare our friends from the left.

He's a social liberal. You're only slightly less liberal. That doesn't make you both conservatives.

[strela]

1. You're not supposed to change the title of posted articles. Adding your editorial comment to it and to the pathetically small excerpt you did post merely shows your desperation. Is this supposed to change McClintock's support from 4% to 4.5%?

2. The link you posted requires a login name and password to access, and I get enough spam as it is. Why didn't you post the entire article?

3. If the worst dirt you can dig up on Schwarzenegger is from 1983, you need better opposition research people. Trust me.

[af_vet_1981]

Can you imagine if some conservative like George W. Bush or Bill Simon had something like this in their past?

Do you mean like Bush's drunk driving matter ?

So you really don't support him as your President ...

[gov_bean_ counter]

What follows "mea culpa"?

Mea governor.

[dirtboy]

Should I feel flattered or insulted?

Depends upon which reality you choose to inhabit - yours or the real world.

[BillyBoy]

>> It's just an anecdote... and Schwarzenegger is not a real 'liberal'. He is a pragmatic moderate Conservative <<

You sound like the leftists on the Chicago Sun-Times trying to excuse RINO George H. Ryan's sleazy behavior. I remember freeper reactions when they called Ryan a "pragmatic moderate Conservative". Most of us said "Hmmm...do they have ANOTHER 'George Ryan' stashed around there some where? Because the one THEY'RE describing sounds pretty good"

[Blood of Tyrants]

THIS is the worst they can find?

[nickcarraway]

What moderate positiions does he hold? He's fiscally left, is he socially moderate?

[68 grunt]

... Only liberals like Arnold can get away with this kind of thing

Awwww, poor whiney baby.

[dirtboy]

In real-life (that is the outside world) I have been accused of being a hardcore conservative, a fascist, a bigot and a reactionary pig.

Your so-called real-life must be heavily inhabited by liberals, who are fond of believing what they want to believe, not what the facts indicate, or are too lazy to look up the facts, a trait you've already shown.

But in this forum I am called a liberal! It is getting tough to label me...

Nah, you have a couple of points in your favor, but your position on gun control more than counters those.

[ElkGroveDan]

No, this isn't the MOST anyone is going to find, but it is the kind of thing that usually makes or breaks candidates in campaigns all the time.

If I failed to appear in court there would be an arrest warrant out for me and it would end my political future. Period. Arnold gets a pass because the star-struck media are drooling all over him. (Not to mention a bunch of alleged Republicans who want to see a liberal Kennedy running California, as long as he writes the letter "R" on a the right form.)

I don't post the rest of the article because it is not related to this footnote at the end of the column.

And I never once mentioned McClintock, how did that come up?

[caisson71]

Yesterday I would not have voted for Arnold - if i lived in California. Today, after the Tom Hanks, Woddy, Martin Wish-I-Were-President Sheen attacks on Arnold, I think he would be most appropriate for Kalifornication.