Posted on 09/06/2003 1:21:14 PM PDT by churchillbuff
Zeitgeist Surfing In 1977 Arnold Schwarzenegger thought of himself as a swinger. In 2003 he thinks of himself as governor. By Michael Kinsley Posted Thursday, September 4, 2003, at 9:00 AM PT
Just a zeitgeist kind of guy
If sexual intercourse, as the poets tell us, began in 1963 ("Between the end of the 'Chatterley' ban/ And the Beatles' first LP."—Philip Larkin), it was another decade and a half before the American political system began to take notice. In those days, the late 1970s, one of the leading politicians was a soon-to-be uncle by marriage of Arnold Schwarzenegger, named Ted Kennedy. Kennedy challenged the incumbent president, Jimmy Carter, for the 1980 Democratic nomination. But he was thought to be a "womanizer," and the press was in an agony of indecision about how to deal with adultery by a politician. Apparently this was something that never had happened before.
The press spent most of that election campaign pretending that it still hadn't happened, with two exceptions. There were veiled and unexplained references to Kennedy's "private life" as a matter of potential concern. And there were earnest media-crit discussions about the issue of whether the issue should be an issue, which necessarily involved at least a hint or two of what exactly the issue might be.
This arrangement reflected the majority view among journalists at the time that a politician's sex life was politically irrelevant. The minority view (mine, among others) was the opposite. Some sexual habits reflect an attitude toward other people, especially women, that is worth knowing about in the voting booth. It's also worth knowing if a politician is a liar and hypocrite, which he is if he's campaigning with his wife and canoodling with someone else. In any event, the proper question isn't what a journalist thinks is relevant but what his or her audience thinks is relevant. Denying people information they would find useful because you think they shouldn't find it useful is censorship, not journalism.
In recurring episodes over the next couple of decades, the minority view gradually won. A profusion of factors differentiates each case from the others, including naked partisanship on both sides, but the trend has been clear. In 1987 Gary Hart said, "Follow me around—you'll be bored." In 1991, Clarence Thomas was under oath and up for a lifetime court appointment. In 1997 Bill Clinton … well, take your pick.
In 2003, though, we may have come full circle. Schwarzenegger, now running for governor of California, was interviewed in a porn mag back in 1977. The killer quote (among other, similar bits of beefcake braggadocio): "Once in Gold's gym there was a black girl who came out naked. Everybody jumped on her and took her upstairs, where we all got together. But not everybody, just the guys who can f*** in front of other guys."
Thanks in part to the Internet (especially, in this case, Slate's Mickey Kaus), you can't actually suppress information like this any longer, once it is known at all. The media treated themselves to a medium-sized frenzy over the news-starved Labor Day weekend. ("Shock Confession Haunts Terminator," headlined Britain's Mirror newspaper. "Schwarzenegger Gave Racy Interview in '77," declared the dainty Washington Post. "Recall Candidates Court Central Valley Moderates," screamed the New York Times.) Yet after a few days, the self-fulfilling consensus of the political community—pols, journalists, strategists, commentators, even Schwarzenegger's opponents—seems to be that this shouldn't and isn't going to be an issue in the campaign.
Not only that, but by at least one of the standards of the tell-all minority when this argument first started, hustling this story off the stage may even be justified because the public seems to agree that it is a nonissue. It's nice that the political pros and the public are in agreement about this. But are they right? Or has world-weary sophistication gone universal and bonkers at the same time?
True, you can't nail Arnold on hypocrisy. He told this story on himself 26 years ago and hasn't troubled to deny it since it re-emerged. In fact, if there is any dishonesty here, it may be in the anecdote itself. Did this parody of a testosterone fantasy really happen? (Kaus quotes Mr. Gold himself saying that Gold's gym had no women members back then.) But if it did happen, exactly as Arnold described it in 1977, it's pretty disgusting. It's disgusting even if it was consensual all around. It's disgusting even though Arnold wasn't married at the time. It's disgusting even if this amounts to applying the standards of the 21st century to events of the mid-1970s. Schwarzenegger isn't running for governor of California in 1975.
In terms of his fitness for elected office, the fact that Schwarzenegger bragged about this episode in a published interview makes the question of whether it really happened almost irrelevant. In 1977, at least, he wished to have people believe that he shared and was proud of an attitude toward women that is not acceptable in a politician. And in 2003, all he has said is that he doesn't remember the interview. He hasn't said whether he remembers the episode itself—or, if he doesn't, whether that is because it never happened or because it happened too often to keep track. More important, he hasn't said what he thinks about it all from the perspective of 2003.
Arnold may be just surfing the zeitgeist: a swinger in the swinging '70s (Were they swinging? Hard to recall …), a governor in the sober 2000s. Like similar statements from George W. Bush about his drinking and Dan Quayle about evading the draft, Schwarzenegger has said he didn't know back then that he'd be running for governor today. Which works fine as an explanation, but fails miserably as exoneration.
Oh?
What I think is disgusting is that Arnold got 1/20th of a timeshare on a woman and is proud of it. This makes Bill Clinton seem like a real man.
So would I, which is why I'm voting McClintock. Anybody whose first choice as economic advisor is Buffett - - and who is being advised most closely by ex-Caliofnria Gov. Wilson, who gave the state the largest tax increase of any state in American history, is not "a fiscal conservative." In fact, McClintock on TV pointed out the other day that Arnold, apparently under Wilson's tutelage, is saying EXACTLY what Wilson said in his 1990 campaing - that he'd raise taxes only in "an emergency", and then he got elected and proceeded to raise taxes hugely. Higher taxes await Califonrians if the Arnold/Buffett/Wilson team wins.
Because that Nancy Boy thinks its wrong behavior unless a sitting President of his own Party does EXACTLY the same thing while he is in office. Shwartaenger was single and all this predates his current behavior which is ostensibly monogamous and faithful and upright (Vanity Fair notwithsatanding) He wasnt a poster boy throughout his life , but you're doing the same thing leftists do with their phony "equivalence" moralizing. They (and you) dont know and dont care whats relevant and what isnt.
Don't forget Arnold supporting abortion and gays adopting young boys. in other words, his moral confusion is as great as it was in the 70s.
However, Arnold Schwarzenegger was a single, 29 year-old, seven-time 'Mister Universe' at the time of his escapades. God knows that someone with those credentials probably has to rent a grain silo to store the sexual offers. In fact, he'd even get better offers than the President of the United States, judging by the Monica Lewinsky standard.
Schwarzenegger only has to answer to his Maker, while Clinton had to answer to the American people -- and he chose to lie about it. Schwarzenegger hasn't concealed a thing, and doesn't have to answer to Michael Kinsley.
Seems that Schwarzenegger doesn't have to answer to potential Californian voters about this 'issue', because they're not asking any questions.
Do you agree that this point is moot?
I might if he didn't STILL show an amoral attitude in his positions on abortion and gay adoption of young boys. Also, I believe character reveals itself throughout life. At the same age that Arnold claimed he was having group sex in a gym, McClintock was assistant GOP leader of the California Assembly, trying to fight for smaller government and more freedom.
In what alternative universe?
It's quite possible that the only Republicans left in California are Social Liberals/"Fiscal Conservatives." In that case, Arnie is their man. They have no problem with electing a man whose Clintonian/Condit-ian tastes and attitudes can be overlooked in exchange for a victory of the letter 'R' over the letter 'D.'
Uh huh, that really worked out well for McClintock, didn't it?
Are you a Californian? Just wondering.
It was. Establishment Republicans didn't want a recall. They wanted Davis fixed so that the governorship would be handed to them in the next election. The people upset the applecart, prepared to decide who would be their champion, and in rode (R)nold to put the fix in to keep California in the liberal camp.
I wonder if there is any research on Parkinson's disease and past substance abuse. Michael J. Fox, Janet Reno, and, apparently, Kinsley all have histories.
Bill Clinton turned the Oval Office into a bordello. His history included allegations of violent rape and serial sexual harassment. His sexual harassment of innocent female vistims continued in the White House. The Oval Office became known as the "Oral Office." Clinton's conduct changed the sexual behavior of a generation: How many young teenage girls today now wear tongue studs and lip rings as a way to openly declare their "specialties" and oral talents?
Arnold's adventures over twenty years ago do not even come close to reaching Clinton's degenerate moral depravity.
Hey, California,
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