Caution: Watch for Dropping Shoe (LA Times to smear Arnold?)

Slate/MSN.com ^ | 9-24-03 | Mickey Kaus

[veronica]

Undropped Shoe Reminder: The L.A. Times has not yet published the results of its big investigation of Arnold Schwarzenegger's personal behavior (unless this mostly favorable piece is all we're going to get). Is the Times saving it for the last minute, the better to really damage the actor's chances (think Bush and DUI)? Is the story going through an arduous bureaucratic editing process filled with contentious sourcing debates? Or is that Times uncomfortable with the whole idea--so that the fruits of its reporting will never see the light of day? ... We won't know for a week or so.

Until then, just in case Schwarzenegger appears to be pulling ahead, it's worth remembering that it aint' over until the ladies sing, or don't sing, or we find out that there was nothing to sing about. ...[What do you expect?-ed. A non-fatal story. I've said it before: The happiest day in a politician's life is when he learns he's being investigated by the L.A. Times.] ...

[veronica]

More dish on the debate if you scroll down the page at the URL.

[shiva]

After the Clinton scandals I don't think anybody cares what Arnold did or didn't do. The Clinton era did much to desensitize the voters.

[truthandlife]

You knew this was coming. It will come out 1 or 2 days before the election to cause the most damage. They did the same thing to W and it did hurt him.

[Area51]

You knew this was coming. It will come out 1 or 2 days before the election to cause the most damage. They did the same thing to W and it did hurt him.


3 posted on 09/26/2003 6:12 AM PDT by truthandlife
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Actually W. Did it to himself. Who in their right mind would think in todays age of snooping something like that would be kept hidden. W. decided to "mislead" the press when asked. He damned near lost the election because of HIS actions, no one elses.

[Lynn]

Huh? W didn't deliberately hold information for timed release concerning past discretions about his personal life. Granted, politics is politics, but in the immortal words of the "all about sex" Clinton spin team...it's his personal life and nobody's business. Unfortunately it's politics, but it wasn't his fault.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

He damned near lost the election because of HIS actions, no one elses.

Personally, I never understood how that was relevant -- it happened so long ago. Bush wasn't even in any elected office at the time. At what point is past behavior relevant in a current election cycle? How far back does an "investigative" reporter go for "juicy tidbits" to be still be considered "fair game"? For the same reasons, I thought Clinton's flag burning episodes irrelevant. If the candidate had done something more recent, focus on that. In case of Clinton, he had. In the case of Bush, he hadn't.

[Mr. Bird]

I didn't think the DUI was a huge deal, primarily because of the prior admissions of carousing. I guess I had already discounted the impact of any future revelations related to his drinking. However, I think it was incredibly foolish to not disclose its existence from the start. The press is capable of creating mountains of molehills.

As for Arnold, he'll get a pass unless he killed someone, and even that may be ok. He's an actor, and hasn't trumpeted any sort of esteemed virtue.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

I think it was incredibly foolish to not disclose its existence from the start.

I don't know. I think he would have been damned by the press either way. Look at Cheney - he's damned because of his Halburton involvement - so he dumps $20Mil and is still damned by the press because he once was associated with Halburton. Do you really think the press would not have hounded Bush on the DUI issue if it came out sooner? I believe that's all they would have talked about. They don't want to report the news, they want to destroy the conversative viewpoint and their messengers.

How far does one go back and still make the case that behavior in the past is relevant to a current election campaign?

For me, it actually reinforced my liking for Bush. My reasoning went as follows: "if that's all these idiots have found, then Bush must be pretty clean."

[Tallguy]

The LA Times probably won't release any negative information gleened from their investigation -- unless McClintock drops out & the Republican vote is unified. Only then will it become necessary to smear Arnold. As things are their guy, Bustamante, is sitting pretty.

[dead]

Unless they find a dead girl or a live boy in his past, the voters are not going to even give a crap.

Actually, I don't even think a live boy will hurt him any.

[Republic Rocker]

The LA SLIMES is a propaganda machine lying in waiting...well actually not. They have ben showing there colors for years now.

So many people now laugh at the thought of anything they endorse that it almost has a reverse action on those with at least half a mind.....

I cant believe the mother company in Chicago has any dignity left in allowing this pandering press to continue down this path.

We need another paper in LA! And when we do HASTA LA VISTA SLIMES

[skeeter]

As things are their guy, Bustamante, is sitting pretty.

Busto isn't as formitable as you think. He's too stinky even for a friendly CA media, who hasn't bothered promoting him.

He's got unions & the latino vote sewed up, but that's about it.

[gaspar]

It is interesting to note Bustamante's entourage. Conspicuously absent are Blacks, and it is quite likely that they hold the key to this election. I cannot imagine that as a group they would vote for Busta..., the competition has been just too intense within the Democrat Party, and they are losing out. Prediction: Black voting will be much much less than it has been in the past, and Arnold wins a close match.

[skeeter]

If some of the more detailed polling I've seen is correct you are right. Blacks are enamored neither with Davis nor Busto.

[DoctorZIn]

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[WilliamofCarmichael]

LA Times poised to strike?

A recognized recall expert, Sacramento Bee Columnist and political expert Daniel Weintraub's latest blog ends with an appeal to contact him immediately if you "have hard data or intelligence to support the ethnic-based theory."

What ethnic-based theory? The theory that Wilson/Schwarzenegger team's criticism of Native American donations is race-based.

You see, the Wilson/Schwarzenegger team need them "angry white guys."

This after Mr. Weintraub printed the tired liberal charges suggesting that former governor Wilson was racist for supporting Prop 187 and racist for opposing affirmative action. Mr. Weintraub added his own incredible suggestion: that Wilson was racist for supporting term limits! It seems that one of the affected would be the state's most powerful legislator, a black man.

Yes, election day is near. Time for the state's Democrat "news"papers and the Democrat party hacks working for them as "journalists" to get busy.

Now if the Wilson/Schwarzenegger defends against these stupid liberal tricks Mr. Weintraub can accuse them of bring race into the campaign. Neat how it works, huh?

[Weimdog]

I heard this morning that blacks are overwhelmingly opposed to the recall, while latinos and asians are split. Whites favor the recall in all polls.

[gaspar]

Koreans = Republicans; Japanese = Democrats; Chinese = split.