New Schwarzenegger allegation (filmaker decides Arnold didn't quite say what is being reported)

MSNBC ^ | Ocotober 3, 2003

[hotpotato]

Four days before California’s recall election and just hours after saying he had “behaved badly” towards some women in the past, California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger faced a new allegation: that he once said he admired Adolf Hitler “for what he did.” The actor said he did not recall ever praising the Nazi dictator, and the man making the allegations did later raise the possibility that Schwarzenegger was misquoted.

GEORGE BUTLER, a film producer who documented Schwarzenegger’s body building career in the 1975 movie “Pumping Iron,” shopped a book proposal on the Republican’s life six years ago, parts of which were reported in the media overnight.

In the proposal, Butler said that in conversations left out of the movie, Schwarzenegger named Hitler as one of his heroes.

“It depends for what,” Mr. Schwarzenegger said when asked who he admired, according to the proposal. “I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education up to power. And I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it.”

But early Friday, Butler had contacted The New York Times, which ran a story about the book proposal, saying he had found another transcript of the interview, with different wording.

That one has Schwarzenegger saying: “I admire him (Hitler) for being such a good public speaker and for his way of getting to the people and so on. But I didn’t admire him for what he did with it. It’s very hard to say who I admire, who are my heroes.”

Butler said his transcribers had had difficulty rendering Schwarzenegger’s remarks because of his accent and said the only way to resolve the discrepancy was to listen to the tapes, which are in Schwarzenegger’s possession.

[Bonaparte]

Here's the liberals' problem in a nutshell: For 8 long years, they made excuses for a thoroughly degenerate President, actively helping him to coarsen and degrade our culture and corrupt our youth by his example. Over and over, they did this. They minimized and brushed aside the credible rape accusations of Juanita Broaddrick, one of them (Bill Press, whose commentary appears in the (ta-daa!) LAT) even saying, "she probably enjoyed it [being raped and mawled by Bill Clinton]." Because of the democrats and the Clintons every child in America knows exactly what the word bl*wj*b means. And now they want to give the public Sunday school lessons? Sorry, too late. They have no credibility, especially on the subject of morality.

[isthisnickcool]

This is directly from Simon Wiesenthal Center.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the Museum of Tolerance with longtime supporters of the Center, Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, actor and human rights activist Jon Voight, and Center trustees.

Lantos is no Simon Wiesenthal......

[hotpotato]

Tom Lantos is a Democrat.

You're correct. The article I got his name from described him as a republican. Maybe it's because the democrats don't even want to claim him :-). Check out this article about the congressmanThe Lies of Tom Lantos, The Bela Lugosi of the House

[rocklobster11]

Seems that drudge is a little slow to put up the siren on this one. Perhaps it'll get a small mention on page 19.

[PJ-Comix]

We do business in Austria and Germany and you are dead on correct. It is a verboten subject - nobody talks about unless they know you really well - it is not casual conversation by any stretch.

Correct. Every society has its taboo subjects. As mentioned before, you will never hear an older white Southerner wax nostalgic about the segregation era. Once, when the Soviets were still in power, I met a Soviet official in DC and he froze when I brought up either the name of Trotsky or Stalin.

[DoughtyOne]

Hello, I'm sorry but Matt is elbow deep in 1970s dirt right now. He'll be happy to give you a call back on the 8th. Please leave a message at the sound of the EeeAwww.

[PJ-Comix]

Did you ever see the movie Das Boot? I thought it interesting because it was a German made movie about WWII which is still a taboo subject over there. They concentrated on the U-Boat crew but if you notice the scene of the U-Boat leaving port, the taboo was still strong enough for the film makers to show the German Nazi flag hanging limp on the ship's flagstaff so the swastika couldn't be shown.

[PJ-Comix]

For a long time the subject of Evita and Juan Peron were taboo in Argentina. When the play Evita opened here, many Argentines visted the states just to see the play because it was taboo in Argentina. And Colombians in the USA consider any talk (jokes) about drug trafficking to be taboo. Once I joked to a Columbian couple that the name of the president of Columbia was Marco Traficante. They were NOT amused and neither was any other Columbian that I told that joke to. Try talking about the drug trafficking problems in Columbia to any Columbian and they will try to change the subject.

[Rabid Dog]

I don't recall that movie specifically but I grew up in the house of a WWII nut. Actually, I'm kind of a WWII nut myself. I can't tell you how much footage I have seen of Hitler shouting/speaking at his people, allied planes dropping bombs on Germany, etc. My dad is a military/aviation historian so I guess it is in my blood to have a special interest in Hitler. Did you ever read Hitler's Willing Executioners? Very thought-provoking.

[Rabid Dog]

I'll be really surpised if the allegations regarding Arnold's comments on Hitler are true. And, if they are - that is very significant unto itself because it really is a taboo subject for Germans and Austrians. It wouldn't be like some American kid spouting off.

[PJ-Comix]

I got sort of an overdose of WWII from watching the History Channel. They have done so much programming about the subject of WWII that I am actually tired of seeing or reading about it. More interesting to me is the History Channel programming about Americana. They recently showed a fascinating movie clip from 1898 that had some famous western lawmen in it.

[PJ-Comix]

On the subject of taboo subjects, try talking to a Mormon about polygamy. They won't talk about that (unless they are in a breakaway group) topic. Nigerians won't talk about the Biafra war. Turks won't talk about Armenians. There are a lot of groups out there that have taboo subjects.

[jmc813]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured the Museum of Tolerance

Anyone ever see the South Park episode where they visit the Museum of Tolerance? Classic.

[Skip Ripley]

Try and get a democrat to talk about cutting taxes. THAT'S a taboo subject!

[Colofornian]

Seems that drudge is a little slow to put up the siren on this one

"I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it.”

Oh sure, anybody other than Auhnold could get up there & say they admire what Hitler did with his public speaking skills (pretty open-ended, eh), and that would be Drudge-breaking scandalous news, but because that is "less offensive" than the previously released "transcript" of the interview, that comes across pretty nicely to Void ArnieNoids.

[OESY]

Butler had contacted The New York Times, which ran a story about the book proposal, saying he had found another transcript of the interview, with different wording. That one has Schwarzenegger saying: “I admire him (Hitler) for being such a good public speaker and for his way of getting to the people and so on. But I didn’t admire him for what he did with it.

Note: The underscored words were removed in the first report to hit the news wires.

This looks like an example of Maureen Dowd's ellipses (a.k.a. Dowdification on Opinionjournal.com) where key words are omitted to change the meaning of the original quotation, even if this time the New York Times may be performing the laudable task of setting the record straight.

Nevertheless, Adolph Hitler is the most unforgettable character of the last century, if not of all of history, judging by the number of articles, books, screenplays, movies and museum exhibits that have been inspired by him, WWII and the Holocaust.

In the play, "The Producers," Mel Brooks wrote "Springtime for Hitler" -- not Springtime for Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh and Pol Pot -- though they killed more than ten times the number that HItler did. For many years, Mein Kampf outsold the Bible.

Everyone not brain-dead has wondered how Hitler rose to power, how he exercised that power, how allies and opponents reacted, and how to avoid a repetition. Schwarzenegger's curiosity about Hitler was healthy, and the report about him protesting marching neo-nazis demonstrates why.

[RightWhale]

Maybe they talk about these topics among themselves

No, they don't. They might talk about their personal experiences during the war, but it is kind of limited to what city you were in. One thing is in wide agreement: Hitler destroyed Germany.

[Wolfstar]

However, the reason why was not given by MSNBC.

As a long-time California resident and Republican campaign volunteer, I can tell you why: Lantos is a deeply partisan Leftist Democrat.

[finnman69]

This is what Schrawzenegger has to say to Tom Santos and to whomever started the Nazi lie.


http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/graphics/arnold_shutup.jpg

[EllaMinnow]

Thanks for the grin!