Californians have just elected into the Governorship a movie actor who has portrayed characters in mostly violent films and who has been quoted as saying that he admires some of the persona and speaking accomplishments of Adolph Hitler. If this isn’t bad enough, Arnold Schwarzenegger has been accused of sexual abuse against women, some of which took place only three years ago and many of the accusations were said to have happened while he was married. Mr. Schwarzenegger has admitted to some of the accusations being true and in his own words says, “Where there’s smoke there’s fire.”
As a native Californian and as a woman, I am angered at the Republican Party and Californians who voted for this man. Both have stepped on the dignity of the women he groped (according to reports, this word is an understatement) and on the honor of the entire nation. The Republican Party went beyond moral boundaries when they admitted a woman abuser to represent them. The Republican Party is also hypocritical. Not only does Arnold Schwarzenegger admit to his past humiliation of women, but he is pro-choice. Republican support of this man is a direct contradiction to their constant proclamations of supporting family values.
I feel that all women ought to demand that the Republican Party remove him immediately. I openly thank the Los Angeles Times for bringing us true journalism, something that is fading fast with the popularity of the ranting, blathering, and unintelligence of the Bill O’Reilly’s and Sean Hannity’s of the mainstream television ‘news’ and AM radio talk shows. The L.A. Times gave voters the information we needed to know about Mr. Schwarzenegger’s offensiveness towards women. I am only sorry that so many people did not use the information intelligently by refusing to vote for this man.
In order to save his campaign, Arnold Schwarzenegger gave a generic apology for the things he has done to women. He says he thought he was just being “playful” and only now realizes that what he did was offensive. If Mr. Schwarzenegger does not have the two degrees of intelligence it takes to know that what he did to women without their consent was offensive, then how in the world will he ever figure out how to run the state of California?
Alethea Guthrie
Malibu