AP reports, "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger 's ambitious plan to reorganize almost every aspect of state government was influenced significantly by oil and gas giant ChevronTexaco Corp., which managed to shape such key recommendations as the removal of restrictions on oil refineries. Many corporations and interest groups participated in the governor's reform plan - known as the California Performance Review - but state records and interviews with the participants show Chevron enjoyed immense success in influencing the report through its array of lobbyists, attorneys and trade organizations. And few corporations have spent so much political cash on the governor, either. Since Schwarzenegger's election last October, the San Ramon company has contributed more than $200,000 to his committees and $500,000 to the California Republican Party." Hey Arnold - make sure the supertanker named after you is bigger than Condi's!

"Democrats aren't amused by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger 's use of the mocking term 'girlie men' to describe some lawmakers, although a spokesman for the governor said no apology would be forthcoming... 'If they don't have the guts to come up here in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you, I want to represent those special interests, the unions, the trial lawyers ... if they don't have the guts, I call them girlie men,' Schwarzenegger said to the cheering crowd at a mall food court in Ontario... Dems said Schwarzenegger's remarks were insulting to women and gays and distracted from budget negotiations. Sen. Sheila Kuehl said the governor had resorted to 'blatant homophobia.' 'It uses an image that is associated with gay men in an insulting way, and it was supposed to be an insult. That's very troubling that he would use such a homophobic way of trying to put down legislative leadership,' said Kuehl, a member of the five-member Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Caucus."

The UK Independent: "After vanquishing killer cyborgs and medieval warriors on screen, California's film-star governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is set to face his own judgement day in an English court. Mr Schwarzenegger, 57, will be forced to defend allegations that he made unwelcome advances towards several women including the British television presenter Anna Richardson. She is expected to file a 100,000 Pound libel suit next week. Ms Richardson alleges that during a pre-recorded television interview with the actor he pulled her on to his knee and squeezed her nipple... As British court cases go, it could be the most high-profile yet... Other women allegedly groped by Mr Schwarzenegger are also expected to give evidence in court."

"Arnold Schwarzenegger broke state law last year when he used a loophole to loan his campaign committee $4 million, a move that prevented voters from knowing before Election Day who would end up paying the governor's campaign bills, a judge ruled late Monday. Schwarzenegger will probably face no fines as a result of the ruling, but he will be blocked from paying himself back with the more than $3.4 million he has raised since his election and will have to convert the loans into a personal contribution to his campaign... Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Loren E. McMaster said Schwarzenegger's use of a loophole to avoid a $100,000 cap that voters imposed in 2000 on candidate loans 'flies in the face of the express purpose of the law.' He said Schwarzenegger's approach would allow rich candidates to 'evade both the $100,000 loan limitation and the requirement of pre-election disclosure of contributions, while those limitations would apply to candidates of more modest means.'"

"Retreating from two central campaign promises that helped make him governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday dropped his personal 'guarantee' that cities and counties would be compensated for billions in lost car-tax revenue and reversed his pledge to safeguard spending for public schools... Before he was sworn in, Schwarzenegger offered personal guarantees that local governments would not be deprived of money from a rollback of the car-tax increase. 'They should have enough funds and I will make sure of that,' Schwarzenegger told reporters in October. He also said on the subject, 'I can guarantee you that we will not take money away from them. They need the money.'" Arnold, you're just a dirty stinking liar. Recall Arnold Now!

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is dropping a plan to hire a private investigator to examine allegations that he groped at least 16 women over the last three decades... The decision became public the same day one of the women who had accused Schwarzenegger of groping her sued him and his campaign for libel. As the suit indicates, at least some of Schwarzenegger's accusers seem unlikely to let the question of his conduct disappear from public view. The professed motive behind Schwarzenegger's announcement last month that he was negotiating with a private firm to investigate the allegations was to settle such public questions." Arnold is a liar - Recall Arnold!

"A Los Angeles woman who came forward during the California gubernatorial campaign to accuse Arnold Schwarzenegger of previous instances of sexual harassment today sued the Hollywood star, claiming that he, an aide, and his campaign smeared her as a convicted felon when she made her charges. In the below Los Angeles Superior Court complaint, former stuntwoman Rhonda Miller charges that the Schwarzenegger camp told reporters that she had an extensive rap sheet, a dirty trick meant to discount her credibility when it came to the harassment charges. Miller claims that the Schwarzenegger smear began an hour after she made her charges public, with campaign spokesman Sean Walsh sending journalists an e-mail directing them to the Superior Court's web site, where they could access Miller's lengthy criminal history. The felon in question, however, was a different Rhonda Miller."

From TheSmokingGun.com: "A Los Angeles woman who came forward during the California gubernatorial campaign to accuse Arnold Schwarzenegger of previous instances of sexual harassment today sued the Hollywood star, claiming that he, an aide, and his campaign smeared her as a convicted felon when she made her charges. In the below Los Angeles Superior Court complaint, former stuntwoman Rhonda Miller charges that the Schwarzenegger camp told reporters that she had an extensive rap sheet, a dirty trick meant to discount her credibility when it came to the harassment charges. Miller claims that the Schwarzenegger smear began an hour after she made her charges public, with campaign spokesman Sean Walsh sending journalists an e-mail directing them to the Superior Court's web site, where they could access Miller's lengthy criminal history. The felon in question, however, was a different Rhonda Miller."

"Within the first two weeks of taking office, California's recently elected replacement governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has unveiled a series of reactionary measures. In addition to laying out an initial $3.8 billion worth of cuts in social services, Schwarzenegger is calling for the implementation of a budgetary spending cap and a massive borrowing scheme that will ultimately lead to the gutting of public services of all kinds. The Republican administration is seeking to provide big business with immediate benefits, while staving off fiscal insolvency by means of a $15 billion bond measure. This massive increase in state debt will enable Schwarzenegger to put off the most brutal cuts in social programs until after the November 2004 presidential election."

"California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who boasted during his campaign that he would not be beholden to special interests, has accepted a $53,000 donation from a company operating a private prison in the state slated to be shut down. The donation last week to the Republican, who has refused contributions from the state prison guards union, came from Florida-based Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, which operates a private prison in the Central Valley scheduled to be closed at the end of the year, a company spokesman said on Wednesday. Besides the prison in McFarland housing 224 inmates, Wackenhut has three other private correctional institutions in the state." George Wackenhut is a longtime crony of Bush Sr. Wackenhut has been called a "Shadow CIA" (see John Connally's classic article "Inside the Shadow CIA" at americanpolitics.com) -- that aided in Bush Sr.'s arming of Saddam Hussein's military. Wackenhut profits from cheap prison labor in the War on Drugs scam.

Brian Balta writes: "What did I say Arnold would have to do? I said he'd have to do exactly what George W. Bush is doing with the nation; slap everything onto a credit card by selling off bonds. Creating more debt. And you know what? I was DEAD ON RIGHT. According to the LA Times today, the new administration is floating an idea whereby the entire state's budget could be balanced out not by increasing taxes, not by cutting spending, but of course, by selling off bonds to pay for every single cent. $20 billion in bonds. In other words, we're dealing with today's problems, again, by mortgaging the future of the state. Just like Bush is doing with the country."

"What's that, you say? A fund-raiser for the guy who promised the end of pay-to-play politics? Yes, indeed, and just two weeks after Big Boy takes office. For $21,200, the maximum allowable donation, you don't get just a reception, and you don't get just dinner for two. Send that check today, and you'll get all of that and more - namely, a photo opportunity with the celebrity governor... 'What's different is that our fund-raising policy is different than other elected [officials] in Sacramento,' Schwarzenegger flack Rob Stutzman [said]. 'What's different is that this governor will not play the special interest game... Voters ... have sent a man to Sacramento who cannot be bought.' Then why does it cost $21,200 for two plates of rubber chicken? 'This is right out of Gray Davis' playbook,' said Jim Knox of Common Cause. 'I could argue that it's worse, because assuming he's going to use this to pay off his [personal campaign] loans, these checks could be going directly into his pocket.'"

Steve Lopez writes, "In case you somehow missed one of the great stories in California history, Team Schwarzenegger announced Thursday that our brand new governor-to-be, God bless him, is going to have himself investigated. Even if you're not a columnist, you have to love this. He hasn't yet taken office, and he's already under investigation - at his own initiation. Schwarzenegger is hiring an as-yet unnamed P.I. to investigate allegations that he groped more than a dozen women. If Arnold finds out that he's innocent, you know what that means, don't you? That's right. The real groper is still out there... I could spin an even darker conspiracy here. Maybe Team Schwarzenegger is trying to put the fear of God into his alleged victims by going public with the news that a gumshoe is on the case. If you were one of the victims, would you tell your story to some stooge who's getting paid by the guy who pawed you?"

Brian Balta writes in his new weblog: "After the LA Times put out a report that Arnold had sexually harassed maybe dozens of women over 20 years, over 1000 people canceled subscriptions to the LA Times. Now, it's come out that the day after some allegations surfaced, the Arnold campaign tried to smear one of the accusers by pointing out that a woman with the same name had an extensive criminal background, a 'Fact' that was reported by many major news organizations, including Scarborough Country and others. My question is, how many of those same people will boycott the shows that put this falsehood out there?"

Nikki Finke writes, "Spurred by a provocative e-mail sent by Schwarzenegger campaign spokesman Sean Walsh, some local and national television and radio personalities broadcast false information that the woman, Rhonda Miller, had a six-page rap sheet of felony arrests and convictions when the truth was she has never been in trouble with the law.... Miller tells L.A. Weekly she is uncertain what legal action, if any, she plans to pursue because she is still 'too upset and shell-shocked. Because I don't know how to unfix this. It's just the most horrifying thing to hear that you're a prostitute and a felon and have all these grand larcenies. I didn't even know what grand larceny was before this. Then suddenly, it's everywhere.' She recalls feeling horrified: 'Oh, my God, what are my family and my friends going to think? Am I going to work again in Hollywood?' ... It was like somebody had cracked a bottle on my head.'" Sue Arnold... Scarborough... Clearchannel... sue them all!

Body and Soul blogs, "Shortly after the California recall election, a story broke that someone in Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign had attempted to smear Rhonda Miller, one of the women who accused him of sexual assault. Someone working for Schwarzenegger told the the press - falsely - that she had a long history of arrests for crimes including prostitution and grand larceny. MSNBC's Scarborough Country and a Clear Channel-owned radio station used the Schwarzenegger campaign's charges to attack Miller... LA Weekly now has a lot more on the story. The lies about Rhonda Miller came from an e-mail from Sean Walsh, Schwarzenegger's spokesman during the campaign... There's been no apology, of course, no disciplinary action, and virtually no publicity. Rhonda Miller has been out of work since Sean Walsh flung his excremental e-mail. The statute of limitations has expired for legal action against Schwarzenegger. Walsh is another story."

"California AG Bill Lockyer said Thursday that he advised Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger that allegations the incoming governor had groped women 'are not going to go away' and he should cooperate with an independent investigation. Lockyer said he spoke with Schwarzenegger as recently as Wednesday about the charges that surfaced during his gubernatorial campaign that the former actor had behaved boorishly toward women in the past. The allegations won't go away 'until he is willing to have some form of independent, third-party review of those complaints to see if there's any criminal liability or not,' Lockyer said... Schwarzenegger 'obviously thinks there's not a legitimate basis for a complaint' and that any review would clear him, Lockyer said. But, until the allegations are resolved, they are a 'stain' on the incoming governor's reputation ... The AG said he had no plans to open an investigation because that's generally the jurisdiction of local district attorneys."

J. Douglas Allen-Taylor writes, "I deliberately use the term 'physically assaulted' rather than 'groped' for a reason. 'Groped' has a sort of teenage-boy-snicker sound to it, a sort of 'yeah, she squealed but she really liked it' feel. 'Assault,' on the other hand, is the legal term used when someone puts their hands on you without permission (its close cousin, 'battery,' is used when that assault leads to physical harm). And that's what the 15 women accused Schwarzenegger of doing: Not of being boorish, of breaking the law... For Californians of all political persuasions, the questions now hang: Did our governor-elect assault 15 women and, if he did, do we think that's okay? As the father of four daughters, I'm especially interested in the answer."

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a close friend of the Bush family for years. From page 387 of "A Memoir by Barbara Bush: "all during this time, we invited DEAR FRIENDS up to Camp David....Betsy and Spike Heminway came one weekend, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Maria Shriver....." Page 417: (referring to White House dinner guest list): "Arnold Schwarzenegger, another great friend of ours, and his wife Maria Shriver." In photo section between pages 308-309 you will find a shot of Arnie sledding with the family. Then, this week, G. W. introduced Arnie as "my very dear friend." Yet White House aides claim Dubya and Arnie don't know each other well? My, doesn't lying come easier and easier to the Bush machine!

Arnold's Lie #1 was about the groping charges: "As soon as the campaign is over I will - I can get into all the specifics." It's been 10 days, and we're still waiting. Here is Lie#2: Last week, at a news conference following his election victory, Schwarzenegger said he wanted to meet with Bush "as quickly as possible because I have a whole bunch of business, California business, to talk to him about and to take care of. We have been paying - for each dollar that we have been paying on federal taxes, we only have been getting back 77 cents. So I want to collect, you know, some of that money." As the LA Times reports, "The meeting came soon enough: a half-hour private conversation at the Mission Inn in Riverside, nine days after the recall election. But Schwarzenegger steered away from detailed requests for federal help, saying afterward that doing so now might have spoiled a chance to cultivate a crucial political friendship." Recall Arnold!

SF Chronicle: "To hear Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger, the much-awaited 'audit' he proposed on the campaign trail will point the way to fiscal nirvana in California... To carry out this fiscal inquisition, Schwarzenegger has imported 40- year-old Donna Arduin, who has a bachelor's degree in economics. She's on loan from Florida Gov. Jeb Bush for the two months or less her new boss says the audit will take... So what will Arduin come up with? 'Those who know Arduin predict California will soon be handed a conservative diet of program cuts, the use of one-time tax dollars to pay for recurring state services, the privatizing of state work, and tax cuts to stimulate the economy,'' the Orlando Sentinel wrote last week. The Tallahassee Democrat said she 'has a reputation for never having met a tax she didn't want to take a whack at.'"

AP: "California governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger must explain the substance of his private May 2001 meeting with Enron chief Ken Lay, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights wrote in a letter to Schwarzenegger Tuesday. FTCR, which was the state's most vocal critic of Governor Gray Davis' handling of the energy crisis, said that if the governor-elect did not recount the meeting by the time of his inauguration, the group would ask state lawmakers to open an investigation to uncover the substance of the meeting, including any information that might further the state's efforts to return billions of dollars that taxpayers and consumers overpaid for electricity during the energy crisis."

Mike Davis writes, "What explains this astonishing mobilization of voter emotion, particularly in affluent white suburbs? In my microcosm, San Diego, part of the answer could be found at the lower end of the AM dial. At KOGO 600, 'San Diego's Radio Mayor,' Roger Hedgecock, presides over what, even before the official campaign began), was boastfully labeling itself 'Recall Radio.' A defrocked former mayor accused of conspiracy and perjury in the 1970s, Hedgecock, who occasionally fills in for Rush Limbaugh on national hate radio, takes credit for the 'heavy lifting' that put Arnold Schwarzenegger in the governor's mansion... From 3 to 6 PM, 'Roger,' as he is universally called by his more than 300,000 regular listeners, rules over afternoon freeway gridlock... The mainstream media has done a poor job of documenting the organization of the recall at the grassroots level where AM voices like Roger's, or his counterpart Eric Hogue's in Sacramento, rouse thousands of mini-Terminators."

"One of Schwarzenegger's first political moves as the state's chief executive will be an effort to push the state's electricity market closer toward deregulation, a move halted by Gov. Gray Davis two years ago in the wake of California's energy crisis. Schwarzenegger, while on the campaign trail, blamed Davis for his handling of the energy crisis. Schwarzennegger drafted a comprehensive energy policy, which can be found at (http://www.joinarnold.com/en/agenda/#C1) that went unnoticed for much of his campaign during the recall election. He said he wants to eliminate public oversight on future power supply contracts the state signs with energy companies and adopt a design plan for deregulating California' electricity market from other states that restructured its electricity markets, such as Texas, New Jersey and Maryland."

"Attorney Gloria Allred held a news conference Monday with a woman who leveled new charges of sexual harassment against Arnold Schwarzenegger - which his campaign immediately disputed. Rhonda Miller, who was a stand-in and stunt double for then-13-year-old actor Edward Furlong during filming of the movie 'Terminator 2,' read a statement alleging that in January 1991 Schwarzenegger pulled up her shirt, photographed her breasts and touched them as she yelled at him to stop and fought him off. She also said he touched her breasts again when she worked in 1994 on the movie 'True Lies.' Schwarzenegger's campaign issued a rebuttal to the charges and included a statement from the candidate saying that although he made numerous 'crude comments' during that time, he never took the photograph and the events she alleged took place 'did not occur.'" Arnold promised detailed responses to the many complaints after Election Day. Will this be the very first campaign promise you break, Arnold?

"Schwarzenegger won because he offered a simple, catchy promise to fix California's economy, which 83% of the voters said was broken. He persuaded them that he could deliver on his promise to erase the state's deficit - estimated to hit $8 billion next year - without raising taxes. That's why, even though 69% of voters described themselves as moderate or liberal, the voters of California told two quintessential moderate-liberal Democrats - Davis and Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante - to take a hike. Both men registered high disapproval ratings - 72% for Davis, 57% for Bustamante. The data suggested that Schwarzenegger's victory was set in stone some time ago, and nothing short of a complete meltdown by the candidate could have stopped it... [Charges of groping and Hitler-admiring] didn't matter. An astonishing 83% of California's voters said they had already made up their minds before those two bombshells were dropped. Only 5% said they waited until this week to decide, and they split 50-50."

Mark Z. Barabak writes, "Schwarzenegger promised both in his blue-sky campaign, vowing to improve public education while cutting taxes, starting with the hugely unpopular vehicle license fee. Rolling back the recent boost in the 'car tax,' which he promised his first day in office, would add $4 billion to an existing $8-billion shortfall. Schwarzenegger never said during the campaign how he planned to fill that gap, suggesting he could solve the state's problems through sheer force of personality. Strategists in both parties believe he will ultimately have to raise taxes... That could tear a big hole in Schwarzenegger's Republican Party base, the way serious spending cuts will likely engender outrage among the Democrats, who still control both houses of the Legislature. After such a bitter, polarizing contest, the Schwarzenegger honeymoon is likely to be brief -- assuming it even comes to pass."

"Gubernatorial candidate Georgy Russell was pushed, shoved, hit and kicked yesterday by supporters of Arnold Schwarzenegger at a rally in Pleasanton CA. She was repeatedly called a 'bitch' and one of the Arnold Supporters wrote on her clothing with a permanent marking pen. The felonious abusers, who claimed to be provoked by remarks from Russell, were near equal numbers of men and women and no one during the incident came to Russell's aid. Schwarzeneggar and his wife Maria Shriver witnessed the attack and neither said or did anything to stop the abuse." Why was Russell assaulted? Because she dared to call Arnold a "groper". Schwarze-Nazi's brownshirts are marching...

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT)"called Schwarzenegger a 'tough guy' who has guts to take on Gov. Gray Davis and predicted the star of such films as 'Terminator' will herald a new political leadership style. [In the 1930's, that same "new" style was called FASCISM.] 'If he gets the chance, he's not going to be a namby-pamby out there,' said Hatch. 'I think you're going to find there's going to be some new leadership that a lot of other people might emulate in this society.' Hatch has introduced a resolution to amend the Constitution's ban on non-American-born presidents by allowing people who have been U.S. citizens for at least 20 years to be elected to the White House... 'If Arnold Schwarzenegger turns out to be the greatest governor of California, which I hope he will, if he turns out to be a tremendous leader and he proves to everybody in this country that he's totally dedicated to this country as an American ... we would be wrong not to give him that opportunity.'" Are you scared YET?

"1975: Arnold stars in 'Pumping Iron'... In outtakes later purchased by Arnold for $1 million to cover his toochus, he explains the fascist aesthetic that would later become so appealing to California voters, professing admiration for Hitler and offering his critique on America: 'I think we can't live without authority,' he remarked. 'There's a certain amount of people meant to be leaders, and to control, and another large amount, 95%, are followers. We have to tell (them) what to do and how to keep in order, you know?' 1975-2001: The Fascist aesthetic is refined as Arnold pioneers a genre of bloody action movies in which the token black character almost invariably dies first and female characters invariably embody either damsel in distress or vixen archetypes. Arnold also manages to find time outside his busy groping schedule to deliver a drunken toast to former SS Nazi war criminal Kurt Waldheim and meet with Austrian neo-fascist leader Jorg Haider."

Bob Herbert writes, "If you asked Arnold Schwarzenegger whom he admires most, the honest answer would be, 'Ah-nold!' Welcome to the world of undiluted narcissism. The man who is now the betting favorite to become the next governor of the crazy state of California has spent a lifetime pirouetting in front of cameras and mirrors, contemplating his navel and every other part of his once-buff bod. If there's a voter anywhere in the state who thinks this character will spend even a hot minute wrestling with the realities of budgets and such, that person should seek immediate counseling... He doesn't want to govern. He just wants to be adored. An article in The Times quoted the following telling passage attributed to Mr. Schwarzenegger: 'The feeling like Kennedy had, you know, to speak to maybe 50,000 people at one time and having them cheer, or like Hitler in the Nuremberg stadium. And have all those people scream at you and just being in total agreement with whatever you say.'"

National Enquirer reports, "Arnold Schwarzenegger is embroiled in a love child scandal! According to an article in the London paper, The Daily Mail, a Californian woman, Tammy Baker-Tousignant, has told pals that Arnold secretly fathered her son while he was already married to Maria Shriver... Confronted by The ENQUIRER in front of her suburban home... Tammy would only say: 'I don't want to talk about this.' Tammy previously denied the claim to the British press, and Arnold insists The Daily Mail story is not true. But an inside source told The ENQUIRER that Tammy and Arnold were very close a decade ago... 'When I contacted Tammy to ask about her pal's allegation, she denied that her son is Arnold's child. But when I pulled her son's birth certificate, I found that the father's name was blank! And even the woman herself admits that over the years many people have commented to her on how much her son bears a physical resemblance to Arnold.'" LoL! Does he have an Austrian accent too?

"Gov. Gray Davis, spending the final days of the recall campaign surrounded by women and prominent Democrats, suggested Saturday that actor Arnold Schwarzenegger committed a crime of sexual battery and should be investigated by law enforcement... 'Some of those events are clearly a crime,' Davis told an audience of mostly women. 'Electing a governor who might have committed a crime is obviously going to distract the state from the work it has to do.' Later, when asked what crimes Schwarzenegger may have committed, the governor suggested 'sexual battery' and implied that police, Attorney General Bill Lockyer or local prosecutors should investigate the actor... 'Authorities have all the authority they need to review any matter that they might deem to constitute a crime,' Davis said. 'I believe authorities should do their jobs.'"

Greg Palast reports, "Thirty-four pages of internal Enron memoranda have just come through this reporter's fax machine tell all about the tryst between Maria's husband and the corporate con men. It turns out that Schwarzenegger knowingly joined the hush-hush encounter as part of a campaign to sabotage a Davis-Bustamante plan to make Enron and other power pirates then ravaging California pay back the $9 billion in illicit profits they carried off. Here's the story Arnold doesn't want you to hear. The biggest single threat to Ken Lay and the electricity lords is a private lawsuit filed last year under California's unique Civil Code provision 17200, the 'Unfair Business Practices Act.' This litigation, heading to trial now in Los Angeles, would make the power companies return the $9 billion they filched from California electricity and gas customers." But if Arnold becomes governor, he will sabotage the case and screw the taxpayers. Defeat ALL Republicans!

LA Times reports, "Four more women have come forward to say that Arnold Schwarzenegger fondled, spanked or touched them in incidents they said took place as recently as 2000 and as long ago as 1979. In all, 15 women have now accused [him] of grabbing or groping them. On the campaign trail Saturday, Schwarzenegger denounced as a 'puke campaign' news reports that he has behaved abusively toward women... A 51-year-old woman said Schwarzenegger pinned her to his chest and spanked her shortly after she met him at a West Los Angeles post-production studio in 2000. Tamee Smith, 46, said Schwarzenegger followed her into a bathroom on a studio lot and grabbed her breast during work on the movie 'Predator' in 1986. Jan Prinzmetal, 50, said Schwarzenegger reached under her skirt and grabbed her bare buttocks outside a Venice gym in the mid-1980s. Elizabeth Rothner, 45, said Schwarzenegger lifted her sweatshirt at a popular Santa Monica bar in 1979, exposing her bare breasts before a crowd."

"Internal Enron e-mails confirm that Arnold Schwarzenegger was among a small group of executives who met with Lay at the posh Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel in May of 2001, in the midst of California's energy crisis. The meeting with Enron occurred ten days after rolling blackouts darkened California for two consecutive days; Schwarzenegger has previously said that he does not remember such a meeting. 'You don't meet with America's most well-known corporate crook in the middle of California's biggest financial disaster and not remember,' said FTCR's senior consumer advocate Douglas Heller. 'Mr. Schwarzenegger should come clean about what happened at that meeting and if he shares Ken Lay's views on energy regulation.'"

Katha Pollitt writes, "If Arnold Schwarzenegger were a Democrat, the right-wing news media - the tabloids, the shock jocks, the Bill O'Reillys and the Rush Limbaughs - would have sent him back to Austria long ago. But the so-called liberal (actually centrist) news media is either too squeamish to paint Mr. Schwarzenegger's behavior in all its glory or too blase and faux hip to care. Why is it so hard for commentators to come right out and say: here is a man who seems to have a long history of contempt for women, who uses his celebrity to get away with sexual humiliation - why does he belong in public life? Would that sound too square, too P.C., too, um, feminist? From the newsstand crammed with leering lad magazines like Maxim to all-male, all-the-time talk radio to the self-congratulatory misogyny of 'The Man Show,' aggressive male chauvinism is back in style, and Mr. Schwarzenegger is its standard-bearer. What's next, Howard Stern for mayor of Los Angeles?"

GOP strategist K.B. Forbes writes, "Schwarzenegger has become the poster child for the newest form of trash politics: a political system so corrupt and undemocratic that a compulsive sexual deviant was anointed the de facto nominee by California GOP bosses in a smoke-free backroom. How much did Schwarzenegger's campaign team know about his egregious sexual behavior? Did they intentionally attempt to conceal this pattern of sexual harassment from voters? Did leaders of the California Republican Party look the other way in their desperation to win back the governorship?... What Schwarzenegger's boosters in the GOP establishment fail to understand is that this is not about an old extramarital affair or someone's sex life from years past. This is worse. This is the story of a guy who rode the elevator, groping a woman on the way up, and who is now about to get off on the top floor: the governor's office. Simply put, Schwarzenegger is unfit to be governor." A Republican with principles!

Timothy Noah writes, "Here's a question Jay Leno forgot to ask Arnold Schwarzenegger when he announced his candidacy for governor of California on last night's 'Tonight Show': 'Will you renounce your support for Kurt Waldheim?'... Waldheim had been an intelligence officer in Germany's Army Group E when it committed mass murder in the Kozara region of western Bosnia. (Waldheim's name appears on the Wehrmacht's 'honor list' of those responsible for the atrocity.)... [After these revelations became public in 1986,] Schwarzenegger's name remained on Waldheim's campaign posters. After Waldheim was elected, Schwarzenegger paid him a visit and was photographed with him. According to the New York Post's 'Page Six' gossip column, Schwarzenegger was seen sitting beside Waldheim as recently as 1998, when the two attended the second inauguration of Waldheim's successor as president, Thomas Klestil."

NY Times reports that George Butler, "a film producer who chronicled Arnold Schwarzenegger's rise to fame as a champion bodybuilder in the 1970's circulated a book proposal six years ago that quoted the young Mr. Schwarzenegger expressing admiration for Adolf Hitler... '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.' In addition to the transcript, Mr. Butler wrote in his book proposal that in the 1970's, he considered Mr. Schwarzenegger a 'flagrant, outspoken admirer of Hitler.' In the proposal, Mr. Butler also said he had seen Mr. Schwarzenegger playing 'Nazi marching songs from long-playing records in his collection at home' and said that the actor 'frequently clicked his heels and pretended to be an S.S. officer.'" Arnold is a serial groper... a gangbanger and perhaps a rapist... a Hitler fan... in other words, he's a PERFECT REPUBLICAN!

LA Times reports, "Six women who came into contact with Arnold Schwarzenegger on movie sets, in studio offices and in other settings over the last three decades say he touched them in a sexual manner without their consent. In interviews with The Times, three of the women described their surprise and discomfort when Schwarzenegger grabbed their breasts. A fourth said he reached under her skirt and gripped her buttocks. A fifth woman said Schwarzenegger groped her and tried to remove her bathing suit in a hotel elevator. A sixth said Schwarzenegger pulled her onto his lap and asked whether a certain sexual act had ever been performed on her... 'Did he rape me? No,' said one woman, who described a 1980 encounter in which she said Schwarzenegger touched her breast. 'Did he humiliate me? You bet he did.'" Stop Schwarzenegger!

The religious right has swallowed all of Arnold's scandals, including bragging about gangbanging. But will they swallow photos by the "devil's" photographer himself? "Arnold Schwarzenegger is facing potential embarrassment over 'erotic' nude photographs of him taken by a gay photographer. As the movie star campaigns to become governor of California, his aides are trying to ensure the pictures by the late Robert Mapplethorpe are not made public. 'They're worried sick that Arnie's past is going to come back and haunt him,' said a source close to the 56-year-old Republican candidate. The pictures, taken when Schwarzenegger was a struggling actor, have been kept at Mapplethorpe's estate in New York since his death from Aids in 1989. Mapplethorpe was famous for his photographs on homosexual themes. A friend of Schwarzenegger said: 'Arnie thought that posing for artistic pictures by a respected photographer would help boost his career. Now they might destroy his political ambitions.'"

"Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger was dogged by persistent protesters and hecklers Sunday, as he tried to seize the environmental mantle, proposing a $60 million 'hydrogen highway' he said would provide a statewide chain of hydrogen fueling stations to help clean the air. 'As governor, I will create a network of . . . clean hydrogen fueling stations every 20 miles,' said Schwarzenegger, who provided few specifics on paying for such a plan... Bob Grady, a managing director of the Carlyle Group, said that as an environmental adviser to Schwarzenegger he is convinced of the actor's credentials. 'I want a governor, someone who will fight oil drilling and ocean pollution... Green Republicans have a new champion, and that man is Arnold Schwarzenegger.'" Give 'us a break -- the Carlyle Group is the huge investment firm with BushDaddy and James Baker among it's elite team. The 11th largest defense contractor in the World, it specializes in schemes to rape, pillage and plunder the Earth.

"'The idea was to say things that were so over the top' to promote his early movies and body building in general, Schwarzenegger said of remarks he made in the 1970s. 'I don't remember the Oui magazine interview or any of the others,' he said. 'But did you remember the parties, Arnold?' Winfrey asked. 'I really don't,' he replied. 'These were the times when I was saying things like 'a pump is better than coming,' he said, prompting his wife, dressed in a long black dress with a silver cross around her neck, to put her hand across his face."

"Arnold Schwarzenegger, in an appeal to Latino workers, says in a radio advertisement released on Friday that he moved to America to start as a bricklayer.... 'Arnold Schwarzenegger. Like so many of us, he came to this country with a dream in his eye,' the announcer says in Spanish. 'He started as a bricklayer, and through sheer determination and hard work, he achieved the goals he set for himself, first in bodybuilding, then in the movie business.'... Democrats immediately attacked the advertisement. 'That's a complete fraud. He came here on a steroid visa,' Democratic spokesman Bob Mulholland said. 'It had nothing to do with being a bricklayer.' Schwarzenegger appears to never have actually laid bricks for his firm, European Brick Works, which he set up with fellow bodybuilder Franco Columbu.... 'Franco did the brick laying and I was the guy who went out nicely dressed, took the measurements and came up the estimates,' Schwarzenegger said in a 1987 interview."

From the SF Chronicle: "Arnold Schwarzenegger has some big ideas when it comes to running for governor -- but he was definitely thinking small when it came to shooting that bathroom dunking scene for his new action flick, 'Terminator 3.' 'I saw this toilet bowl,' Schwarzenegger told Entertainment Weekly in its July 11 edition. 'How many times do you get away with this -- to take a woman, grab her upside down, and bury her face in a toilet bowl?' But, the Mighty Terminator adds: 'I wanted to have something floating there.' Ughhh. 'The thing is, you can do it,' Arnold argued, 'because in the end, I didn't do it to a woman -- she's a machine! We could get away with it without being crucified by who-knows-what group.' Maybe -- but in the end, the 'floating' idea was itself terminated. 'They thought it was my typical Schwarzenegger overboard.'" Strange joke, or part of a pattern?

JoinArnie.com writes, "I'm running for Governor to lead a people's takeover. I represent you, the people of California. Like you, I went AWOL from my army post as a teenager to compete in a bodybuilding contest. Like you, I own millions of dollars worth of real estate and have made many movies, some of which required me to speak as many as 17 lines. We Californians know the hardship of having interviews in which we bragged about past sexual and drug-related accomplishments brought up many years later. We know what it's like to be unable to hear Matt Lauer's questions about our tax returns even though they were being piped directly into our ears. We know hardship. We know hard work. And we know that a man with absolutely no government experience can work with the California legislature to balance the budget without raising taxes. I'm just like you, except, I could own you if I wanted to." Visit the site!

Matt Drudge reports, "Another black bodybuilder has come forward claiming that California gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger has a history of making racist comments.... Robby Robinson, one of the most respected and well known of all body builders [a former Mr. America, Mr. World and Mr. Universe titleholder], backs up claims made by fellow black bodybuilder Rick Wayne. 'No disrespect to fans of Arnold but Rick's claim is in keeping with my experiences with the man,' Robinson explains in a message.... Robinson says that Schwarzenegger repeatedly directed the term 'n-gger' at him.... 'After [a show in San Jose], there was a big banquet. We were all dancing having a nice time and in walks Arnold who started shouting out, 'Down with the blacks, n-ggers this and blacks that,' for about 10 min. All during this time nobody said a word... There was a dead silence. You could've heard a pin fall. Everybody in the room was shocked except for me.'"

"Arnold Schwarzenegger, skipping the first debate of California's recall election, was egged Wednesday on a university campus but went ahead with a speech in which he said he is running for governor to give back to a state that is responsible for all his success. A thrown egg splattered on the back of his left shoulder as he waded through the crowd at California State University, Long Beach. An aide tried to wipe it off, but he simply peeled off his coat and went ahead with his speech." Click the link for a picture...

"Five of 135 candidates in the recall race will take the stage at a Bay Area playhouse this afternoon for the first debate of the harried election, but much of the focus Tuesday centered on Arnold Schwarzenegger and his decision to skip the event. Democrats condemned the movie star, saying he was being disrespectful to voters, and some Republicans chimed in as well. At least two other debates are scheduled. Schwarzenegger has agreed to participate in only one, on Sept 17 in Sacramento. In that session - unlike the others - the candidates will get the questions in advance." Bragging about his gym gang bang (rape?), Arnold said it was "just the guys who can f*** in front of other guys. Not everybody can do that. Some think that they don't have a big-enough cock, so they can't get a hard-on." So... Arnold can f*** in public, but he can't debate - is that because his cock is bigger than his brain?

"Gloria Allred, California's most high-profile defender of women's rights, is demanding that Schwarzenegger answer the 'very serious questions' raised by his lurid 1977 boasting that he participated in a gang bang at Gold's Gym in Venice. In an interview with the L.A. Weekly, the Los Angeles lawyer and feminist who is founder and president of the Women's Equal Rights Legal Defense and Education Fund added her outrage to what has yet to become a real controversy over the candidate's sexual history and attitudes. 'I am disgusted, appalled, revolted, sickened, disturbed and troubled,' Allred said of Schwarzenegger's description of one incident in particular: when, with a startling specificity of language, the Pumping Iron star told the magazine, 'Bodybuilders party a lot, and once, in Gold's - the gym in Venice, California, where all the top guys train - there was a black girl who came out naked. Everybody jumped on her and took her upstairs, where we all got together.'" Was this rape?

BuzzFlash writes, "Only if you are a Republican can you get away with being known as 'Governor Gang Bang.' After all, what if Gray Davis bragged that he had participated in a gang bang? What if full frontal nude photos of Hillary or Bill Clinton were posted on the Internet? What if accusations and rumors swirled about Cruz Bustamante being a recent groper and humiliator of women? We know the answer would be a right wing lynch mob, with unending 24/7 attacks and cries of moral unfitness for office. But we haven't heard a peep of condemnation from the Republican White House Amen-choir-media-shills about Arnold Schwarzenegger's past misdeeds (both distant AND recent), have we?"

"Arnold Schwarzenegger once told a magazine interviewer about participating in an orgy with other bodybuilders, noting that 'everybody jumped on' the woman involved and 'took her upstairs where we all got together.' ... Schwarzenegger's lewd talk appeared in the August 1977 issue of Oui, a now-defunct adult magazine published by Playboy. The five-page Schwarzenegger interview was conducted by author Peter Manso and flagged on the magazine's cover with the headline, 'Arnold Schwarzenegger on the Sex Secrets of Bodybuilders.' At the time of the Oui story, Schwarzenegger, then 29, was appearing in 'Pumping Iron,' a documentary on the bodybuilding circuit. In the Q&A with Manso, today's gubernatorial wannabe spoke about his sex life, drug usage, and belief that men 'shouldn't feel like fags just because they want to have nice-looking bodies.'" Was it an orgy - or a gang rape?

"The battle over California's recall vote turned personal on Wednesday, as a senior Democrat called Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger a 'phony' and a 'liar' over his campaign finance claims. Art Torres, chairman of the state Democratic party, said Mr Schwarzenegger had accepted about $1m in donations while claiming he did not need outside financial support. Taking the money was acceptable, he said, but 'just don't lie about it to the voters'. 'He's turning out to be as phony as his hair colour'.... The personal tone of the criticism followed the actor's description of Cruz Bustamante as distinguishable from Gray Davis only by his moustache and receding hair. Mr Schwarzenegger had repeatedly said he was committed to breaking ties to special interest groups. 'I don't need to take money from anyone - I have plenty of money myself,' he said. Mr Schwarzenegger has supported his campaign so far with $2m of his own and has received contributions from business leaders and private supporters."

"Tom Hanks and many other card-carrying Hollywood Democrats are teaming up against Arnold Schwarzenegger... 'Tom was furious when [a misleading] article in the Los Angeles Times [said] Creative Artists Agency would help Arnold in his bid for governor,' our spy said... Oft-arrested protester Martin Sheen told 'Access Hollywood' Schwarzenegger got his marching orders from the Bush administration. 'The California recall is an effort to grab the state for the Republicans,' Sheen said. 'I suspect this came out of the White House. Frankly, it makes perfect sense after Florida.' Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds have also noted that the Governator would be a 'huge' mistake, and Cybill Shepherd [said] "he has a past that is going to come out, and I'm not going to mention what it is, but it's not going to be pretty.' Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg, Warren Beatty, Susan Sarandon, Al Franken, Ed Asner, Mike Farrell and Rob Reiner are also expected to rally against the Terminator."

Jason Leopold writes: "Arnold Schwarzenegger isn't talking. The Hollywood action-film star and GOP gubernatorial candidate in the California recall election has been unusually silent about his plans for running the Golden State. He hasn't yet offered up a solution for the state's $38 billion budget deficit, an issue that largely got more than a million people to sign a petition to recall Gov. Gray Davis. More important, however, Schwarzenegger still won't respond to questions about why he was at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills two years ago where he, former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and junk-bond king Michael Milken met secretly with former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay, who was touting a plan for solving the state's energy crisis... While Schwarzenegger, Riordan, and Milken listened to Lay's pitch, Gov. Davis pleaded with Resident George Bush to enact much-needed price controls on electricity sold in the state, which skyrocketed to more than $200 per megawatt-hour."

Jackson Thoreau writes, "If Schwarzenegger was a Democrat running for office and not a Republican with the blessing of the White House, CNN and Fox and MSNBC and others would be doing 24-hour coverage on his extracurricular sexual activities... [But] the accusations against Schwarzenegger include some that are not just extramarital affairs between consenting adults. Some involve sexual harassment towards women who wanted nothing to do with Robot Man; at least one report involves him slamming the woman against a wall after she said no. That's a crime in most states, even California... I have received many emails and read many other reports from people who say they know women who were sexually harassed or had an affair with the Terminator. Someone who contacted me is trying to organize a group that will speak out publicly. If you know a woman who has been sexually harassed by Schwarzenegger and would like to join others in speaking out, contact stoparnold@aol.com."

Harvey Wasserman writes: "The California media has been whining that Pete Wilson, Arnold's chief press flak, won't let them ask Schwarzenegger any direct questions. But in the wake of the big northeast blackout, they're missing the boat---it's 'Blackout Pete' they should be grilling. If the policies he enacted as governor of California are any indicator, the Terminator will be destroying a lot more than just the Golden State grid... Deregulation is also the centerpiece of Schwarzenegger's campaign for Wilson's old job... policies that would mirror what Wilson did when he set the utilities free... Unfortunately, what Wilson did led directly to the staged rolling blackouts of 2000-1. As we now know, those blackouts were actually a form of blackmail used by Texas gas companies to rob California of more than $60 billion. Among the chief perpetrators were Kenny-Boy Lay of the now-bankrupt Enron... and James Baker... the man the GOP sent to Florida to finally fix the election of 2000."

The British media reports on Schwarzenegger's gropings and affair with a former Little House on the Prairie actress. Meanwhile, the U.S. media continues to ignore reports of the Groping Governor Wannabe's extramarital affairs and groping sessions. Jackson Thoreau asks: When will the U.S. media report this Republican sex scandal the same way it reports Democratic ones?

4/26/01: "For seven years, Arnold Schwarzenegger hid a mistress from his loving wife Maria Shriver -- and hours after learning The ENQUIRER discovered his sordid secret, 'The Terminator' terminated his [2001] run for governor of California. The brazen actor began his affair with former child actress Gigi Goyette when she was only 16 -- and even made love to her in the very same hotel where he was staying with 'Dateline' star Maria. A bombshell ENQUIRER investigation -- featured in our issue that hits the stands Friday -- has exposed the whole shocking story, including how the father of four hid the trysts from his family. Several months ago the muscleman-turned-actor emerged as a leading Republican contender for governor of California -- but earlier this week, after we called his representative for comment, the star made a surprise announcement that he won't enter politics until his youngsters, ages 3 to 11, are older."

"Arnold has developed an apparent penchant for groping nubile young women. This has even extended to fondling the breasts of his Terminator co- star Linda Hamilton - in front of Hamilton's then-boyfriend, Terminator producer James Cameron. ... The roots of Arnold's attitude to women lie far away in his homeland of Austria. When his father, Gustav, observed that the 17-year-old Arnold had never had a girlfriend and was obsessed by bodybuilding - an activity which has always had gay connotations - he became worried about his sexuality... His mentor, publisher Joe Weider, said that when a woman asked Arnold for an autograph, he would say 'Only if you let me touch your breast'. Despite the fact that Arnold's crudeness around women is an open secret in the film business, it hasn't hindered his career one iota. His ability to carry on behaving badly while escaping censure has perhaps only served to encourage him."

"Although Arnold portrays himself as a faithful husband, besotted by his beautiful princess, there is ample evidence that he has had numerous dalliances with other women," says London's Weekly Standard. Arnold has fondled the breasts of every nubile young female, apparently within groping range, including Linda Hamilton, Anna Richardson, and Denise Van Outen. Less than a month ago, TV cameras caught him fondling the bottom of costar Kristanna Loken -even though Maria was close by. Hey, Maria (and any other woman considering supporting Arnie), we can send you a list of Codependents Anonymous meetings in your area! You need help! Don't just "Stand by Your Man."

NY Times reports, "Schwarzenegger's drive to succeed was not merely an immigrant's classic up-by-the-bootstraps obsession. It was a calculated effort to turn himself into an invulnerable and powerful (physical and otherwise) figure. He was also a far cry from the skinny Austrian boy whose father, Gustav, a policeman and a one-time member of the Nazi Party, intimidated and sometimes beat him, favoring his other son, Menhard... 'What fascinated Arnold was money and power, and what money and power bestow on an individual,' said George Butler, producer and director of 'Pumping Iron'...'The past meant nothing to Arnold because it was over,' Mr. Butler said. 'He never looked over his shoulder. This is a man of bottomless ambition. It's always been there. Nothing's happened in the last few days that hasn't happened before. He sees himself as almost mystically sent to America.'" So if you mix Nietzche's "will to power" with Hitler's "Mein Kampf" you get... Schwarzenegger. Are you scared yet?

Sacramento Bee reports, "He's vowed to 'clean up Sacramento,' but Arnold Schwarzenegger has hired a handful of campaign consultants who were heavily involved in the scandal that drove disgraced state Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush from office. One Quackenbush consultant hired by Schwarzenegger's gubernatorial campaign, Jeff Randle, co-wrote a memo outlining how Quackenbush could enhance his image with money from insurance firms that mishandled Northridge earthquake claims. Another, Don Sipple, produced controversial TV ads featuring Quackenbush and paid for with insurance company money. A third consultant, Marty Wilson, used money from insurers to do political polling for Quackenbush designed to gauge his chances for higher office. A fourth, Quackenbush political consultant Joe Shumate -- who a legislative report said played a 'central role' in the plan -- is discussing a position with the Schwarzenegger campaign."

Martha Brant writes: "In so many ways, Schwarzenegger is the perfect candidate for California, where there is so little collective memory... [He] has not only played a movie character who has no memory of his past, but in real life he has tried to sandpaper his own. Smart politician that he is, Schwarzenegger has bought himself insurance against his father's Nazi Party affiliation in Austria. More than a decade ago, he went to Simon Wiesenthal's organization and asked them to investigate his father's background and then he contributed a wad of cash to the Holocaust studies center. If money can buy a recall election, why can't it buy a clean family record?" Arnold can take a lesson from the Bushes, the masters at scrubbing their record. Prescott's Nazi financing, George Sr.'s role in Iran-Contra, George W.'s desertion from the Natonal Guard --- all cast down the memory hole. And then there is the case of George and Laura's driving records that were scrubbed clean in the mid-90's.

"Rev. Louis Sheldon, head of the ultra-right Traditional Values Coalition, warned in a statement last week of a 'moral vacuum' in Sacramento... Sheldon's group has launched an anti-Arnie project called Californians for Moral Government... 'There's a gathering storm on the right,' [James] Lafferty told Salon Sunday. 'Rush Limbaugh, Michael Reagan and, we have been told, a number of other prominent conservatives are going to come out against Schwarzenegger and say he's not a real conservative.' There is plenty of evidence to support the charge. Schwarzenegger has expressed support for abortion rights, gay adoption and gun control. During Kenneth Starr's investigation of President Clinton, Schwarzenegger said he was 'embarrassed' to be a Republican. And in an interview with Salon in 2001, he said he supported George W. Bush but that 'it would have been better if he had really won, instead of through the courts.'" LoL! For the Republican Right, that's the most "sinful" statement of all!

"On June 21, 2001, AP reported that '[Enron Chair Ken] Lay met secretly with California Republicans at the Beverly Hills Hotel and pushed a plan that called for ratepayers to pay the billions in debt racked up by the state's public utilities. The plan contended that federal investigations of price gouging are hindering the situation.' According to William Bradley, the L.A. Weekly's sharp political columnist, the meeting revolved around Lay's plans to 'preserve deregulation' in California. The L.A. Times noted that Lay was seeking the support of Schwarzenegger and the other GOP luminaries for even greater deregulation. Apparently Lay wanted help in saving a lousy system, squeezing the unfortunate Californians even more, and avoiding accountability for their plight... Why did Schwarzenegger go to a secret meeting with Ken Lay in the midst of the crisis? Did Schwarzenegger ever have any dealings with Enron? Did he hold Enron equities in his portfolio -- and if so, when did he sell?"

Here's the profile of Arnold Schwarzenegger from Premiere Magazine published in 2001. Arnold's lawyer threatened to sue, but apparently they couldn't find any significant mistakes. Could this serial groper be elected Governor of the nation's largest state? According to the first poll, Arnold leads with 31%.

"Pumping Iron is the movie Arnold hopes California voters don't rent between now and Election Day. The film captures the Austrian Oak in all his vicious, megalomaniacal glory: Arnold bullying, tricking, and psyching out his dopey rival Lou Ferrigno. Arnold extolling his own ambitions: 'I was always dreaming about very powerful people, dictators, people like Jesus, being remembered for thousands of years.' (And Arnold lighting up a fat celebratory joint...)"

"The way BuzzFlash sees it is that Karl Rove was planning the recall initiative probably within days after Davis beat Simon last November... Rove used the rich Congressman (Darrell Issa) for a sap. Once the recall initiative was assured, they had Arnold announce his candidacy on the Leno show. Then they had Issa and Riordan announce that they weren't going to place their names on the recall ballot. Any other high-profile Republican who might be thinking about running on the recall ballot in California is probably currently being visited by two Rove RNC operatives equipped with shotguns to blow their knee caps off if they even think about taking the thunder away from Arnold 'I love Kurt Waldheim' S. It's the perfect Rove strategy... You don't have to spend a cent on name recognition when you have a high-profile movie star running. What's more, if Rove clears the field of prominent Republicans on the ballot, Arnie 'the groper' has a very good shot at winning"

Timothy Noah writes, "Here's a question Jay Leno forgot to ask Arnold Schwarzenegger when he announced his candidacy for governor of California on last night's 'Tonight Show': 'Will you renounce your support for Kurt Waldheim?'... Waldheim had been an intelligence officer in Germany's Army Group E when it committed mass murder in the Kozara region of western Bosnia. (Waldheim's name appears on the Wehrmacht's 'honor list' of those responsible for the atrocity.)... [After these revelations became public in 1986,] Schwarzenegger's name remained on Waldheim's campaign posters. After Waldheim was elected, Schwarzenegger paid him a visit and was photographed with him. According to the New York Post's 'Page Six' gossip column, Schwarzenegger was seen sitting beside Waldheim as recently as 1998, when the two attended the second inauguration of Waldheim's successor as president, Thomas Klestil."

Cheryl Seal writes: "The Terminator is running because the White House WANTS him to run. Why? Because Arnold, like a great big red media bull's eye, will draw the public's fire from BUSH. In short, Arnold is being used as a decoy. Instead of hammering away at Bush as a Nazi, a buffoon, and phony, the public can turn these same sentiments, interchangeably, against Arnold (whose father was a Nazi storm trooper). At least that is what the Rove brigade hopes. That Bush has been whisked off the stage for a month while Arnold is being maneuvered out toward the footlights, front and center, is undoubtedly part of the plan. That several key Republicans are, right on cue, already loudly 'complaining' about Schwartzenegger's race is also part of the script, designed to focus maximum attention on Storm Trooper Arnold rather than Fuehrer George."

"What does Schwarzenegger really know about running a state? His Planet Hollywood restaurants crashed and burned. What does he know about getting legislation passed or forging compromises with people of different views? Schwarzenegger says he has all the money he needs and won't be beholden to 'special interests,' but what about his own interests? What are his own interests? Why should we trust this millionaire for an important political position when he has no political track record? Someone with all the money he needs can be a Perot-like dictator, not a politician who has to learn the fine art of compromise. If Schwarzenegger wants to run for mayor of Brentwood, fine. But not governor of the largest state in the country, especially one that is clearly on the Democratic side. It just smells of more Republican dirty tricks. Then there are the rumors about his extramarital affairs and marital problems..." Sign the petition!

"Arnold credits his late father with instilling in him the discipline needed to succeed at any task... And Arnold's father, Gustav, knew discipline: say what you will about the Nazis, but they were a disciplined bunch... Arnold's father wasn't just a Nazi party member; he also joined both the stormtroopers and the army, reaching the rank of sergeant major in the military police... imagine the sort of discipline a Nazi MP can pass on to his son... Fortunately, a Nazi in the family is no drawback in today's Republican party. After all, when President [sic] Bush invokes the noble sacrifices of the 'Greatest Generation,' no one is rude enough to mention his grandfather Prescott. No one except James Ridgeway of the Village Voice..., who noted that during WWII: 'Under the Trading With the Enemy Act, officials seized Bush stockholdings, charging that 'huge sections of Prescott Bush's empire had been operated on behalf of Nazi Germany and had greatly assisted the German war effort.'"