SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE, A COMEDY TONIGHT

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Arnold Schwarzenegger (Doug Smith, August 12, 2003, LA Times)

Since Arnold Schwarzenegger entered the race for governor last week, people have been trying to gauge his positions on issues facing the state.

The Austrian-born movie action hero has been criticized by Democrats and Republicans for not offering specific policies. On morning TV news shows Friday, Schwarzenegger at times appeared to dodge questions.

A review of interviews with Schwarzenegger over the last decade show that he has staked clear positions on some issues but managed to avoid taking stands on others. The review also finds that some of the stands the media has long attributed to him are not as clear as they seem. [...]

Appearing on Fox TV's "The O'Reilly Factor" in May 2001, Schwarzenegger made a strong defense of abortion rights.

"I disagree with George Bush about that," he said. "I'm for choice. The women should have the choice. The women should decide what they want to do with their bodies. I'm all for that."

With Schwarzenegger in the race, his campaign co-chairman, Pete Wilson, offered a more nuanced position in a Fox News report with Brit Hume on Friday.

"He probably feels, much as I do, he's not pro-abortion," Wilson said. "He's pro-choice. And there's a real difference."

He has also been outspoken on gay rights.

"I have no sexual standards in my head that say 'this is good' or 'this is bad,' " he told Cosmopolitan in a frequently quoted interview. " 'Homosexual'--that only means to me that he enjoys sex with a man and I enjoy sex with a woman. It's all legitimate to me."

Schwarzenegger has acknowledged that his views on social mores diverge from mainstream Republican values.

He said he hopes to lead his party in a more tolerant direction.

"You're going to lose until you become a party of inclusion, that you love the foreigner that comes in with no money as much as a gay person, as a lesbian person, as anyone else--someone that is uneducated, someone who's from the inner city," he told Talk magazine. [...]

Schwarzenegger has been much more talkative about violence in the media, which he says has gone overboard. A little restraint is in order, he told The Times in a 2000 interview, just before the action film "The 6th Day" premiered.

"We could say to all those marketing people, 'Look, we know that if you sell an R-rated movie to 12-year-olds, they will want to go and see it. But is it really good in the end for our country to let them in?' " he said. "Or should we come up with a system where we really don't let any kids in, whether they're with a parent or not? Because to me, that's bogus"

Given his background in bodybuilding and movies the support for gay rights is inevitable, the question will be whether he supports leaving them alone--which is probably even a majority Republican position at this point--or feels they deserve full anti-discriminatioon protections, including marriage and military service. On abortion, if he believes that there should be no limitations whatsoever he's going to have trouble on the Right and he should. Posted by Orrin Judd at August 12, 2003 1:13 PM