As you will no doubt know, Arnold *name beginning with S, catch me trying to spell it* is now the clear leader for the position of Governor of the state of California.

Ca is home to Hollywood, Los Angeles and Beverley Hills, several famous beaches, a lot of wealth and a lot of poverty.

The question is, should the Americans follow an established path of voting for people just because they are famous, and everyone has heard of them (Ronald Reagan was a film star back in the 50s and became the President of the United States) or should they try and pick the best man or woman to do the job.

If Sean Bean (apologies if I spelt that wrong) was up for election as a Sheffield Member of Parliament for instance, should he get elected purely because a lot of people have heard of him?

Is fame and celebrity a good enough reason to allow anyone to run for office?

Discuss

If anyones followed whats going on in california at the moment, i think arnold might bring a refreshing change :)

the state has declared itself bankrupt loads of times over :o because of public money embezzlement (sounds familiar...)

Arnie for Governor!

Lets start the campaign over here!

We want Arnie, We Want Arnie!

Having spoken to a couple of Californians on the issue, the main benefit in having Arnie running for governor is *no arnie films on the TV*. They love it and wish the election could run in perpetuity.

I wanted to vote yes because it would have meant no more Terminator films for a while but I couldn't bring my self to do it.

Do I need to justify saying no? Surely being homophobic, misogynist and republican should be enough? Oh, silly me, that makes him an ideal candidate in America, doesn't it?

Try this, with sound ON:

http://www.funnyjunk.com/pages/arnoldgateway.htm

NB this is too long to print the whole of. Follow the link if you want to read the whole article.
Pippa x

Http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/recall/la-me-women2oct02,1,2313555.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Women say Arnold groped, humiliated them

Los Angeles Times
Oct. 1, 2003 09:44 PM

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 Los Angeles Times, three of the
women described their surprise and discomfort when
Schwarzenegger grabbed their breasts. A fourth said he
reached under her skirt and grabbed 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.

According to the women's accounts, one of the
incidents occurred in the 1970s, two in the 1980s, two
in the 1990s and one in 2000.

"Did he rape me? No," said one woman, who described a
1980 encounter in which she said Schwarzenegger
grabbed her breast. "Did he humiliate me? You bet he
did."

Four of the six women told their stories on condition
that they not be named. Three work in Hollywood and
said they were worried that, if they were identified,
their careers would be in jeopardy for speaking out
against Schwarzenegger, the one-time bodybuilding
champion and box-office star who is now the
front-runner in the Oct. 7 gubernatorial recall
election.

The other unnamed woman said she feared public
ridicule and possible damage to her husband's
business.

In the four cases in which the women would not let
their names be published, friends or relatives told
the Times that the women had told them about the
incidents long before Schwarzenegger's run for
governor.

None of the six women who gave their accounts to the
Times filed any legal action against him.

Schwarzenegger's campaign spokesman, Sean Walsh, said
the candidate has not engaged in improper conduct
toward women either on the set or off. He said such
allegations are part of an escalating political attack
on Schwarzenegger as the recall election draws near.

"We believe Democrats and others are using this to try
to hurt Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign," Walsh said.
"We believe that this is coming so close before the
election, something that discourages good,
hard-working, decent people from running for office."

He said Schwarzenegger himself would have no comment.

None of the women approached the Times on her own, and
none was identified by Schwarzenegger's rivals in the
recall race.

All were interviewed by the newspaper in the course of
a seven-week examination of whether Schwarzenegger had
harassed women on or off the movie set.

Schwarzenegger's attitudes about women have been an
issue on the campaign trail, where critics have
accused him of being misogynistic, based on past
statements he has made to various publications. In
response, Schwarzenegger has said he respects women
and that many of his comments were said in jest or
simply meant to be provocative.

Schwarzenegger's conduct toward women also has been
widely discussed in Hollywood over the years, no more
so than after a March 2001 article in Premiere
magazine called "Arnold the Barbarian." After the
article appeared, a number of Schwarzenegger's
colleagues wrote to the magazine saying that the story
was inaccurate and that Schwarzenegger treated women
with respect and kindness.

The earliest incident of the six described to the
Times was said to have occurred in 1975 at Gold's Gym
near Venice Beach, Calif. E. Laine Stockton, then
newly married to professional bodybuilder Robby
Robinson, said she had come to the gym to watch her
husband work out.

Stockton was 19 at the time. She said she was wearing
slacks, tennis shoes and a loose-fitting T-shirt. She
said she was not wearing a bra.

As she sat on an exercise bench, Stockton said,
Schwarzenegger walked up behind her, reached his left
hand under her T-shirt and touched her bare left
breast.

"The gym is full of bodybuilders and Arnold comes and
he gropes my breast -- actually touches my breast with
his left hand," she said.

She said Schwarzenegger then walked away without
comment.

Stockton said she does not rule out the possibility
that Schwarzenegger "may have meant it in
playfulness." But she did not take it that way.

"I was just shocked, shocked to the point where I
almost didn't know how to react, because it was so out
of the blue and so unexpected," she said. "It just
completely caught me off guard, and when I finally
came to my senses, I immediately went over to Robby
and I said, 'Look, Arnold just groped my breast.' "

Robinson, a former Mr. America, Mr. World and Mr.
Universe, said that at the time of the incident, he
had been across the gym getting a dumbbell.

"I ran up and tried to comfort her," said Robinson,
who has since had a falling out with Schwarzenegger.
(A black known as the "Black Prince" during his years
on the professional bodybuilding circuit, Robinson has
accused Schwarzenegger of racism -- a charge that
Schwarzenegger's campaign denies.)

Robinson said he was upset by what Schwarzenegger had
done to his wife, but did not confront him. "What he
did was uncalled for, but I couldn't say nothing,"
Robinson said, explaining that he feared he'd be
ostracized by the bodybuilding world.

He said he told his wife to stay out of Gold's Gym
from then on.

Robinson and Stockton are now divorced. They were
interviewed separately by the Times.

The next incident described to the Times was said to
have occurred in 1980. A former pro beach volleyball
player said Schwarzenegger touched her breast on a
Santa Monica, Calif., street.

The woman remembered walking down 19th Street, just
off Wilshire Boulevard, when Schwarzenegger spotted
her and got out of his car, the motor still running.

"Come here," she recalled Schwarzenegger saying, as he
motioned with his finger to the woman, then 22.

The two knew each other. She worked as a waitress at
Fromin's deli, she said, a place Schwarzenegger
frequented. One day, she recalled, Schwarzenegger
asked her when she was going on break. "We could have
a lot of fun in half an hour," she remembered him
saying. She said she was both a little scared and a
little flattered. "I can't say I wasn't flattered.
Arnold invited me to his apartment." She said she
declined his invitation.

Schwarzenegger renewed his invitation, she said, when
he spotted her playing in a women's volleyball
tournament at Venice Beach. "After the game, he came
up to me and said, 'Now you will come to my
apartment.' He didn't want to hear no." The woman said
she told him, "It's not going to happen."

This time, she said, as she walked along 19th Street,
Schwarzenegger conveyed a sense of urgency: "Come
close, it's very important." As she drew nearer to
hear what he had to say, she recounted, Schwarzenegger
"grabbed and squeezed" her left breast.

"If I was a man," she said she told him, "I would bust
your jaw."

As tears welled in her eyes, she said, Schwarzenegger
laughed. "He thought it was hilarious."

She said she went to her car and "just started crying
and crying."

(to complete the story follow the link above)

Women also said John Lesley raped them. It turned out not to be true.

Lets get off the subject of 'just cos a woman says it happened and starts crying, doesn't mean it happened'.

Cos, things aren't just black and white like that.
If Arnie DID do those things, that would be some serious skeletons in his closet... which he would've known would come back and bite him in the a$$.

I'm sorry, I don't buy it!

Originally posted by DaBouncer
Women also said John Lesley raped them. It turned out not to be true.

I see that differently. Women said that John Leslie raped them, and the courts dismissed this.

I don't necessarily see that as the same as it not being true.

In this country, less than 7% of reported rapes end in a conviction. This is an outrageous figure. Noone can believe that 93% of women who report rape are lying, therefore an awful lot of rapists are getting away with it.

And many many more women don't report rapes which inevitably adds to the number of rapists getting away with it.

Just because someone hasn't been convicted of something does *not* mean they didn't do it.

Just because someone said someone did something to them doesn't mean they did it!!!

to be fair that poll isnt exactly 'fair' there aren't enough options. how do you know he doesnt know a lot about politics? i believe he is an intelligent man and can do no worse than the rest of the 'part timers' that run the american government.

Originally posted by DaBouncer
Women also said John Lesley raped them. It turned out not to be true.

Lets get off the subject of 'just cos a woman says it happened and starts crying, doesn't mean it happened'.

Cos, things aren't just black and white like that.
If Arnie DID do those things, that would be some serious skeletons in his closet... which he would've known would come back and bite him in the a$$.

I'm sorry, I don't buy it!

Agreed DB. Politics is probably the dirtiest game there is - and, believe-you-me, in the US of A - it stinks.

Whether he did grope and fondle or not, he has apologised for it now.

Makes me think that he probably did, but he's decided to pre-empt a dirt digging frenzy by admitting it and making his apologies.

Originally posted by DaBouncer
Just because someone said someone did something to them doesn't mean they did it!!!

I often wonder why some people are so quick to pronounce a 'guilty' verdict, before all the facts are in.

It's interesting, that if Blunket has his way, we - the British Citizen - will no-longer have the right to be tried by our peers.

To me, the right to be tried by a jury, is the cornerstone of a just justice system.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has fended off a flurry of allegations ahead of the California recall vote, admitting to "offensive" behaviour but denying he once admired Hitler.

The actor, who hopes to become Governor of California, apologised after six women accused him of sexual harassment between 1975 and 2000, in an article in Thursday's Los Angeles Times.

Later, in LA, he denied an ABC television report that quoted a 1975 interview in which he allegedly made favourable comments about Hitler.

"I don't remember any of those comments because I always despised everything that Hitler stood for," Mr Schwarzenegger said.

The clutch of accusations came just five days before the landmark 7 October vote that polls suggest will usher the Hollywood icon into the governor's mansion.

A majority of voters favour removing the incumbent governor, Gray Davis, according to a poll on Tuesday for the Los Angeles Times.

Mr Schwarzenegger led the pack of more than 130 candidates vying to replace him, polling 40% support to second-place Cruz Bustamante, the Democrat lieutenant governor, polling 32%.

But Mr Schwarzenegger's alleged past indiscretions have the potential to be an important issue in deciding the success of his campaign.

ABC said it had obtained a copy of an unpublished book proposal with quotes from a transcript of an interview the actor gave during the filming of "Pumping Iron" which contained the offending Hitler material.

When asked who his heroes were, Mr Schwarzenegger reportedly said: "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education, up to power.

"I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it," ABC quoted him as having told an interviewer.

Mr Schwarzenegger said his support for the Jewish lobby group the Simon Wiesenthal Center proved he did not support Nazis.

The author of the book proposal, George Butler, who directed "Pumping Iron," told ABC the quotes needed to be seen in context and that Mr Schwarzenegger never made any anti-Semitic comments.

"I hate the Third Reich and the whole Nazi philosophy," Mr Schwarzenegger said.

Earlier, Mr Schwarzenegger confessed to behaviour that "offended people" after the LA Times reported that he sexually harassed women over a 25-year period.

It is alleged that he grabbed their breasts or buttocks, tried to take off a woman's bathing suit, and asked a woman if a particular sex act had been performed on her.

What could you do? He was the highest-paid actor in the world. I was a peon. All you could do was stay away from him

A stunned crowd in San Diego listened as Mr Schwarzenegger made a frank admission.

"Those people that I have offended, I want to say to them that I am deeply sorry about that and I apologise because that's not what I'm trying to do," he said.

The LA Times opposes the recall of Mr Davis, and has accused Mr Schwarzenegger of failing to deal seriously with issues affecting the state.

It also said in a 28 September editorial that he "seemed to have only a casual acquaintance with the truth as practised outside Hollywood".

The newspaper says it confirmed that the women had told their stories to other people before Mr Schwarzenegger began his race for governor.

Several people described Mr Schwarzenegger's sense of humour and language as "outrageous, but not mean-spirited".

One stuntwoman who worked with him on a number of films defended him.

"He's fun, extremely intelligent and very professional," she told the newspaper.

This is another case of ignorance and jumping to conclusions.

If anyone took the time to find out about Hitler, other than his activities from 1939-1945, they would see that he managed to turn Germany round from complete poverty to a world superpower.

But, as they always say "power corrupts" and it did so in him in a truly terrible way.

I give you the words of an American political commentator who I have just heard say

"That is the nature of democracy, you give the people a voice and they use their vote to express it. And sometimes the people make an insane decision."

I dont think I can improve on that, so I will leave it there

So has he won then?

[EDIT] Doesn't matter I answered my own question by finding this (http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/10/08/1065292649550.html) [EDIT]