- The star has to prove thick muscles do not equal a thick
head, writes Rene Sanchez in Los Angeles.
-
- The famed bodybuilder that film director George Butler
became friends with more than two decades ago would not have had a prayer
as a political figure in California.
-
- "When I first got to know him, his politics were
to the right of Genghis Khan," said Butler, whose 1977 documentary
Pumping Iron launched Arnold Schwarzenegger's career. That was before Schwarzenegger
joined Hollywood's elite and married journalist Maria Shriver, a member
of the Democrat royal family, the Kennedys. Or saw Los Angeles engulfed
in rioting. Or discovered his father belonged to the Nazi party.
-
- "I would call him a kind of Shriver Republican now,"
Butler said. "His views on many issues have been tempered by Maria
and her family."
-
- Schwarzenegger instantly became a dominant figure in
California's historic recall election when he declared his candidacy on
Wednesday. But for all his fame as an action hero, his position on almost
every issue that he will confront if elected governor is still a mystery.
-
- Until now, Schwarzenegger's political profile has been
all shorthand: moderate Republican, fiscal conservative, supports public
education and abortion rights.
-
- Schwarzenegger has two months to define himself politically
and to show that "a thick accent and thick muscles do not equal a
thick head", says Bill Whalen, a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover
Institution.
-
- He was vague on Thursday when he picked up papers for
his candidacy in the October 7 recall poll that will decide the fate of
Democratic Governor Gray Davis and let voters choose Davis's successor
if a majority decides to remove him from office.
-
- Schwarzenegger has offered subtle and at times contradictory
clues about his political views. He is a Republican who loathed the GOP's
campaign to impeach then president Bill Clinton, telling George Magazine
in 1999 that he would "never forgive" his party for that. Last
year, he led a campaign calling for about $500 million ($767 million) in
state spending on after-school programs. Unlike many Republican leaders,
he believes some form of tax increase may help restore the state's financial
health.
-
- http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/08/08/1060145864788.html<
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