the latest about Ah-nold

[Briar Rose 7457]

very upsetting to read that a man who may become governor of California admires Hiter.

 

[AirForceRocks]

Why don't you read the entire statement before you jump to conclusions...

 

[cardaway]

Oh please...

 

[AirForceRocks]

Oh please what?

 

[jfulcer]

http://www.msnbc.com/news/945950.asp

 

[AirForceRocks]

Thanks for the link, but I've already read what he said.

 

[bsnyder]

Originally posted by Briar Rose 7457
very upsetting to read that a man who may become governor of California admires Hiter.

Upsetting? Maybe. But I'd say that most of the people who are professing to be upset are also pretty gleeful!

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

Brenda, I read every word he said. it makes me very uncomfortable that he found anything admirable about Hitler. at minimum it was poor taste and bad judment for a man who grew up in postwar Europe, and whose father was a Nazi, to make ANY positive statement about Hitler.

there are plenty of other men you can admire for rising from humble beginnings and being great public speakers. invoking the name of Hitler is distasteful, to say the least. and from someone like Arnold, who has the background he's got, it was disturbing.

I know he denounced the Nazi regime in his press conference last night. but I also feel that Arnold the acotr was more honest in his opinions than Arnold the politician.

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

frankly I'm no Gray Davis fan, and I really have no interest in California politics. why don't we just elect Gary Coleman and be done with it?

 

[AirForceRocks]

Brenda, I read every word he said. it makes me very uncomfortable that he found anything admirable about Hitler.

The way I see it, even those that I might consider bad people might still have some admirable qualities.

and from someone like Arnold, who has the background he's got, it was disturbing.

His background? If you are talking about the fact that his father was a member of the Nazi party, then I find it equally disturbing that you favor visiting the sins of the father onto the sons.

 

[AirForceRocks]

I'm the same way BR - I don't live in California, don't want to live in California, and really don't care who they elect as governor. They'll have to live with the choice, not me. I limit my real concern about statewide office to Florida.

 

[cardaway]

Over twenty years... seems like enough time to change.

I wonder if Lieberman ever said anything in the seventies that could held against him now.

 

[lisajl]

Thank you for posting the link.

I have not been watching tv very much or listening to the radio, so I really had no idea what this was all about.

Interesting reading. I am glad I don't live in California.

 

[AirForceRocks]

Originally posted by cardaway
Over twenty years... seems like enough time to change.

I wonder if Lieberman ever said anything in the seventies that could held against him now.

That's how I feel too cardaway. I really believe that people's attitudes can change over time. If they had an Arnold quote where he said the same words last month or last year, then yes, I would find it disturbing. But twenty years ago? Sorry, I just don't see the big deal.

And if twenty years isn't long enough, how long is long enough? Thirty years? Forty? Fifty?

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

yes, Brenda, his background is a very important issue.

let's take the hypothetical situation of a southerner running for office. let's say he's a white man and says something stupid about black people. people will say "oh, what he said was stupid."

now throw in the fact that he's the son of a former klansman. it changes the perception of what he said. it may not have changed the meaning of what he said, but it will change how the statement is recieved.

if you grow up in Austria or Germany in the post war period, if your father was a Nazi, a statement you make in which you "admire" Hitler is going to be perceived very differently than if someone from Alabama made that statement.

that's why I find the statement so disturbing. did the man not have a brain in his head 20 years ago?

 

[AirForceRocks]

So, in other words, you don't believe that people can change.

 

[Geoff_M]

I "admire" the Autobahn... Does that make me a neo-Nazi?

Yes, Hitler was probably the cloest thing to the personification of evil we've had on Earth (though many Democrats will argue that Reagan edges him out for that honor), but you can't deny that his ability to persuade an entire nation to go down the path of destruction that it did was unparelleled in modern times. Leni Riefenstahl's films of Hilter still give me a cold chill when I watch him "work" the crowd.

 

[Briar Rose 7457]

I do believe people can change, Brenda, but I still find the comments disturbing. I also find it unsettling that he claims he doesn't remember making the remarks.

my reaction to seeing Hitler address a crowd is the smae as yours, Geoff. cold chills. because the man could work a crowd. that's what made him so scary. and that's why someone saying the admire him for that ability is unsettling.

 

[AirForceRocks]

I do believe people can change, Brenda, but I still find the comments disturbing.

If you believe that people can change, then I don't see why you would find the comments disturbing.

I also find it unsettling that he claims he doesn't remember making the remarks.

Would you please recite to me what you said in a school book report 20 years ago? Thanks.

 

[Geoff_M]

that's why someone saying the(y) admire him for that ability is unsettling

Please also consider that his very limited command of the English language at that time may have been a factor in all of this. If his English was as good then as it is today, I don't know that'd he'd have phrased it the same way at the time.

To use a more modern example... I truthfully admired Bill Clinton's political accumen... The guy was "scarey" good. But that doesn't mean I admire his beliefs.... I don't.