Daily Archives: 10/4/2003

The Recall

I hate politics. It’s mostly about the hypocrisy. I’ve been trying to ignore the
recall news for the most part, but every once in awhile you just have to listen.

Schwarzenegger has been accused of a pattern of what can only be described as boorish sexual harassment for incidents ranging from 1975 to 2000. These include crude comments, groping and an incident where he allegedly tried to pull the swimsuit off a woman in an elevator.

I’m not so stupid as to believe that these reports aren’t politically motivated. But quite surprisingly, Schwarzenegger today apologized for this behavior, which lends some credance to the fact that to a certain degree these
allegations are in fact true, at least to some degree.

In the news since, Schwarzeneggar has attempted to downplay the seriousness of any of his misdeeds, and Republican leaders have come out and said that this sexual misconduct, while reprehensible, should not serve as a reason to not vote for him.

They are wrong.

Whether this disclosure was politically motivated is irrelevant.
If these allegations are true, we should not vote for him. We should not vote for someone who displays such a complete lack of sensitivity toward women.
When representatives of the Republican party tell you this should behavior should not keep you from voting for Arnold, they are telling you this: that sexual harassment isn’t really a serious matter. That heck, everybody does it.
That grabbing somebody’s ass isn’t really a big deal. That groping their breast isn’t a big deal.

Everybody doesn’t do it. It is a big deal. In virtually any sphere of modern
American society, such behavior would get you fired, and justifiably so. I see
no reason to vote for someone who engaged in behavior that would get him fired.