But this guy wants to be the governor of California. And he said this during a public debate.
Even if you find Arnold Schwarzenegger's casual misogyny amusing (I personally find it frightening), isn't there a fatal judgment problem here for a would-be governor?
CNN suggests Arnold made this statement in a time specifically allotted for rebuttal:
Allowed to rebut what Statham ruled was a personal attack, Schwarzenegger said, "I would just like to say that I just realized that I have a perfect part for you in 'Terminator 4.'" He also suggested that she might need "more decaf."
I'm dying to know the inside story here. Was it:
a) A planned line approved by his boy's club of advisors?
b) A planned line that he composed but didn't run by his advisors?
c) Something Schwarzenegger thought of in the moment?
I'm guessing b). It's hard to imagine that even an all-male team of advisors would fail to realize how awful that laugh line would be in the aftermath. And given that Arnold did obviously prepare zingers to use against Huffington, it's just unlikely that he thought of the line in a few seconds in the debate rather than in the hours of prep.
This needs to get Trent Lotted. Arnold's degrading zinger is just like Trent Lott's pro-segregation comment. It's the kind of statement that makes you shake your head when it happens, and then move on...
Except...when you think about it...did he really effing say that?
The more I reflect on it, the more it seems insane. Could a candidate for governor who is desperately trying to turn around his deservedly poor image with California women have said anything more stupid?
Does he have a compulsion to say things like this?
I'm not a political pundit, but I play one on the Web from time to time. And this faux-pundit predicts that Arnie is cooked. As a result of those 20 words, he's gonna get Code Pinked back to Hollywood.
And, in T4, when he shoves a red-haired Greek actress's face into a toilet, I bet he will have "something floating in there."
[Also posted to Brian Flemming's Weblog]
[Entry corrected 9-25-03. Entertainment Weekly quote mistakenly attributed to Esquire magazine.]
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Richard Bennett
Just for curiosity, Brian, would you happen to be gay? I ask because you don't sound like a man who spends a great deal of time with real women, who aren't actually likely to be offended by Arnold's swatting an annoying little mosquito in Sacramento.
2 - Eric Olsen
I didn't see it either but just from your description it's clear the statement was a joke, was meant to be taken as a joke, the action in question didn't take part in real life but in the context of a movie, and directed at one person, not women in general. He didn't say he had a part in T4 for all the women of California. Maybe the joke wasn't particularly funny, maybe it was in somewhat poor taste, maybe it was just plain stupid, but it doesn't seem like a very big deal to me.
3 - Phillip Winn
Brian, considering that Arnold spent most of the movie getting his butt kicked by the Terminatrix, and roughly a half-second getting the best of her with a porcelain bowl, I'd say that shoving her head in a toilet is roughly that last thing anybody not gunning for Arnold would think of from T3. And yet, strangely, it's what Huffington mentioned after the debate, and it has magically become a talking point.
A little independent thought instead of mindless parroting comes up with any number of possibilities. How about the most obvious possibility, that Arnold was simply suggesting that she is a bad person who just won't quit?
This is ridiculous. General Clark gets his words twisted and reinterpreted so that he didn't even make a mistake (which he clearly did), while Arnold's words get twisted into suggesting that he wants to smear feces on all women.
Grow up!
4 - Natalie Davis
I am hardly a Schwarzenegger fan, but when I heard Ah-nuld make the statement, and before I knew that Huffington had commented on it, my mind went directly to that scene of the Terminator shoving a female robot's head into a commode. I believe that is exactly what had to motivate the Austrian's revolting comment. No parroting involved.
5 - Ellen Dyke
Arnold remarked on the Oprah Winfrey show that pumping iron was better than coming, much to the horror of his wife sitting next to him. So his comments about shoving a woman's face in a toilet continues to reveal his ineptness in politics. Gray Davis' chances of winning his own recall election are getting better every day.
6 - Phillip Winn
Ellen - Arnold did not say anything about doing anything to any woman. I admit surprise that Natalie thought of that brief scene from the movie independently, but then Natalie is probably smarter than I am.
I listened to the interchange this morning and again all I got from the comment was that Arnold saw Huffington as a "bad guy" in the mold of the Terminatrix. But then I'm not trying to shread Arnold.
7 - Chris Arabia
I find the character of his candor refreshing, but the content of his candor questionable.
I think I need to sit down.
Anyway, I have seen Gary Coleman on TV and if I still lived in Calimafornia I'd vote for GC in a hypothetical runoff (I know there is no runoff) over GD, CB, AH, or even AS. Sticking it to Sacto is a must.
One question: how many of Arnie's weird statements stem from the questions, and how many are indigenous, so to speak. Sober responses preferred.
8 - Phillip Winn
The remark about pumping iron was in response to a pretty straight-forward question, and the comment about having a part for Arianna in T4 was a standalone comment when he was given a chance to respond to a jab from Arianna over "that's how you treat women" (because he was trying to interrupt her, which was common in the debate). So it was a humorous jab and got a lot of laughs, as her jab had earlier. Nothing more, to most people, excepting Arianna and Natalie.
9 - Ellen Dyke
Phillip, Okay, so I didn't see the debate and was only going by what I read here so I formed an opinion without knowing all the facts (a national problem!), but I still think Arnold comes across as one who is going to get in alot of trouble from thoughtless comments and inexperience in the political arena.
10 - Phillip Winn
Oh, sure, no question. He's an idjit when it comes to politics. However, that's that sort of thing that plays well with "outsider" votes, which is why he is seen as the candidate to trash while McClintock is generally dismissed.
Anyway, he's thoughtless (though I suspect some of that is calculated), but spinning his comments into some hateful commentary is just weird.
11 - Natalie Davis
I doubt I am smarter than you, Phillip. It's just when I think of the Terminator films, the commode scene stuck with me more than any other.
12 - Phillip Winn
It's funny, but I *still* can't visualize the part where he does that. I remember her slamming his head completely through a urinal, and him throwing her through a wall (and vice-versa) and a few other things, but the actual head-in-the-commode moment escapes me. Maybe I blinked during that part.
I'm not doubting you, Natalie, I'm just trying to figure out why I don't remember it. Scenes that stick out from that movie for me include the Terminatrix' inital appearance on Rodeo Drive (sorry, I'm not running for office, ever, so I'll call 'em as I see 'em, and that actress definitely has a nice posterior), the bit where Arnie punches a truck until he runs out of batteries, the bit where Arnie is on the end of a crane and being rammed through buildings and whatnot, the really nifty part where the Terminatrix reconfigures herself backwards to get the upper hand on Arnie, and the coffin full of guns.
And of course, the end, which I won't detail here except to say that the movie was actually much better than I expected and worth watching.
I didn't remember the bathroom scene at all until I heard Arianna's comment on the radio this morning, and even then I can't visualize the commode. Ah well. You are smarter than I am!
13 - Natalie Davis
Nah. Probably just mure attuned to episodes -- fictional and otherwise -- of misogyny.
14 - Eric Olsen
But is it misogyny if the "bitch is trying to kill you" (quoting Ice-T), or simply self-defense?
I always find it amusing when the typically hushed-up incidence of female on male domestic violence comes up - that just doesn't fit the picture from either angle and is generally ignored.
15 - Phillip Winn
Eric, I don't want to get too far off-topic, but it's probably already too late for that. Since you mention female-on-male domestic violence, I have to say that this is one case in which I think that the statistics are misleading.
Yes, all the statistics seem to say that women beat men more than men beat women. And yet I think it must be clear to even the most casual of observers that women are rarely the stronger or more viciously capable half of any couple. Yes, there are plenty of women out there who could easily kick my butt. But those women tend to be married to men whose butt would not necessarily be kicked so easily as mine.
All broad generalizations, I know, and statistics are used in misleading ways on both sides of this issue, but I can already hear the strident claims ringing through my ears that men are the big victims and so on, and I just don't see it as true.
Put another way, both the woman who slaps her husband across the face once and the man who gets drunk and beats his wife until he knocks out a tooth are considered "an incident of domestic violence." Yes, the genders could easily be reversed on that statement, but I don't know any men who have had a tooth knocked out by their wives, and I know two women in one family alone that have been beaten by their husbands.
16 - Eric Olsen
I don't disagree with any of that - I don't think men are the real victims other than in rare cases - and I agree the damage done by men is typically worse than the damage done by women. I still think it's funny that men don't much like to admit that they are womped by women, and women don't want to acknowledge that they sometimes do the womping.
17 - Mac Diva
Well, I just checked the pertinent parts and I seem to be a real woman. I didn't see the debate, but have read enough about Schwarzenegger to believe he does have a problem with misogyny.
18 - Natalie Davis
I am a firm believer that women who abuse men are just as horrible as men who abuse women. And women do themselves no favors when they refuse to acknowledge that spousal abuse does go both ways.
19 - Doc
As an aside for the author, why do people that don't watch television keep having to remind everyone they don't?
Ref: The Onion!
http://www.theonion.com/onion3604/doesnt_own_television.html
20 - Brian Flemming
Duh.
Because we're superior to everyone else.
If you didn't watch TV you could probably see that.
Now, excuse me, I have to go and do something other than watching television.
21 - Phillip Winn
Haha! Brian, thanks for making me laugh. I've had a long morning.
22 - Chris Arabia
"I have to go and do something other than watching television."
Suggestion: post my comment in response to your blog post (complete with ethnic slur) in which you discuss your strategy for not honoring your word. It's in your e-mail. If you want to insult me by name, have the integrity to post my response.
23 - Steve Rhodes
The good thing about the comment is that Arnold realizes he isn't going to be governor and he'll be able to shoot T4 before he launches his 2006 campaign (though maybe he'll be smart and just donate 10 million to charity next time).
It was clear that Arnold wants to shove Arianna's head in shit. I can't find the quote now, but after the debate he said anyone who has seen the movie knows what I mean.
24 - Eric Olsen
MD, very glad to hear nothing is out of place - periodic inventories are important, not that I ever doubted your real womanliness (singing "to be reeeaaalll" by Cheryl Lynn)
Natalie, you can be counted upon to be fair, a reliable balm in this mean old world.
TV is great if it is used and doesn't use you.
25 - Brian Flemming
I don't watch television.