Arnold: Hear Me Now and Believe Me Later
I’ll be blogging more on the speech when a transcript becomes available, but it’s not hard to dissect the speech: full of sound and fury and signifying nothing. He praises Bush basically for being a Republican, but very little else. He talks about how He was so impressed by Richard Nixon and what Republicans say, but not on what Republicans actually do; he talks about how you’re a Republican if you’re for a better economy, without of course noting that Democrats have always been far better stewards of the economy. He brings up icons like Nelson Mandela as a reason to vote Republican, when Republicans were against the sanctions that eventually made Mandela free and president.
In short, his speech is about as empty as his facade: full of one-liners, punch lines and sentimental stories, but absolutely empty of actual meaning or substance.
The Bush twins are up now, reading a speech clearly written for them, like actors at the Academy Awards. I guess they had to appear, but they don’t really come across as any more substantial than Arnold–a lot less, in fact.
Update: I didn’t see yesterday’s CNN broadcast of the GOP convention (having been on the plane from Shanghai at the time), but I have been watching today–and CNN’s coverage is absolutely not equal to their coverage of the Democrats. At the DNC, most major speeches were followed by a noted Republican (Bob Dole, Ralph Reed, etc.) given a good amount of solo screen time to give their spin. So far, I have not seen nearly as much Democratic counterpunch after Republican speeches–none of it post-speech so far, in fact.
Schwarzenegger Confused
8.31.2004
Tonight at the Republican National Convention, Schwarzenegger, after recounting his youth in Russian controlled Austria, move to America in 1968, and subsequent pledge to the Republican party, which he credited to watching Nixon on television, said, “In this country, it doesn’t make any difference where you were born. It doesn’t make any difference who your parents were. It doesn’t make any difference if, like me, you couldn’t even speak English until you were in your 20’s. America gave me opportunities, and my immigrant dreams came true. I want other people to get the same chances I did, the same opportunities. And I believe they can. That’s why I believe in this party and why I believe in this president.”
He described the United States as a nation that sends Peace Corps volunteers to “teach village children,” that “gives more than any other country to fight AIDS in Africa and the developing world,” and that “fights not for imperialism, but for human rights and democracy.”
As an American I must agree that these are all wonderful attributes of America, but what do they have to do with the Republican party or George W. Bush?
Who knows, if Arnold had witnessed John F. Kennedy’s passionate public speech on the inequalities present in America or Johnson’s signing of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, he might now be a Democrat like his in-laws. It was Kennedy and the Democrats that recognized the inherent hypocrisy of condemning the poor treatment of people in Eastern Europe during the Soviet occupation. How could America condemn the Russians and turn a blind eye to the inequalities of what was clearly going on in America, the “land of the free”? Lucky for Arnold.
As Americans we welcome diversity, but in 1921 Republicans in New York pushed through an English literacy test for voting, hoping to disfranchise one million Yiddish speakers who had an annoying habit of electing Democrats. In 1981 Republican Senator Hayakawa proposed a constitutional English Language Amendment. This proposal, if approved, would have banned virtually all uses of languages other than English by federal, state, and local governments. Lucky for Arnold.
Since 1981, 22 states have adopted various forms of Official English legislation, in addition to four that had already done so. Subtracting Hawai’i (which is officially bilingual), along with Alaska and Arizona (whose English-only initiatives have been declared unconstitutional) leaves a total of 23 states with active Official English laws. Today, conservative groups continue to fight for an English Only policy.
The liberal left has overwhelmingly dominated the support of policies that have fought for the dignity and civil liberties of immigrants.
John F. Kennedy instituted the Peace Corps in 1961. Governor Schwarzenegger is the son-in-law of Peace Corps Founding Director Sargent Shriver. Yes, more Democrats.
In his 2003 State of the Union address, Bush pledged $15 billion over five years to fight the spread of the virus that causes AIDS and to treat people with the syndrome. HIV has infected more than 45 million people in the world, and AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa.
But the Bush administration has not lived up to its commitment. Bush sought only $2.4 billion in this year’s budget for global prevention and treatment while seeking to cut the U.S. contribution to the multinational Global AIDS Fund. Only $350 million of Bush’s pledge has been allocated so far. It appears the administration favors big pharmaceutical companies by refusing to distribute generic drugs made abroad and that its preferred prevention program – which stresses abstinence first – is ineffective.
John Kerry has called for a quicker release of money and said that AIDS prevention should be based on science, not ideology. “It is long past time for empty rhetoric on this issue.”
On the final point of “imperialism,” maybe Arnold has not been keeping up on the news. The United States is currently occupying a country, conducting investigations on the mistreatment, torture and death of prisoners under its care, and debating the constitutionality of retaining individuals without criminal charges indefinitely. All off which have happened while all three branches of the U.S. government are under Republican control.
Just for icing, Arnold is also openly Pro-Choice.
I am very pleased that Arnold chose to come to America to fulfill his dreams. I like the Terminator. It just seems like he might have chosen the wrong party.
-John Machado