Beatty claims credit for poll pounding of 'the Governator'

[Judi Lynn]

Beatty claims credit for poll pounding of 'the Governator'
By Catherine Elsworth in Los Angeles
(Filed: 13/11/2005)

Warren Beatty, the veteran Hollywood actor who helped to deliver the first big blow to Arnold Schwarzenegger's political career, said last night that the Terminator star had got his come-uppance for fooling voters.

Four days after California voters rejected a series of reforms put forward by the Republican governor, Beatty boasted that his own high-profile eve-of-poll campaigning had helped to save America from the ripple effect of Mr Schwarzenegger's "reactionary measures".

The 68-year-old, a long-time political activist who has campaigned for every Democratic presidential candidate since Robert Kennedy's nomination bid in 1968, told the Sunday Telegraph that the moderate image Mr Schwarzenegger had once projected was "an illusion". His proposals were rejected, Beatty claimed, because "California is not a Right-wing state".
(snip/...)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/13/wbeatty13.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/11/13/ixworld.html

[beam me up scottie]

1. That's a misleading headline.

I read the article and I can't see where they got that from.

He didn't appear to claim any credit at all.

[Fridays Child]

2. Bloody goddam Brits!

:evilgrin:

[beam me up scottie]

5. I forgive them.

I'm addicted to BBC!
:evilgrin:

[JI7]

3. the telegraph is a right wing paper

i think their intent was to try to get people to react angrily at Beatty and take focus away from the fact that ARnold got his ass kicked. i know i got a similar reaction based on the subject line. but when i saw the source i read to see what Beatty said and he never claimed credit.

[aquart]

4. But he was very pleased to have helped.

[beam me up scottie]

6. Does Murdoch own it?

Sure sounds like it.

The headline should have been "Who's a Girlie-Man, Arnie?"

[T_i_B]

9. No, Murdoch owns the Times and the Sun

The Times is actually less right-wing then the Torygraph, but its reporting is not as good.

And as for the Sun....well all I can say to that rag is :puke: especially considering its fervent support of Blair's plans to lock up terror suspects for 90 days without trial.

[Cha]

20. I knew before I read the

piece that Warren wouldn't have said that.

It was actually more than a Trifecta..Rose DeMoro, Liane Cismowsky, Rob Reiner, Warren Beatty, and ALL THE GOTVoters Posse in CALIFORNIA! :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot: :patriot:

[readmylips]

13. Beatty not self-pump-up a$$hold like Ahhhnold...

Misleading headline is right. But the media now wants to make it into a wrestling match between Beatty and Ahhhnold. Beatty did not close his door on never running for office but said that his wife would be a much better candidate. I'd vote for her.

[calimary]

17. Beatty is shrewdly playing the game of "Let's Manipulate Perception."

If he's of a mind to start positioning himself (or his wife, for that matter) for later public office, how better to start now - taking a bit of credit for helping to pummel the One-Term-inator? He'd be telling the truth, after all. He sure was out there on the stump, working against arnold. His presence was, for the most part, not taken seriously.

But things change.

ANYONE who had a hand in helping to shellack schwarzenegger now can rightfully enjoy his or her star being on the rise. Elsewhere in this forum there's a story about cheney's influence fading with Congress and elsewhere because his puppetmaster's invincibility has been seriously tarnished by the whole fibby-libby Plamegate affair, and now, of course, he's the poster boy for Torture, American-style. He used to be a sun king. Now he's lucky still to have a seat in the royal court.

It's all in the perception. PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING!!!! And if Warren Beatty wants to take some of the credit, I say let him. He may wind up being a power-broker this way, and he'll speak with a much louder voice now, having helped grope der Gropenator. Better believe it - there'll be a LOT more political people VERY willing to take his calls now. He's gained a LOT of credibility, and if he wants to drop a few little reminders of that into the mix at the moment, it only helps to position him even more favorably - and formidably. Conversely, you probably won't be hearing much from Rob Lowe and other actor-politicos who took a high-profile stand for arnold. Folks like him will probably want to lay low (lay Lowe?) for awhile. But considering that Beatty's been a longtime Democratic and liberal activist, he's put his money where his mouth is many times before this, he's very well-informed and articulate, and he's not terribly splashy about it, but, as he gets older and his playboy days fade farther and farther from memory with the lovely, elegant, classy wife (whose reputation is also clean-as-a-whistle) by his side, and those cute kids of theirs, he's only gained in respectability. I say WHY THE HELL NOT???

They scoffed at ronald reagan once, too.

[leesa]

14. No, I saw nothing of the sort in there. His statements were humble.

A lot of people worked hard to defeat Arnie and the RW is hoping to make it look like Beatty is grabbing the glory.

[jamesinca]

19. I think they should go after Warren Beatty

let them focus ont he wrong thing. I don't like the idea of going after one of our well spoken ones, but I think Mr.Beatty could defend himself quite well.

[bliss_eternal]

7. I agree--

very misleading headline. Oh well, no news line is perfect.

[Spinzonner]

8. Warren Beatty is perhaps the only one who can rival Arnold

in pure ego.

[Enraged_Ape]

10. You're right. Thank God he's on OUR side. (n/t)

[MADem]

18. Yeah, that is true, but at least he fought hubris with hubris!!!

And it worked out in the end!

[Cha]

21. But, read the whole article..

the headline is misleading(imagine that).

[1932]

11. I agree that Beatty did hurt Arnold a little bit.

He might have been worth as much as 2% of the vote.

Generally, I totally agree with George Clooney about celebrities campaigning for politicians. Clooney said that Kerry asked him to ride the train and Clooney told Kerry that Kerry does not want celebrities campaigning for him because it sends the wrong message. Democrats need the votes of peope who look at Hollywood as the cause of some of America's problems, and the message gets mixed up when politicians have celebrities campaign for them.

Now, Beatty, who I think is a little crazy these days, actually did something that was kind of smart. Because Arnold's a movie star, it made it very interesting to imagine putting another movie star in the audience (not on the stage). Who do you look at? Arnold or Warren? It says something about WHY we are even looking at Arnold in the first place. It puts emphasis on the idea that maybe Arnold is more about celebrity than about policy.

And then the idea that Warren got shut out of the events -- that's a real curious image too. It creates the sense that if even a movie star can't have access to the governor, then just exactly what do you have to do to get access? Oh...I get it...you have to be Ken Lay or a drug company executive!!!!! That's who they represent!!!

Those were two important messages that Beatty got across in the last few days.

[Barkley]

12. Beatty (w/ CA nurses sponsors) had really good ads on Air America

that said the special election was designed for a low voter turn out and was a waste since the propositions could be placed on the June 2006 ballot.

Beatty was blunt:'if you're not rich these propositions will hurt you'!

[msongs]

15. most people in CA have no idea who beatty is...

he used to make movies. in his world he is a celebrity. in the real world of most people he is a non entity. several people where I work asked me who he was and why they should care what he thinks.

he was helpful in some ways however.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/chinamart.htm

[confludemocrat]

22. Maybe people in your workplace don't know him, but most do (n/t)

[xchrom]

16. in this case i'll go with --

whatever works.

[senseandsensibility]

23. Not supported by the article

I heard Beatty several times interviewed live on AAR in the days leading up to the election. He never sounded full of himself, and downplayed his role. He also recorded a great ad against the propostions that ran on AAR right before the elections. To me, he didn't even sound interested in running for public office when Ed Shultz interviewed him less than a week ago. The author of this article has an agenda.

[realFedUp]

24. gads, I hope Beatty's ego doesn't launch him into the race...

Can we have a career politician please...someone
who actually knows how government works and gets
stuff done. You don't hire an actor to fix the
plumbing.

I'm tired of kleig lights, stages, fake grins,
invited audiences, flattering camera angles
and pumping up anything.

[Solon]

26. Article and headline don't match up...

What do you expect from a Right Wing Rag(TM)?

[realFedUp]

27. huh?

I completely missed your point. If there's
a laugh track included, please indicated
with a smiley
:-)

[daleo]

25. The Telegraph lies with its headline again

"I thought these were all reactionary measures that needed to be stopped and I thought I could help," Beatty said of his involvement. "I expected to be turned away because all of his gatherings have been completely controlled and closed."

There is no quote from Beatty that comes close to "taking credit" for the election. Strangely, the article wasn't all that bad - just a cheap shot by the headline propagandist.