Is it sleaze politics to point out that your opponent is sleazy?

[AP]

I just don't know how Arnold could go around CA his entire adult life groping women and then complain that it's sleaze politics to point it out.

It's like if you said, hey, Larry Flint is a pornographer. He IS a pornographer.

[dsc]

1. It depends

In 94 Diane Feinstein knew Michael Huffington was a gay man (or at least had several gay affairs) but refused to use the knowledge. To me it would have been sleezy for her to have done so but it isn't for people to go after Arnold for having broken the law.

[AP]

3. Being a closet gay man isn't the same thing as being a serial, public....

...sexual assaulter.

[dsc]

4. It isn't for most people

but we both know that for others being the closeted gay is worse. For me the line is legality and thus conscent (or age). Arnold crossed that line.

[PurityOfEssence]

7. It just isn't an accurate analogy in any sense

One is forced sexual contact, which plays badly all around; the other is icky (to some) behavior that turns some people off.

Where it's a completely inaccurate comparison is that, especially in a state like this, were she to have done this, she would have turned off lots of her own potential voters and hurt herself directly. Who knows what her true motives were, but much as I really dislike the woman, I dislike her more for being spineless, not very bright, a tool of her own privileged class and too concerned with her image to be of any use to anyone. Having said this, I think she has a stripe of integrity and it would have been rankled by doing such a thing, so I buy the contention that she thought it was plain dirty pool.

Your comparison just doesn't work on any level beyond the fact that they both generally fit into the category of "mudslinging".

[LibertyorDeath]

At this point in time the best thing I can say about Groper is

He has Heart trouble. The valves I think no doubt from his years of steroid abuse. So it may sound harsh to some but I've got my fingers crossed.

[LibertyorDeath]

2. At this point in time the best thing I can say about Groper is

He has Heart trouble. The valves I think no doubt from his years of steroid abuse. So it may sound harsh to some but I've got my fingers crossed.

[not systems]

18. Man thats cold...

but he had a valve transplant from a pig.

Plunk...

[dfong63]

5. the truth needs no justification

[AP]

6. ...when it's relevant. And groping is relevant to character. And character

is relevant to whether you'd make a good public servant.

So who does Arnold think he is, going around being sleazy (or is it "sleezy") and then acting like anyone who points out the truth is resorting to sleaze politics?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. The governor gets to appoint 1400 positions ..many dealing with

the status of women. To point out what he thinks of them is not sleazy.

[spooky3]

20. and for all 1400 positions, women should be given equal consideration

Unlikely to happen in an AS regime.

[WindRavenX]

9. No, it's fighting fire with fire

For YEARS the Dems have been brutalized by the GOP thug machine accusing Clinton of damn near being a sexual predator; yet all the dirt the Dems could've thrown back at them was restrained for the sake of decency on the Dems part.
For YEARS the GOP has been painting the Democrats as being sleazy, sex-a-holic and pot heads.
NOW we get a man who's been sexually harassing people (a non-consensual act, unlike Clinton and Monica) and has the attitude of "so what? I'm a man and I can do whatever the f I want!"
The DEMS have taken the GOP's crap for YEARS and NOW they are fighting back- and rightfully so to show the HYPOCRISY of the GOP!!!
Fight on, fight on, I say!

[Classical_Liberal]

13. I'm not so sure this is just the Dems

it looks like the same social conservatives that went after Clinton are a part of it.

[AP]

14. I know the LA Times was responsible for soem shite anti-Clinton reporting

are you saying that the LA Times is motivated by a desire to protect the far right?

[lcordero]

10. As soon as the allegations came out the Dems should have asked

the victims if they would testify against Arnold in a court of law.
As soon as the victims said yes, they should have arrested Arnold...but then again I think that they are waiting for McBurger to split the vote and if Arnold does win then they are going to put Arnold in the paddywagon and Cruz becomes Governor by default:D

[AP]

11. The statute of limitations for any crime Arnold might have committed have

expired for all the allegations reported so far.

The 2000 incident might be open if it happened after October 6, 2000, and if the statute of limitations is 3 years (but it's probably less than that).

Someone needs to come forward with a more recent claim. However, maybe they timed the recall to occur outside the limitation period for Arnold's last sexual battery.

[Classical_Liberal]

12. That presumes the allegations are true which I don't

I think it is actually the McKlintock social conservatives that are orchestrating this,(Matt Drudge, Alan Keyes), just as they did this to Clinton, but the liberals sure are falling over themselves to help. I don't know why because I suspect it will backfire.

[AP]

15. How could it possibly backfire with 48 hours to go?

It's already driving down the No vote. And before the information came out, it looked like Arnold was outside the margin of doubt -- he certainly didn't need anythign like this to assure him of a victory.

It either wasn't going to work in the first place or it will work. It's not going to drive the No-Vote down and then pull Arnold back up to safe territory with just one full day of campaigning left.

[AP]

16. Also, "not true"?

Not even Arnold is denying the truth. He's appologizing if he offended anyone. And the stories are consistent with what has been said about Arnold for years.

This appears to be something that's true that your enemies to the left and to the far right of the social conservative spectrum can use (nobody is farther right than Arnold on the fascism scale).

It's like the fact of Nixon committing crimes. A different faction of far right wingers exploited it as well as people on the left.

[REP]

17. Naw, It's Just Bad Taste

for Dems to have the nerve to notice when a Repub acts badly, over and over and over again and then SAY something about it. Shame on us!


Not.

[spooky3]

19. "It's suspicious because it's so close to the election..."

McClintock and other Repugs have said this about the assault stories. This is a spin attempt that makes no sense at all. Had the story come out earlier, it would have had much GREATER effect, so I am sure that if the LA Times had been able to fact-check more quickly, they would have done so if there were any political agenda. People would have been reconsidering before their voting preferences were solidified. More victims would probably have come forward, strengthening the story. Concerns about Enron involvement and other problems would have added to the concerns about the assaults and could have been "processed" more thoroughly rather than dismissed. And so on...