The New Republic Online: Easterbrook

The New Republic Online: Easterbrook: "YET HE NEVER GROPED THE GORGEOUS FEM-BOT IN TERMINATOR 3. SO YOU SEE, HE'S REALLY CHANGED: Did Arnold Schwarzenegger plant the woman-groping rumors against himself? Think of the sequence of events. Many voters feared Schwarzenegger had been involved in something awful involving women, rape, or some kind of mandatory casting-call submission for the young female extras appearing in his movies; it turns out he is guilty of a few groping instances, most of them years in the past; he immediately admits it and apologizes, saying he now has raised consciousness about women's concerns.

What a fabulous sequence of events for Schwarzenegger! Voters are assured--or at least, seem assured--that the candidate didn't do anything truly horrible. And anyway, everybody assumes 'rowdy' stuff happens all the time on movie sets. (Most of the incidents did not happen on movie sets, but coverage made it seem as if they did.) Then Schwarzenegger gets to appear totally honest, as if he has bared his soul; while also looking like the victim of scandal-obsessed media, a pose nearly all successful modern politicians try to take. Schwarzenegger gropes women, then he presents himself as the victim. How very current.

That Schwarzenegger admitted the incidents so quickly after the Los Angeles Times report was released, with such confident delivery and such rehearsed language, makes me think his own camp had a hand in events. The whole groping business may end up helping him at the polls. How very current.

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