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Schwarzenegger Nazi ties
Do we really need another Nazi spawn in office?
Seems like an ideal Republican candidate for governor!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Schwarzenegger moves beyond his father's Nazi past
Robert Salladay, Chronicle Staff Writer
Chronicle:
Sacramento -- Gustav Schwarzenegger was a police officer and postal inspector in the tiny Austrian village of Thal.
In 1938, soon after Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss, he applied for membership in the Nazi Party and was accepted three years later.
This information is known because Gustav Schwarzenegger's son, Arnold, asked the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles to research his father's background in the late 1980s.
Some political operatives assume Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Nazi background" could haunt him in a potential gubernatorial campaign, but it's clear the actor and bodybuilder has rejected that part of Austrian history.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Wiesenthal Center, said Schwarzenegger has been a generous donor to the Jewish human rights organization -- "every time he does a movie, he writes a check" -- and has been granted its National Leadership Award for his humanitarian work.
"It's not a proud moment for anyone when you learn your father was a member of the Nazi Party," Hier said in an interview. "But Arnold is not his father, and Arnold has to be judged for who he is. I have always found him to be interested in the issues of the museum. He has been very friendly and supportive."
Hier said nothing could be found in Berlin archives that any war crimes or atrocities were committed by the actor's father, who remained in police service after the war and died in 1972. "He said whatever it is, he wanted to know about it," the rabbi said about Arnold Schwarzenegger. "He wanted to be in a position to know what the facts are."
Hier confirmed a story about former Austrian Freedom Party leader Joerg Haider visiting the Wiesenthal Center and seeing his picture on a "wall of shame" next to Uganda dictator Idi Amin and racist David Duke. Haider was outraged.
"He said he was going to complain to Arnold," Hier said.
According to press accounts, Arnold then checked out Haider's record -- including his statement that the Nazis had "sensible policies" -- and called Haider to say he belonged on the wall. He has denounced Haider on several occasions.
Schwarzenegger has been accused of associating with Nazis because he invited former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, a German officer during World War II, to his 1986 wedding to Maria Shriver. Waldheim had lied about his association with the Nazi army unit, which was linked to atrocities in the Balkans.
"He probably did not have any clue as to the seriousness of the allegations against Waldheim at that time," Hier recently told the Jerusalem Post. "To suggest that Arnold's an anti-Semite is preposterous. He's done more to further the cause of Holocaust awareness than almost any other Hollywood star."
http://politics.slate.msn.com/id/2086742/
nazi father:
Couric on Schwarzenegger: "He's the Son of a Nazi Party Member"
MRC ^ | Thursday August 7, 2003 | BrentBaker
Posted on 08/07/2003 1:18 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Journalists normally fret about negative campaigning and condemn attacks that dig out personal baggage in a candidate's background. Just as long as the candidate doesn't threaten a Democrat, apparently, since on this morning's Today Katie Couric didn't hesitate to beat Democratic operatives to the bunch and remind viewers that Schwarzenegger's father was a Nazi.
She began a question to a California Democratic strategist Darry Sragow: "Let me ask you about his, his baggage, if you will. He's admitted smoking marijuana, using steroids during his body- building career. He's the son of a Nazi Party member..."
Quite the morning greeting from NBC News.
Couric proceeded to prod Sragow: "Through his publicist he's denied allegations published in Premiere magazine, in March 2001, that he sexually harassed women and committed infidelity. All those things, are they gonna be front and center, Darry, if you, do you think in this campaign?"
They are now!
MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens alerted me to Couric's Nazi take and transcribed all of her questions.
Couric introduced the segment: "On Close Up this morning, Arnold Schwarzenegger is looking to terminate the competition. He's boffo at the box office but how will he do at the ballot box. Darry Sragow is a Democratic strategist and Sheri Annis worked as a press secretary for Schwarzenegger on a ballot initiative in California last year. Good morning to both of you."
Couric's questions:
-- "Alright Darry and Sheri. Darry let me start with you right now. Is, is Arnold Schwarzenegger, in your view, Gray Davis' worst nightmare?"
Sragow: "No..."
-- Couric: "Yeah but what else, what other hurdles do you think does he face primarily?"
Sragow: "Credibility hurdle...."
Couric: "Is that doable though, in your view?"
-- Couric: "Well let's talk about Gray Davis and the Democrats strategy Darry, because I know you have felt strongly all along that it's very important that Democrats do field a candidate. Even though the strategy, I guess, until yesterday was not to field a candidate so people would keep Gray Davis in office. But now his Lieutenant Governor, Cruz Bustamante, announced that he was going to put his name on the ballot. So how does this change the equation?"
-- "Alright Sheri Annis I haven't forgotten about you. Apparently this announcement took everybody by surprise. What was your reaction?"
-- "And he does seem to have quite a, quite a sense of humor. On the Tonight Show last night he had several funny one-liners. Let's take a look at one of them right now."
Clip of Schwarzenegger on Wednesday's Tonight Show: "Most difficult decision that I've made in my entire life, except the one in 1978 when I decided to get a bikini wax."
Couric: "Alright. So, so Darry I mean maybe you didn't find that, that amusing. But does Arnold Schwarzenegger make Gray Davis look well, rather gray."
-- Couric to Sragow: "Let me ask you about his, his baggage, if you will. He's admitted smoking marijuana, using steroids during his body-building career. He's the son of a Nazi Party member. He said he was prejudiced before overcoming those feelings by working with the Simon Weisenthal Center in Los Angeles and the Dean of the Center said an investigation of Schwarzenegger's late father, conducted at the actor's request, found no evidence of war crimes. Through his publicist he's denied allegations published in Premiere magazine in March 2001, that he sexually harassed women and committed infidelity. All those things, are they gonna be front and center, Darry, if you, do you think in this campaign?"
Sragow: "I have to assume that those things are going to be brought up, not by Gray Davis, but by others and he's prepared to defend himself because he's going to have to do that..."
-- "And, and Sherri, Arnold himself said on the Tonight Show that he expected a dirty campaign. How do you think he's going to handle that?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Schwarzenegger moves beyond his father's Nazi past
Robert Salladay, Chronicle Staff Writer
Chronicle:
Sacramento -- Gustav Schwarzenegger was a police officer and postal inspector in the tiny Austrian village of Thal.
In 1938, soon after Germany annexed Austria in the Anschluss, he applied for membership in the Nazi Party and was accepted three years later.
This information is known because Gustav Schwarzenegger's son, Arnold, asked the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles to research his father's background in the late 1980s.
Some political operatives assume Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Nazi background" could haunt him in a potential gubernatorial campaign, but it's clear the actor and bodybuilder has rejected that part of Austrian history.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Wiesenthal Center, said Schwarzenegger has been a generous donor to the Jewish human rights organization -- "every time he does a movie, he writes a check" -- and has been granted its National Leadership Award for his humanitarian work.
"It's not a proud moment for anyone when you learn your father was a member of the Nazi Party," Hier said in an interview. "But Arnold is not his father, and Arnold has to be judged for who he is. I have always found him to be interested in the issues of the museum. He has been very friendly and supportive."
Hier said nothing could be found in Berlin archives that any war crimes or atrocities were committed by the actor's father, who remained in police service after the war and died in 1972. "He said whatever it is, he wanted to know about it," the rabbi said about Arnold Schwarzenegger. "He wanted to be in a position to know what the facts are."
Hier confirmed a story about former Austrian Freedom Party leader Joerg Haider visiting the Wiesenthal Center and seeing his picture on a "wall of shame" next to Uganda dictator Idi Amin and racist David Duke. Haider was outraged.
"He said he was going to complain to Arnold," Hier said.
According to press accounts, Arnold then checked out Haider's record -- including his statement that the Nazis had "sensible policies" -- and called Haider to say he belonged on the wall. He has denounced Haider on several occasions.
Schwarzenegger has been accused of associating with Nazis because he invited former Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, a German officer during World War II, to his 1986 wedding to Maria Shriver. Waldheim had lied about his association with the Nazi army unit, which was linked to atrocities in the Balkans.
"He probably did not have any clue as to the seriousness of the allegations against Waldheim at that time," Hier recently told the Jerusalem Post. "To suggest that Arnold's an anti-Semite is preposterous. He's done more to further the cause of Holocaust awareness than almost any other Hollywood star."
http://politics.slate.msn.com/id/2086742/
nazi father:
Couric on Schwarzenegger: "He's the Son of a Nazi Party Member"
MRC ^ | Thursday August 7, 2003 | BrentBaker
Posted on 08/07/2003 1:18 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
Journalists normally fret about negative campaigning and condemn attacks that dig out personal baggage in a candidate's background. Just as long as the candidate doesn't threaten a Democrat, apparently, since on this morning's Today Katie Couric didn't hesitate to beat Democratic operatives to the bunch and remind viewers that Schwarzenegger's father was a Nazi.
She began a question to a California Democratic strategist Darry Sragow: "Let me ask you about his, his baggage, if you will. He's admitted smoking marijuana, using steroids during his body- building career. He's the son of a Nazi Party member..."
Quite the morning greeting from NBC News.
Couric proceeded to prod Sragow: "Through his publicist he's denied allegations published in Premiere magazine, in March 2001, that he sexually harassed women and committed infidelity. All those things, are they gonna be front and center, Darry, if you, do you think in this campaign?"
They are now!
MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens alerted me to Couric's Nazi take and transcribed all of her questions.
Couric introduced the segment: "On Close Up this morning, Arnold Schwarzenegger is looking to terminate the competition. He's boffo at the box office but how will he do at the ballot box. Darry Sragow is a Democratic strategist and Sheri Annis worked as a press secretary for Schwarzenegger on a ballot initiative in California last year. Good morning to both of you."
Couric's questions:
-- "Alright Darry and Sheri. Darry let me start with you right now. Is, is Arnold Schwarzenegger, in your view, Gray Davis' worst nightmare?"
Sragow: "No..."
-- Couric: "Yeah but what else, what other hurdles do you think does he face primarily?"
Sragow: "Credibility hurdle...."
Couric: "Is that doable though, in your view?"
-- Couric: "Well let's talk about Gray Davis and the Democrats strategy Darry, because I know you have felt strongly all along that it's very important that Democrats do field a candidate. Even though the strategy, I guess, until yesterday was not to field a candidate so people would keep Gray Davis in office. But now his Lieutenant Governor, Cruz Bustamante, announced that he was going to put his name on the ballot. So how does this change the equation?"
-- "Alright Sheri Annis I haven't forgotten about you. Apparently this announcement took everybody by surprise. What was your reaction?"
-- "And he does seem to have quite a, quite a sense of humor. On the Tonight Show last night he had several funny one-liners. Let's take a look at one of them right now."
Clip of Schwarzenegger on Wednesday's Tonight Show: "Most difficult decision that I've made in my entire life, except the one in 1978 when I decided to get a bikini wax."
Couric: "Alright. So, so Darry I mean maybe you didn't find that, that amusing. But does Arnold Schwarzenegger make Gray Davis look well, rather gray."
-- Couric to Sragow: "Let me ask you about his, his baggage, if you will. He's admitted smoking marijuana, using steroids during his body-building career. He's the son of a Nazi Party member. He said he was prejudiced before overcoming those feelings by working with the Simon Weisenthal Center in Los Angeles and the Dean of the Center said an investigation of Schwarzenegger's late father, conducted at the actor's request, found no evidence of war crimes. Through his publicist he's denied allegations published in Premiere magazine in March 2001, that he sexually harassed women and committed infidelity. All those things, are they gonna be front and center, Darry, if you, do you think in this campaign?"
Sragow: "I have to assume that those things are going to be brought up, not by Gray Davis, but by others and he's prepared to defend himself because he's going to have to do that..."
-- "And, and Sherri, Arnold himself said on the Tonight Show that he expected a dirty campaign. How do you think he's going to handle that?"
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Oh, and by the way: this is America. Sons and daughters are not responsible for anything their fathers do. Even if Schwarzenegger's father was Hitler himself, that should not be held against him. To discriminate against people based on what their ancestors did is wrong and often the foundation of racism. But I doubt you really know what it is to feel racism. (I have.)
1:This "recall" is more about a republican delivering Cali in '04. Since GWB is slipping fast, he probably sees the writing on the wall, after all he's done everything else his dad did. eg he wants to NOT be a 1 termer and also brag to his grandkids that he was ONCE elected president.
2. Check out history-from Operation Paperclip to Reagan at Bitburg to Valerian Trifa heading the Republican Ethgnic Outreach Commitee- The Repubs never met a Nazi they did'nt like. Oh by the way did I mentiom GWB's grandad Prescott Hitler's American banker convicted of Trading With the Enemies Act in "42.
But....maybe it's just me...
It does not convince me of a true metamorphosis!
Furthermore, if Ahnold cannot remember being at a meeting with Ken ENRON Lay prior to deregulation in California, then how can we not be assured that he isn't in the early stages of Alzheimers, like the other Republican actor-turned governor turned president?
Heck. He might have lapses of memory as governor, such as: Oh, I forgot to make sure California's voting equipment has any accountability. or Oh, I forgot that Pete Wilson is supposed to write my speeches for me.
Just remember what Bush said shortly after his inauguration to a group of insiders: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the people you have to concentrate on." (USA Today, August 2003)
Hitler said "I will give you a Nazi"
Maybe he now repudiates his upbringing by a volunteer storm trooper - but his early environment is inescapable and it is what makes him who he is -whether he likes it or not.
As far as Arnold is concerned, I think that blaming him for his father's Nazi party membership is utterly ridiculous. He was born in 1947 and, until and unless he is documented to have said anything remotely Nazi-like, should be exempt from the sins of his countrymen born before 1927.
Waldheim's involvement with Nazi intelligence as part of Army Group E included mass murder (most likely of Serbs, since their Army would not surrender) in Bosnia in World War II, and personal approval of air dropped leaflets saying "Kill the Jews!" etc. over Russia. This came out when he ran for president of Austria. Arnold still invited him to his wedding to Maria Shriver (granddaughter of Jos. Kennedy Sr, who was fired by FDR as ambassador to England for extensively praising Hitler in the 30's just before WW II)
Schwarzenegger reportedly toasted Waldheim in abcensia at his wedding reception, which stunned the guests into shocked silence - since everyone was aware of the recently reported atrocities.
Arnold still allowed his photos to remain on Waldheims campaign posters, AND was recently seen sitting with his buddy Waldheim at the second inauguration of the current Austrian president.
Lotash Koy - Let us remember!