Schwarzenegger shifts gay marriage stand

[bluestateguy]

Source: AP

SAN DIEGO - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says that if an initiative to ban gay marriage qualifies for the November ballot, he's prepared to fight it.

California's governor spoke Friday in San Diego at the convention of the Log Cabin Republicans, the nation's largest gay Republican group.

He has previously vetoed bills that would have legalized gay marriage. A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman did not say what prompted the governor to shift his position.

Schwarzenegger said he was confident a ban would never pass in California and called the effort "a waste of time."



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080411/ap_on_re_us/schwarzenegger_gay_marriage

[Fearless]

1. Oh if any man ever married a better woman.... teehee!

She's got him by the balls!

[liberaltrucker]

5. Methinks Uncle Ted may have had something to do with it, too!

Political balls, doncha know!

:evilgrin:

[Fearless]

12. Just a bit methinks.

[sudopod]

20. Arnold's admitted that she cuts him off

when he does something bad politically. :D

[Ian David]

2. It's traditional to use a phrase like "Schwarzenegger shifts gay stance"

So that we can turn the headline into a silly double-entendre.

But that's okay for this time.

[Fearless]

3. Hehe... positively delightful

:rofl:

[Mz Pip]

4. Ahnold

wants to run for the Senate in 2010. He's positioning himself so he can get the votes of the social conservatives in the valley and hopes the liberals in the cities don't care enough to hold it against him.

[nichomachus]

7. Maybe he's just getting soft in his old age

[Mz Pip]

8. Ewwww.

I didn't need either of those pics in my psyche. :puke:

[Sony65]

14. You shouldn't be too shocked...

It's a natural process that occurs when someone metamorphizes into a Republican politican.

[sudopod]

21. The quadruple bypass

probably hurt his workout schedule too. :p

It's hard to stay in shape when you're not allowed to lift more than 20 lbs, I'd imagine!

[boilinmad]

15. Why did you post.....

....a picture of Charlton Heston in a speedo?

[nichomachus]

6. Don't get too excited

He's against it because he thinks it won't pass -- not because he thinks it's wrong.

[EFerrari]

9. He plays all sides against the middle, as far as I can tell. n/t

[petronius]

22. Yeah - this doesn't sound like a shift, exactly

Just because he opposes a ban doesn't mean he would support a marriage initiative. He's already vetoed the marriage bills, now he can pander to the anti-ban side while tipping a wink to his RW base that the ban wouldn't have passed, anyway...

[Retrograde]

17. Methinks he's planning a run for the US Senate

One of the reasons the CA republican party has not done well in state-wide elections IMHO is that they keep running far-right candidates. I think Ahnold is trying to position himself as a moderate centrist so he can appeal to voters who think Boxer is too far to the left but can't bring themselves to vote for the type of candidate the GOP has run in the past.

[Cronus Protagonist]

10. We got that ban about 12 years ago

Pushed through by the Catholic and Mormon churches. Proposition 22. At least if it weren't a ban, it made it so that the government in this state cannot recogise a marriage between anyone other than one man and one woman. This is old cheeze.

[JI7]

11. i still hate him, but i hope he is being honest about this

[nc_gadfly]

13. this coming from the guy who said gay marriage...

...should be between a man and a woman

[Orsino]

16. Flip-flop.

He lacks the courage and/or benevolence to stand up for civil rights. He's a punk.

[David__77]

18. Not a reversal of position.

To be fair, this isn't a reversal. He always said he vetoed the gay marriage bills because of the statutory ban passed in 2000, not because of personal opposition to marriage equality.

[MarkInLA]

19. We need more Republicans like Arnold

I know it's fashionable for Democrats in California to hate Arnold, but I like him.

[arundhatiroyfan]

23. Believe me, he is a creep.

He is right on this issue but he has many questionable beliefs. Another DUer here called him an unsavory character for things he said on movie sets and his or her comments were reportedly deleted when the poster recited Schwarzenegger. You can google up his racist comments about Latinos and blacks. He also is or was a Nazi admirer and has, to my knowledge, never distanced himself from comments regarding this matter. I hope I don't come across as lecturing but the media tries to paint him as a nice guy which he isn't. Here are two links (just the tip of the iceberg):
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1006-08.htm- About wanting to be a dictator
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14732643/- Racist comments about Latino blood.