Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Governor Girly Man
From tonight's speech:
Schwarzenegger's dad was a volunteer member of Hitler's SA-storm troopers in Austria. I bet he knows a little bit about seeing fear in someone's eye.
Wow, and to become a Republican because of the corrupt Nixon....
UPDATE: There were no Nixon-Humphrey debates. Just another lie being told at the Conventiion.
UPDATE II: After much debate on Kos's comments section, there is a question of whether Ahnold said "debate" or "race", in reference to Nixon-Humphrey in 68.
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When I was a boy, the Soviets occupied part of Austria. I saw their tanks in the streets. I saw communism with my own eyes. I remember the fear we had when we had to cross into the Soviet sector. Growing up, we were told, "Don't look the soldiers in the eye. Look straight ahead." It was a common belief that Soviet soldiers could take a man out of his own car and ship him off to the Soviet Union as slave labor.
My family didn't have a car — but one day we were in my uncle's car. It was near dark as we came to a Soviet checkpoint. I was a little boy, I wasn't an action hero back then, and I remember how scared I was that the soldiers would pull my father or my uncle out of the car and I'd never see him again. My family and so many others lived in fear of the Soviet boot. Today, the world no longer fears the Soviet Union and it is because of the United States of America!
As a kid I saw the socialist country that Austria became after the Soviets left. I love Austria and I love the Austrian people — but I always knew America was the place for me. In school, when the teacher would talk about America, I would daydream about coming here. I would sit for hours watching American movies transfixed by my heroes like John Wayne. Everything about America seemed so big to me so open, so possible.
I finally arrived here in 1968. I had empty pockets, but I was full of dreams. The presidential campaign was in full swing. I remember watching the Nixon and Humphrey presidential race on TV. A friend who spoke German and English, translated for me. I heard Humphrey saying things that sounded like socialism, which is what I had just left. But then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting government off your back, lowering taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air.
I said to my friend, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican!" And I've been a Republican ever since! And trust me, in my wife's family, that's no small achievement! I'm proud to belong to the party of Abraham Lincoln, the party of Teddy Roosevelt, the party of Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) and the party of George W. Bush.
Schwarzenegger's dad was a volunteer member of Hitler's SA-storm troopers in Austria. I bet he knows a little bit about seeing fear in someone's eye.
Wow, and to become a Republican because of the corrupt Nixon....
UPDATE: There were no Nixon-Humphrey debates. Just another lie being told at the Conventiion.
UPDATE II: After much debate on Kos's comments section, there is a question of whether Ahnold said "debate" or "race", in reference to Nixon-Humphrey in 68.
