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Schwarzenegger Dogged by Hitler Quote
Aired October 03, 2003 - 13:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Another day closer to the California recall, another story dredging up details of the front-runner's colorful past. And once again, Arnold responds in a hurry. CNN's Bob Franken out in Los Angels to fill us in on this one -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well he keeps wanting to look ahead to his future as governor of California, but every day, Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to run into his past.
This time it has do with a quote from the man who produced the movie "Pumping Iron," talking about a quote he attributes to Arnold Schwarzenegger from back in the 1970s, in which Schwarzenegger talked about Hitler and said, "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education up to power. And I admire him for being such a good a good public speaker and for what he did with it."
So as Schwarzenegger travels around the state, trying so very hard to stay on message, apparently he has to deal with the message that others have for him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIF. GOV. CANDIDATE: I don't remember any of chose comments because I always despised everything that Hitler stood for. I hated the regime, the Third Reich, all of this, the whole Nazi philosophy, have always fought against it. And I just know I have participated with the Simon Wiesenthal Center for the last 20 years and have raised millions of dollars in order to fate prejudice and to fight all this. So I think that we have to continue fighting, so this never happens again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Well he was just breathing a sigh of relief when he had to turn to this discussion about his views of Hitler, at least in the past. He had just spent the last couple of days or several hours, at any rate, dealing with the controversy that had arisen around an "L.A. Times" article which detailed interviews with six women who said over a period of decades he had made unwelcome advances, had been groping them.
And then a couple of times yesterday, he tried to express what amounts to a limited apology for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHWARZENEGGER: I just say that I don't remember things that I've done or said 20 years ago. I don't remember...
QUESTION: 2000?
SCHWARZENEGGER: ... thirty years ago. And I said that many of the things that are in there are not true, because that's not behavior.
And other then things may be true. And in case it is, I want to say I apologize if I offended anyone because that wasn't my attention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Another day for the campaign. This time, Schwarzenegger is trying to stay on message. And he's bringing along Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of California (sic), to campaign with him, in the hope that this is a day relatively free of controversy -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Bob Franken, in L.A., thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired October 3, 2003 - 13:01 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Another day closer to the California recall, another story dredging up details of the front-runner's colorful past. And once again, Arnold responds in a hurry. CNN's Bob Franken out in Los Angels to fill us in on this one -- Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well he keeps wanting to look ahead to his future as governor of California, but every day, Arnold Schwarzenegger seems to run into his past.
This time it has do with a quote from the man who produced the movie "Pumping Iron," talking about a quote he attributes to Arnold Schwarzenegger from back in the 1970s, in which Schwarzenegger talked about Hitler and said, "I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from being a little man with almost no formal education up to power. And I admire him for being such a good a good public speaker and for what he did with it."
So as Schwarzenegger travels around the state, trying so very hard to stay on message, apparently he has to deal with the message that others have for him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER (R), CALIF. GOV. CANDIDATE: I don't remember any of chose comments because I always despised everything that Hitler stood for. I hated the regime, the Third Reich, all of this, the whole Nazi philosophy, have always fought against it. And I just know I have participated with the Simon Wiesenthal Center for the last 20 years and have raised millions of dollars in order to fate prejudice and to fight all this. So I think that we have to continue fighting, so this never happens again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Well he was just breathing a sigh of relief when he had to turn to this discussion about his views of Hitler, at least in the past. He had just spent the last couple of days or several hours, at any rate, dealing with the controversy that had arisen around an "L.A. Times" article which detailed interviews with six women who said over a period of decades he had made unwelcome advances, had been groping them.
And then a couple of times yesterday, he tried to express what amounts to a limited apology for it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCHWARZENEGGER: I just say that I don't remember things that I've done or said 20 years ago. I don't remember...
QUESTION: 2000?
SCHWARZENEGGER: ... thirty years ago. And I said that many of the things that are in there are not true, because that's not behavior.
And other then things may be true. And in case it is, I want to say I apologize if I offended anyone because that wasn't my attention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: Another day for the campaign. This time, Schwarzenegger is trying to stay on message. And he's bringing along Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of California (sic), to campaign with him, in the hope that this is a day relatively free of controversy -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Bob Franken, in L.A., thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
