Sour Grapes

The Governator on the history of Presidential debates

Whatever else you might say about him, Gov. Schwarzenegger's grasp of modern political history is somewhat... er... flawed.

At the Republican Convention, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he became a Republican after listening to a televised debate between Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon in 1968....

Although Humphrey challenged Nixon to a debate, there was no debate between Hubert Humphrey and Richard Nixon in 1968. Arnold Scharzenegger could not have seen it on TV, because it never took place. In fact, there were no presidential debates between 1960 and 1976....

Tucker Carlson says the mistake is understandable:

I don't think Schwarzenegger even spoke English at the time. So he could be, you know, forgiven for making that mistake it seems to me.

But he has repeated this falsehood over and over again.

Arnold Scharzenegger's affirmation at the Republican Convention concerning the Nixon-Humphrey debate has a ring of d�j� vu. It was essentially a "say again" of a announcement he first made public in 1993, at a Press Conference in Beverly Hills, California , following the release of his adventure comedy, Last Action Hero...

And since then, he has used these same catch sentences on Humphrey versus Nixon on numerous occasions, in press interviews as well as at political venues (including the 2000 Republican Convention and his 2003 campaign for the Governorship of California)...

[Via Dave Farber's IP list; links added to quoted text.]

Original post by Hugh at 9/09/2004 11:30:00 AM Eastern time :: 0 comment(s) :: links to this post

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