Arnold Schwarzenegger on Principles & Values Republican CA Governor

1983 naturalization was "realization of my dream"

Most of the assembled media people paid more attention to his red-white-and-blue suit than to his heartfelt display of patriotism. It wasn't the first time he ha sounded like a cheerleader for the American dream. He had been singing the virtues of the US almost from the moment he arrived in 1968, frequently contrasting it to the country he had left behind, which usually came up short in comparison.

Father was member of Austrian Nazi party

A year later, in April 1939, Gustav Schwarzenegger enrolled in the German army. It was long believed that he served there simply as a military policeman. Decades later, a record of complicity would later haunt Arnold. Gustav was discharge from the army in Feb. 1944, suffering from malaria. In Oct. 1945, a few months after the war came to an end, he married 23-year-old Aurelia Jadrny.

Although not a lot is known about Aurelia's past, Arnold once confided in a girlfriend that his mother had been in the crowd when Hitler rode triumphantly through the streets of Vienna following the Anschluss. And, like Gustav, she was taken in by the power and charisma of the Fuhrer, to the point where she "almost swooned."

As child in Austria, known as prankster & bully

One of those townspeople told her that the "Schwarzeneggers were hated in Thal. Today everyone loves them, but forty years ago no one wanted to have anything to do with them."As Leigh discovered, Arnold and his brother weren't in fact known as the town pranksters. They were known as bullies, the terror of the village. It didn't take much investigation to discover who influenced this behavior.

As teen, some girls knocked out by his body; other repulsed

"The strangest thing was how my new body struck girls," he recalled. "There were a certain number of girls who were knocked out by it and a certain number who found it repulsive. There was absolutely no in-between." The reactions, positive and negative, gave him added motivation to get bigger. It was attention he craved.

Soon Arnold had more girls than he could handle. "I had no difficulty getting girls," Arnold recalled. "I'd been introduced to sex with almost no hangups. The older bodybuilders saw to it that I had a girl. 'Here, Arnold, this one's for you.'"

Arnold never actually dated any of these girls. As he would later confess, girls were merely "sex objects"--a confession that would come back to haunt him years later.

1970s: Took steroids, which were then legal

Marnul introduced a teenage Arnold to steroids. In his 1977 autobiography, Schwarzenegger had still not acknowledged the role performance enhancing drugs played in his development. Years later, Schwarzenegger was forced to admit that he had been training on steroids for years. And in the years since this admission, Marnul publicly outed himself as having first introduced the boy to the performance-enhancing drugs.

I told him I had read an article in which he claimed to have given Arnold Schwarzenegger steroids. He nods; "Yes they were legal then. Everybody took them."

He points to a photo from the 1970's of Schwarzenegger flexing, his entire body bulging with muscles. "You can't look like that just by lifting weights," he says matter-of-factly. "It's impossible."

Secret to success: endurance, hard work, & patience

Five years of hard work, patience, and humiliating reviews had finally paid off. It was what he always told the throngs of aspiring bodybuilders: Endurance, hard work, and patience were the secrets, he counseled. But most weren't willing to put in the work necessary to achieve the desired results.

Now he found telling comparisons between his old profession and his new one: "I'll tell you why there are so few bodybuilders in acting. It's the same reason why so few top athletes in any sport make good in show business. They all want to start at the top. But they can't. Acting has to be studied and learned like any other profession. If an athlete reaches the top in his field and enters acting, he has to start at the bottom all over again."

OpEd: More motivated by power than money

It's almost impossible to determine just how much Arnold Schwarzenegger is worth, given his complex web of investments, real estate holdings, and multifaceted ventures. Estimates have ranged from $250 million on the conservative side, to $1.2 billion before the real estate bubble burst in 2008.

Whatever the figure, there is no question that he is an extraordinarily wealthy man. And yet, as his friends and associates long ago discovered, the almighty dollar had never been what motivates Arnold. There is something that he has always valued far more, though he also knows that money can go a long way in helping to obtain it.

From the moment when he was 14 years old and watched John F. Kennedy thrill the crowds in Vienna, Arnold Schwarzenegger has lusted after one thing above all else--power.

2004: "Amend for Arnold": let non-natives run for president

A person who is a citizen of the United States, who has been for 20 years a citizen of the United States, and who is otherwise eligible to the Office of President, is not ineligible to that Office b reason of not being a native born citizen of the United States.

It was not by coincidence that Hatch added the 20-year requirement. He claimed, "I didn't bring it up with Arnold in mind. I just thought it was the right thing to do now"; but his denial seemed disingenuous because his amendment just happened to come almost exactly 20 years after Arnold Schwarzenegger became a naturalized citizen. The title of a Website set up to promote the amendment made no secret of its goal--"Amend for Arnold.

Hitler was a great public speaker but misused talent

The response: "It depends for what. I admired Hitler, for instance, because he came from almost no formal education up to power. And I admire him for being such a good public speaker and for what he did with it."

The N.Y.Times asked Arnold for an explanation, but he claimed not to recall making those statements: "I despise anything that Hitler stands for, anything he has done, hated the Nazism, hated what was done during WWII." He added that he did consider the Fuhrer to be a "great public speaker" but Hitler had used his talent for "something negative."

The book proposal's author said his transcribers may have had trouble getting down the correct wording because of Arnold's think Austrian accent.

Maria Shriver "wanted someone different, not some preppy"

When the 21-year-old Maria met Arnold, he certainly fit the bill. Arnold was definitely different from anyone she had met before. He hit it off with the family matriarch, Rose Kennedy, saying, "Rose Kennedy was great. She speaks perfect German; so we spent the whole weekend talking to each other in my native tongue."

Maria has always claimed that it was "love at first sight". She knew instantly that he was the man she wanted to spend her life with. Today Arnold tells much the same story. In reality, however, it took him many years to come to that decision.

1979: prepped acting career like regime for bodybuilding

But, as it turned out, the critics' lambasting of The Villain was just what Arnold needed. He posted the film's harshest reviews on his wall to remind him of their redeeming effect. He would later recall the moment his life and career turned around. "I asked myself what did I do to become the world champion in bodybuilding," he reflected. "It was 5 or 6 hours of training a day. And then I had to ask myself am I doing that right now and the answer was no."

As he had always done while training for a tournament, he created a strict regimen for himself: voice lessons, acting lessons, even accent removal lessons. As he had once done in the gym, he spent hours on end studying the ways of Hollywood.

I saw communism with my own eyes

Schwarzenegger wins with 48%; Bustamante 32%; McClintock 13%

We have tough choices ahead. The first choice that we must make is the one that will determine our success. Shall we rebuild our state together? Or shall we fight amongst ourselves, to create even deeper division & fail the people of California? Well, let me tell you something, the answer is clear, for the people to win, politics as usual must lose.

I will reach out to Republicans, to Democrats and independents, to those who supported the recall and those who did not, those who supported me today and those who did not. I want to reach out to everybody, to young and old, rich and poor, people of all religions, all colors and all nationalities. I want to be the governor for the people. I want to represent everybody.I believe in the people of California, and I know that together we can do great things.

California government is failing the people

But today, the dream - and the optimism that California represented to this nation and the world - has been shattered. I believe we can restore that optimism and the dreams that were once fulfilled here. Our people are good people-they work hard, they pay their taxes, they raise their families, and they’re doing everything they can to provide their children with the tools to succeed. We have everything we need here in California-except leadership.

California government is failing the people. The state government is not providing the leadership necessary to put people first-to put their hopes and dreams ahead of the special interests that have entrenched themselves in Sacramento.

Needs no money; so will represent ordinary citizens

It is time to return California to the people

Campaigned for George Bush Senior in 1988

Clinton impeachment was a waste of time and energy

Individualism is incompatible with socialism

Keep opportunities like he had

Investigated his father’s past; uncovered that he was a Nazi

Member of the Republican Main Street Partnership .

The Republican Main Street Partnership was founded in 1998 to promote thoughtful leadership in the Republican Party, to serve as a voice for centrist Republicans and to partner with individuals, organizations and institutions that share centrist values.

The Partnership pursues public policies that reflect a limited, but responsible role for government and that are designed to achieve fiscal responsibility, economic growth, improvements in the human condition and a nation that is globally competitive and secure. Partnership members include individuals who are interested in moderate Republican policies, focusing on governance and on finding common sense solutions to national problems.

The Republican Main Street Partnership is an organization of party members and public officials committed to building America's principled but pragmatic center within the Republican Party and throughout the nation. The Partnership contributes to the nation's governance through developing and promoting creative public policies for implementation at appropriate levels of government.