Arnold had sex with 16 year old

[Gabu]

If this had come out about Bill Clinton, Democrats would be vociferously arguing that it made no difference.

But now we're supposed to take seriously a 30-year-old relationship simply because Schwarzenegger is a Republican.

If this were recent, it would be a big issue, but since it took place in 1975, who cares?  Standards were different back then in any case, and it was a long, long time ago.

And it's ridiculous to think that the Democrats are going to howl in outrage over this when we all know full they that they would defend it if it involved one of their patron saints.

I would argue that it would make no difference with Bill Clinton, and I argue that it makes no difference with Arnold Schwartzenegger, too.  I honestly don't care if a politician has sex with an underage girl thirty years ago, regardless of what party the politician is in.  It has no bearing whatsoever on how well the politician is able to do his job, and the fact that anyone would care about this makes me lose a bit of faith in the human race.

[Gabu]

If this had come out about Bill Clinton, Democrats would be vociferously arguing that it made no difference.

But now we're supposed to take seriously a 30-year-old relationship simply because Schwarzenegger is a Republican.

If this were recent, it would be a big issue, but since it took place in 1975, who cares?  Standards were different back then in any case, and it was a long, long time ago.

And it's ridiculous to think that the Democrats are going to howl in outrage over this when we all know full they that they would defend it if it involved one of their patron saints.

I would argue that it would make no difference with Bill Clinton, and I argue that it makes no difference with Arnold Schwartzenegger, too.  I honestly don't care if a politician has sex with an underage girl thirty years ago, regardless of what party the politician is in.  It has no bearing whatsoever on how well the politician is able to do his job, and the fact that anyone would care about this makes me lose a bit of faith in the human race.

I don't really agree with you here.  I would care if it were recent.  If Schwarzenegger were having sex with a 16-year-old girl now, I would be disgusted with it.  I think a politician's personal life has some bearing on his/her fitness for office, and I think that character counts.  But we don't have to go into every detail.  Still, sex with a minor is egregious.

But if it happened 30 years ago, I don't care.  I wouldn't want to be judged by things I did more than half my lifetime ago.  Clearly, people digging this up are just looking to make trouble for Schwarzenegger for other reasons, and want to use this.  They were outraged when a recent affair was used against Clinton, but think it's perfectly OK to bring up a 30 year old trist with Schwarzenegger.  Typical.

It's the "thirty years ago" part that's crucial in what I said.  If a 50-year-old politician is having sex with an underage girl right now, I think that would be fair game.  But thirty years ago?  It's not as if people can't reform; what the person is like right now is what matters.