Schwarzenegger says thumbs-up to Palin

Arnold Schwarzenegger, when asked about John McCain’s VP choice at an appearance in San Diego this morning,  said it would be “terrific” to have “a man and a woman running things together” for the first time in the White House.

“I’m a big believer that women can do just as great a job if not a better job than guys can do and I’ve seen this is in my own house,” Schwarzenegger said, slipping in the usual plug for his wife, Maria Shriver.

Schwarzenegger said he’d met Palin at the national governors’ conference. “She is a very effective leader, and she is a reformer, and I like her very much because she has the strength to go and push back,” he said. “I think she is cleaning up the mess up there and I think that she has tremendous courage.”

Schwarzenegger was referring to Palin’s ethics-based campaign for governor two years ago, and also said she had fixed the state’s budget problems while resisting  efforts to build Alaska’s  so-called “Bridge to Nowhere,” a national symbol of pork barrel spending.

“Even though she’s new ... she’s very, very smart and she’s a reformer,” he said. “So I like that pick.”

--Michael Rothfeld

Photo: AP

(That's Palin, with her 8-year-old daughter, Piper.)

Comments

[jerri husch]

Here is an idea...about how to pull the US election out from under the dismal hole that the current Republican ticket has created. We don't need a hockey Mom, we need a stateswoman. And as a woman in politics, I think she would add to the US's dismal record of choosing people with any vision....

So here is the strategy that I think would make the US election REALLY interesting.....

Imagine that Arnold were to switch party alliances and declare that he is going to support Obama and Biden. I say this as he is currently a Republican but he did not attend the convention, he has made no public comment and honestly I think it will be ideologically difficult for him to put his energy behind the current ticket..
So, why not call a press conference, change party allegiance, support the Dems, make this a really interersting race....and then get a position in the Obama, Biden cabinet as head of the Dept of Energy, or the Interior....
I think it would put him on the map, electrify the election and put him in place for a national/international role....

It would be the greatest role ever of his career....

[Portia Hardesty]

I think that the usually sharp governor has been misinformed. The R's made such "hay" out of John Kerry's saying he voted against a law before the voted for it. Gov. Palen pushed for the bridge to nowhere before it became controversial and then she decided to "resist efforts to build it.'

[Bill]

I was really pulling for McCain. But this doesn't make any sense at all.

Given all of the qualified republicans out there, it seems that they can only consider the ones who past the litmus tests- Guns, Abortion and gay marriage.

This isn't party over country. Its worse, its extremism over party.

If you are a republican like me you have to be disgusted by this choice. Unless of course the only issues that are important to you are: Guns, abortion and gay marriage.

I really don't know what i am going to do.

[erik]

thats right!... she'll do the easter egg hunt and teach us how to make s'mores..
cant wait sounds swell... maybe we can invite Mr. Putin... I heard hes a sucker for chocolate... This is a joke... ALASKA people.... ALASKA!!!.... nothing happens there other than drilling period... OK so they do some fishing... thats it... What I ask does she do? Her standing up to big oil was .... drill more and faster... give alaska more money.... thats tough... I'm so happy that we could have a soccer mom as president... This is a movie... actually a sit-com at best that gets yanked after the novelty wheres off...

[katherine]

McCain understands something that Obama does not: Americans are ready for (at least 18 million) and wanted a woman in a leadership position. McCain gets it. Palin is an excellent choice, and it casts my vote for McCain even though I'm a lifelong Democrat. I'm ready to see what a woman can do in the Oval Office other than coordinating the Easter Egg Hunt.