Arnold Schwarzenegger on Miss Alaska vs. Mr. Universe

Thought you might enjoy this e-mail that landed in my inbox today:

When Arnold Schwarzenegger married Maria Shriver, he knew she came with baggage.

"I said 'I take this woman in sickness and in health. And being a Democrat is her sickness,' " the Republican governor quipped.

Speaking during a discussion at the American Magazine Conference in San Francisco this morning, Schwarzenegger, the governor of one in seven Americans, offered his opinions on everything from Sarah Palin and the election to the Constitution.

Palin, he said, provided Republican presidential candidate John McCain a running mate with "tremendous strength for the campaign and tremendous vulnerabilities."  He then quickly discounted the "vulnerabilities" explaining that while she was criticized for a lack of experience, serving as a small town mayor and than as governor provided experience that was "much more than being in the Senate because they don’t have to manage anything."

"I think she would be a great vice president," he said.

What about Schwarzenegger's own ambition -- should the Constitution be changed to permit someone who isn't a "natural born" American to run for president or vice president?

"Absolutely," he replied, adding in jest that it was the first issue he brought up with Sarah Palin after she was picked to be McCain’s running mate.

"When McCain picked Sarah Palin, I called her and said 'You see that’s what is wrong with the Constitution,' " Schwarzenegger said. " 'Miss Alaska is beating Mr. Universe and can run for vice president or become president. There’s something off here'."

"She didn’t think it was so funny," he added.

For Schwarzenegger's take on Barack Obama and John McCain, click on the jump.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Schwarzenegger said it's way too early to count him out even though the Arizona senator is running behind in many of the polls.

"He’s one of those guys that goes down and then he comes back," Schwarzenegger said. "So now he’s experiencing again one of his down periods, but he has another three or four weeks to go and I think that he has a good shot of coming back again."

Although he has endorsed McCain, the California governor also had kind words for the Democratic presidential nominee, Barack Obama, describing him as a man of huge ambition.

"I think that he believes 100% that he deserves to be in that position. I think he believes that he could do the job…" he said. "I can relate to that kind of drive because you have to have that in you. It’s not something that you acquire or that you can learn."

Comments

[Nialla]

Bravo, Arnie!

[No nonsense]

Obama does not have military and foreign affairs experience, he may have to depend on Biden. i didn't think Biden can help him much because he had failed twice running for president. Please solve this equation:
Barack Obama = Jimmy Carter

[ted in pdx]

I have no military experience, nor do I have any experience with the state department, nor have I served in the US Senate or the House, or any other public office for that matter. However, I have studied the history of our country and other countries as well. I also follow current events quite carefully, and I take advantage of the internet to dig into the subject matter fairly extensively.

Even I, lacking even the experience Senator Obama has in these areas, can see that by dividing our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter has suffered. Even I can see that by allowing Al Qaeda a safe haven in NW Pakistan, we have allowed a situation to develop which is exponentially more dangerous than anything that may or may not happen in Iraq, namely the possibility that terrorists or their surrogates might gain power over the government of Pakistan, a nation which already has nuclear weapons. And even I can see that Senator Obama's opposition to this division of force in 2002 was spot on correct, while just about everyone else believed the Bush/McCain view that we would be in and out of Iraq in a matter of months.

As for depending on Joe Biden, I think Joe Biden will be a great resource for Obama if he is elected. However, Joe Biden supported the bad move we made into Iraq as well. So I'm glad the guy who made the right call at the right time will be in charge.