Saturday, November 01, 2008

McCain releases the Terminator


In what might be seen by some as a last ditch attempt at rallying support before Judgement Day, John McCain last night wheeled out Arnold Schwarzenegger, well known around the world as his role as the Terminator in the popular series of science fiction films of the same name. Stepping onto the stage in Ohio, Schwarzenegger received a rapturous applause from the thousands gathered. The address, which was covered in its entirety on CNN’s The Situation Room, was powerful and hard-hitting. Wolf Blitzer and other commentators expressed surprise that McCain had not brought out the popular former Hollywood star to the forefront of his campaign rallies before. During his address the Governor of California was scathing at Senator Obama’s campaign spending. “If Obama had taken all that money that he’s paid for TV ads, he could have bailed out the banks, paid off everyone’s mortgages, and saved taxpayers a bunch of money” Schwarzenegger said. He said there would be a “back-clash against the lopsided spending” and added “our democracy’s not for sale”.

At another snipe at Obama’s perceived socialist ideals, Schwarzenegger said he had left Europe to get away from socialism. “We are at a tough time right now. Ohio cannot afford, America cannot afford the economic proposals of Senator Obama. I tell you something, I left Europe four decades ago because of socialism has killed opportunities there. And many, many, many entrepreneurs and business leaders all left and have taken jobs with them. And I tell you, in recent years Europe has realized its mistakes, began rolling back some of its spread the wealth policies. And I tell you something, I tell you something. I am so fortunate that I had the chance of coming to the greatest country in the world, the United States of America”.

He went on to insist that McCain would “prove the media wrong” and win the election on November 4th. The speech was only aired on CNN in the UK. Neither the BBC or Sky News covered the event Live, though they did carry reports in later bulletins and on their websites.

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