Details of a new television ad from MoveOn.org, an online
activist group, that will air on Sunday and Monday:
Title: ``Arnold''
Length: 30 seconds
Created by: Unknown
Airing: Statewide
Dominant images: several images of women, followed by an image
of Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Script: (Announcer) ``If you're a woman, or your mother is a
woman, or your wife, or your sister, or your daughter, or there's a
woman where you work. ... you cannot vote for this man ... because
Arnold Schwarzenegger has a serious problem with women.''
(Quote appears on screen) ``How many times can you get away with
this to take a woman, grab her upside down, and bury her face in
a toilet bowl?''
(Under the quote) ``Arnold Schwarzenegger''
(Under the name) ``Entertainment Weekly, July 11, 2003''
(Announcer) ``Here's what he said. just three months ago: 'How
many times can you get away with this to take a woman, grab her
upside down, and bury her face in a toilet bowl?'''
(Text appears on screen) ``Vote no on the recall. Paid for by
MoveOn.org PAC, a committee against the recall of the governor and
Proposition 54.''
(Announcer) ``Every woman and every man should vote no on
the recall.''
Analysis: This ad, released on Friday, came one day after the
Los Angeles Times ran a front page article giving detailed
allegations of sexual misconduct against Schwarzenegger, and
leading the candidate to give a public apology in which he
acknowledged he ``behaved badly sometimes.''
But the organization's executive director said the ad had been
scripted before the report was released, and the timing was a
fortuitous coincidence. Stories about Schwarzenegger's treatment of
women are nothing new, Peter Schurman said.
The ad also doesn't mention the accusations raised by the
newspaper.
Supporters of the MoveOn.org political action committee raised
the money for ad after asking for money via e-mails to supporters.
Schurman said the e-mail went out Thursday, and by noon on
Friday he estimated they had raised $500,000.
By staying away from still unproved allegations against the
actor, and focusing only on Schwarzenegger's quote, the
organization can also fend off accusations of engaging in ``trash
politics,'' which is how Schwarzenegger described the Los Angeles
Times report.
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Analysis by Associated Press Writer Juliana Barbassa.
On the Net:
View the ad at http://www.moveon.org/
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)