Arnold Schwarzenegger -- A True Liar at the Republican Convention

True Liars


LIE

"As a kid I saw the socialist country that Austria became after the Soviets left. Now don't misunderstand me."

---Arnold Schwarzenegger August 31, 2004

Truth

Austria was governed by coalition governments that included the conservative People's Party and the liberal Social Democratic Party, Martin Polaschek, a law history scholar and vice rector of Graz University, told the Vienna newspaper Kurier.

Between 1945 and 1970, all the nation's chancellors were conservatives -- not socialists. And when Schwarzenegger left in 1968, Austria was run by a conservative government headed by People's Party Chancellor Josef Klaus, a staunch Roman Catholic and a sharp critic of both the socialists and the communists ruling in countries across the Iron Curtain.

Schwarzenegger "confuses a free country with a socialist one," said Polaschek, referring to Soviet bloc communist officials' routine descriptions of their eastern European countries as socialist. "He did not speak as a historian, after all, but as a politician."

Norbert Darabos, a ranking official of Austria's opposition Social Democratic Party, complained, "The Terminator is constructing a rather bizarre Austria image."

Schwarzenegger's spokeswoman, Margita Thompson, said the governor was not referring specifically to the Socialist party but rather to "a socialistic style of government and governing that he experienced when living in Austria."

Source: Austrians question Schwarzenegger's recollections of his homeland in remarks to RNC
San Francisco Chronicle, September 4, 2004


And for the Governor's spokeswoman, a little lesson about Austria's style of government:

Government: Federal republic with nine provinces, each with own assembly and government. 1920 constitution, revised 1929, forms constitutional basis of government. Government consists of executive, legislative, and judicial branches. President head of state, elected every six years by popular vote. Executive headed by chancellor (prime minister) and cabinet, which reflect party composition of parliament. Legislative power vested in bicameral parliament consisting of Nationalrat (National Council) and Bundesrat (Federal Council). Nationalrat primary legislative power, with 183 popularly elected members; Bundesrat represents the provinces with sixty-three members elected by provincial assemblies. Independent judiciary.

Source: FACTS ON AUSTRIA
Information from the CIA Factbook 1999 & the Library of Congress
Edited by Richard Jaklitsch

Oh and so there is no confusion about what is meant by a federal republic, the CIA defines it.

Federal Republic - a state in which the powers of the central government are restricted and in which the component parts (states, colonies, or provinces) retain a degree of self-government; ultimate sovereign power rests with the voters who chose their governmental representatives.(emphasis added)

source: CIA - The World Factbook - Notes and Definitions


And a lesson about Austrian Politics:

Politics: Dominated by Social Democratic Party of Austria (Sozialdemokratische Partei Österreichs--SPÖ) and Austrian People's Party (Österreichs Volkspartei--ÖVP);

Source: FACTS ON AUSTRIA
Information from the CIA Factbook 1999 & the Library of Congress
Edited by Richard Jaklitsch

When the Austrian Republic was reestablished in 1945, the Provisional Government formed by Chancellor Karl Renner was made up of approximately equal numbers of representatives from the Sozialistische Partei Österreichs (SPÖ-Social Democrats), the Österreichische Volkspartei (ÖVP-Christian Democrats) and the Kommunistische Partei Österreichs (KPÖ-Communists).

After the first elections to the Nationalrat, in November 1945, in which the Communists won only four out of a total of 165 seats, there was, until 1947, one communist minister in addition to the cabinet members representing the two major parties. With the exception of this two-year period, the government until April 1966 was always in the hands of a coalition between the People's Party and the Socialists, with the Chancellor coming from the People's Party, which was consistently the stronger. In 1966, the People's Party gained a majority and formed a one-party government, which remained in power until April 1970.

Source: THE LEADERS OF AUSTRIA
The Direct Rulers of the Austrian People
Information from the CIA Factbook 1999 & the Library of Congress
Edited by Richard Jaklitsch