California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said his sex life suffered after he praised President George W. Bush at the Republican convention, infuriating his Democratic wife.
| "Don't touch me, you... you... you Republican! |
The movie star politician told an audience in Monterey, California, that his wife and Kennedy family heiress Maria Shriver was not amused at his electrifying speech in support of Bush's White House bid and cold-shouldered him after the convention. "Well, there was no sex for 14 days," the "Terminator" star quipped when asked by former Democrat White House chief of staff, Leon Pannetta, what Shriver thought of Schwarzenegger's backing for Bush. While she has taken on the role of first lady to California's Republican governor, Shriver is an arch-Democrat and the niece of slain US president John F. Kennedy and of his brother, Senator Robert Kennedy. Schwarzenegger, a moderate Republican, said that he is not likely to hit the campaign trail for Bush, but said he was considering making one appearance in the battleground state of Ohio. The governor, who took office almost a year ago, has been cagey about publicly committing himself to campaigning for Bush with whom he has little in common apart from their party affiliation. A Fiscal conservative, Mr Schwarzenegger is a social liberal, supporting abortion rights, stem cell research, gun control and even gay marriage, issues to which Bush is heavily opposed.
Americans go to the polls in less than two weeks, on November 2, to elect a president with Bush facing Democrat John Kerry, who shares most of Schwarzenegger's stances on social issues. A jocular Schwarzenegger said that he had no interest in watching the presidential debates between Bush and Kerry. He quipped that if he wanted to hear a great discussion between an intelligent liberal and a Republican, "I'd just take my wife out to dinner." |