Responses to questions about Schwarzenegger’s behavior toward women

Here is a timeline of comments Arnold Schwarzenegger and his campaign staff have made in response to questions about the actor’s behavior toward women:

Sept. 17: In response to a question about his comments about women in a 1977 Oui magazine interview and elsewhere, he said on CNN’s “Larry King Live”: “The bottom line, this is -- it’s the past. If I have offended anyone, I’m sorry about it. It was not the intention to offend anyone with this kind of dialogue. And you know, the thing is that now they’re trying to bring those things out in order to distract.”

Thursday: Campaign spokesman Sean Walsh denied in The Times that Schwarzenegger engaged in improper conduct toward women: “We believe Democrats and others are using this to try to hurt Arnold Schwarzenegger’s campaign. We believe that this is coming so close before the election, something that discourages good, hard-working, decent people from running for office.”

Thursday: Schwarzenegger, after allegations of groping and harassment appeared in The Times, told a crowd of supporters in San Diego: “I know that the people of California can see through these trash politics. Yes. And let me tell you something -- a lot of those, what you see in the stories is not true. But at the same time, I have to tell you, I always say that wherever there is smoke, there is fire. That is true. So I want to say to you, yes, I have behaved badly sometimes. Yes, it is true that I was on rowdy movie sets and I have done things that were not right, which I thought then was playful. But now I recognize that I have offended people. And to those people that I have offended, I want to say to them I am deeply sorry about that, and I apologize, because this is not what I tried to do. When I am governor, I want to prove to the women that I will be a champion for the women, a champion of the women. And I hope that you will give me the chance to prove that. Now let’s go from the dirty politics back -- to the future of California.”

Thursday: In an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Schwarzenegger said: “A lot of political leaders came up to me during the campaign and said, ‘Arnold, just beware. That this is the week where they are going to unload everything on you. And that they are going to have so much out there, that they’re going to find it, and they are going to unload it because this is what happens to every politician. This is trash politics and you are going to experience the same thing.’ ”

Thursday: The actor told CNN: “I don’t remember so many of the things that I was accused of having done.... If I’ve done anything wrong ... again I feel bad about that.... It’s very interesting that since I’m ahead in the campaign ... all the things are coming out. I’m very pro-women. I’m very much into equality -- those things are not coming out.”

Thursday: In an evening interview with reporters at the Century Plaza Hotel, Schwarzenegger said: “Let me just say that I know there were some issues raised today about my behavior toward women in the past, and I just want to say a lot of these things that I have read was not true. But I always say that where there is smoke, there’s fire. So there’s obviously some of the things I have misbehaved. If I offended anyone, I want to say sorry to the people I have offended. It was not my intention. I have been in the past always been very careful, and I am trying to support women, to support women’s issues. And of course one has to understand at the same time that it is a campaign. And all of a sudden now, when you campaign, there are people ... there are a lot of powerful enemies out there. They are of course striking out and trying to derail the campaign.”

Friday: Schwarzenegger said: “You know something? No one ever came up to me and complained,” he said. “ ... The first time I started hearing about it is two days ago.... I can only respond to what comes up to me. I will respond to it immediately, and that is what I try to do.”

Friday: To reporters later, Schwarzenegger said: “No one complained to me. If someone comes to me and says, ‘How dare you’re saying this, how dare you’re doing this,’ and I can’t apologize right then and there. No one tells me ... and now I’m picking up the paper, the L.A. Times, and all of sudden I’m reading these things. That’s why I said the next day, the morning I wanted to react immediately. They didn’t come to me.... I’m just saying to you that I was not aware of all of this.”

Friday: Schwarzenegger spokesman Rob Stutzman said: “What more is there to say? Continuing to talk about it is exactly what the Democratic sleaze artists want to have happen. We’re not going to do it. Arnold said what he said yesterday. He acknowledged there was rowdy behavior on a movie set. He doesn’t need to go through it again.”

Friday: Responding to allegations by two women of bad behavior by Schwarzenegger on the set of the movie “Twins,” campaign spokesman Sean Walsh said: “Neither of these events occurred.” Walsh said he had spoken with director Ivan Reitman and others who worked on the film, “all of whom were on the set almost nonstop. All have said that they never witnessed this and would find it impossible to believe that this would have occurred.”

Saturday: On the campaign trail, Schwarzenegger said: “I think [the Los Angeles Times is part of the effort to] ... derail my campaign, and I think that it’s part of the puke campaign that Davis launched now.... I mean he’s frantic and he’s consistently pounding away, trying to dig up things way back and accusations. The last accusations I read today, absolutely untrue, and the producer of the movie ‘Twins,’ the director of the movie ‘Twins,’ the assistant director, everyone came out and said, ‘Look, we are ready to do interviews with anyone. We’ve talked to the L.A. Times and all that. We’ve told them this is not true, but they don’t want to hear it.’ You know they are just attacking, attacking, attacking. Some of them, like the last ones I read today, are absolutely wrong. They are false statements. They are just attacks. Part of the puke campaign.”

Saturday: “It’s always easy to be smart in hindsight, of course. Because (a) I never thought I would run for political office, and (b) the environment in today’s politics is one that is totally different on the subject of women,” Schwarzenegger told the San Diego Union-Tribune at a campaign rally in Clovis, Calif. “It is much more sensitive today, if you look back to what it used to be.... But I will make sure to let the people know, look, this is a different Arnold. I and Maria have a great marriage. I’m very happily married with my wife.”

Sunday: Asked by ABC’s Peter Jennings about the allegations, Schwarzenegger said: “Some of the things sound like me,” noting that he had apologized. But he questioned the timing of the allegations: “Now, all of a sudden, isn’t it odd that three days and four days before the campaign, all of a sudden all these women want to have an apology? Isn’t it odd?” Jennings then said: “You’re blaming women?” Schwarzenegger responded: “Use common sense, Peter. You can figure it out for yourself. Come on, now.” Asked if he thought the women were telling the truth, Schwarzenegger said: “Of course not.”

Sunday: In an interview with NBC’s Tom Brokaw, Schwarzenegger said of the allegations: “Well, first of all, a lot of these are made-up stories. I never grabbed anyone, that I pulled up their shirt and grabbed their breasts and stuff like that. This is not me. So there’s a lot of this stuff going on that is not true.” Brokaw responded: “So you deny all those stories about grabbing?” Schwarzenegger: “Not at all. I’m just saying this is not -- this is not me.”

Los Angeles Times