Arnold Flexes His Political Muscle (Unbelievable!) [View All]

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Congress Charmed by Schwarzenegger

(snip)

Back at home, his people were "in the middle of a disaster," facing "raging fires," "gigantic fires," "a very serious disaster," he said on Capitol Hill. Surveying the damage, he realized "the fire is right now at a very dangerous stage."

Strangely, then, he smiled.

Schwarzenegger was speaking after a meeting with House Republicans. Given the severity of the subject, and the general sober tone of the Capitol, it took the frankest of congressmen to admit what really had taken up most of the meeting: Everyone was jumping around, hollering, clapping, said Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). "Every time he moved, someone would jump up and take a picture," he said, by which he meant members of Congress, not news photographers. "I mean, we all had cameras in our pockets."
Washington tried to be utterly nonchalant about Schwarzenegger's visit, unfazed, business as usual. After each of their meetings with him the lawmakers stopped to answer serious questions about emergency relief funds, after-school initiatives, ethanol subsidies.

"Yes, I actually took out PowerPoint graphs," insisted Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

But here and there the giddy fan club provincialism showed. A congressman would try to maintain a somber tone: "A very serious disaster," agreed Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.), Schwarzenegger's constant sidekick throughout the day. And then he turned to Schwarzenegger and cracked a huge, tongue-showing, apropos-of-nothing smile.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A38314-2003Oct29?language=printer