Arnold's Speech Revisited

John at Blogitics brings up an interesting point with regard to something the actor [sic] turned politician [sicker!] had to say in his speech at the Republican National Convention...

There were a few questionable things Arnold said, including praising Nixon and calling anyone critical of the economy "economic girlie-men," but this one really struck me.

You know, when the Germans brought down the Berlin Wall, America's determination helped wield the sledgehammers. When that lone, young Chinese man stood in front of those tanks in Tiananmen Square, America's hopes stood with him. And when Nelson Mandela smiled in election victory after all those years in prison, America celebrated, too.

I don't believe all of America celebrated Mandela's release. In 1985 Dick Cheney voted against a House resolution urging Mandela's release from prison. Here's a Salon article from 2000 detailing Cheney’s efforts to wipe away his past record on South Africa.

John then provides a excerpts from a 2003 Newsweek interview in which Mr. Mandela, expresses his views on the Bush administration:

Mandela: But people like Dick Cheney … I see yesterday there was an article that said he is the real president of the United States of America, I don’t know how true that is. Dick Cheney, [Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld, they are people who are unfortunately misleading the president. Because my impression of the president is that this is a man with whom you can do business. But it is the men who around him who are dinosaurs, who do not want him to belong to the modern age. The only man, the only person who wants to help Bush move to the modern era is Gen. Colin Powell, the secretary of State.

Newsweek: I gather you are particularly concerned about Vice President Cheney?

Mandela: Well, there is no doubt. He opposed the decision to release me from prison [laughs]. The majority of the U.S. Congress was in favor of my release, and he opposed it. But it’s not because of that. Quite clearly we are dealing with an arch-conservative in Dick Cheney.

Bush/Cheney: Freedom Fighters... Fighting against your freedom.