The man who says he left Austria because he couldn’t stand socialism has no problem with it here.  The man who preached self-reliance doesn’t worry about responsible homeowners being forced to bail out others.  The man who rode to the California governor’s mansion by bashing Gray Davis over the car tax and promising to repeal it . . . just nearly doubled it.

Schwarzenegger’s weakness and hypocrisy were evident today on This Week. George Stephanopoulos opened the interview by playing a clip of a photo-op Schwarzenegger staged when first running for governor, having a huge weight dropped on a car to symbolize the way that “when I get to Sacramento, I will immediately destroy the car tax!”  Stephanopoulos asked Schwarzenegger whether he owed Davis an apology. “Absolutely not,” was the predictable reply.

That was just the first of a number of weak dodges by the former Mr. Olympia . . .

Schwarzenegger later made excuses for the mortage bailout.

STEPHANOPOULOS: This question of fairness: what do you say to the homeowner who didn’t buy too much house, who took an extra job to make sure they made their mortgage payments, and they see their next-door neighbor getting bailed out.

SCHWARZENEGGER: Every situation is different, you know. You maybe have a job; you can still afford your house. Maybe your neighbor has just lost a job. Isn’t it nice when you, for instance, work something out with the bank, where the bank says, look, while you’re in this situation, we’re going to stop you from having to pay.

And finally, after pointing out how Arnold often talked of he came to America in part because of his hatred of socialism in his native Austria, Stephanopoulos continued.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So I wonder when you look at government taking over mortage companies, taking over insurance companies, the prospect now of nationalization of banks.  Is that something you now see as necessary.

Schwarnenegger first tried to deny that nationalization was taking place. But when Stephanopoulos pointed out that the government could well become the majority owner of banks, Schwarzenegger changed course, arguing that it could be necessary to nationalize some banks. He claimed: “the most important thing is, how do we create stability in this country?”

Schwarzenegger should know he’s in trouble when on issue after issue, George Stephanopoulos makes him look like a wimp.

Arnold Schwarzenegger—girly man.